Well, Im not quite sure how I managed to let August 17 slip by without boring everyone to tears. As Ive mentioned many times, I left Marine Corps active duty on this day 41 years ago. To this day, it remains a bittersweet time as I recall it. Joy at getting to actually sleep in, grow my hair a bit, not having to be anywhere at any particular time? Oh, hell, yes! Missing some truly awesome lifetime friends, waking up to a sense of duty each day, feeling a sense of doing something that I felt was important, and a great sense of accomplishment at finishing what I promised myself Id do four years earlier... yeah... there was that too. In any case, I finished my 4-year enlistment in the United States Marines on 17 Aug 1973, and as I have mentioned to the point of driving all of you nuts whove been kind enough to read over the years, its something Ill never forget. To this day, I try every day (I dont always succeed, for sure, but at least, I try) to live up to the values I learned during that time. I try to conduct and carry myself with pride, I try and treat others as I would like to be treated, I try and set an example for anyone who might observe me, and to the extent that my poor old arthritic limbs will allow, I try to walk like the man I used to be. That last thing is getting harder and harder, but Ill do my best til the day I die to keep trying. Thank you for allowing an old man to say whats on his mind, it is greatly appreciated. The older I get, the more important this stuff is to me. Semper Fidelis, Joe W. Harden Sergeant, USMC
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 07:36:42 +0000
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