BS!
This old boot—1952-72—has known and respected far too many old salts who served before i was born, and who regarded themselves as ex-Marines...before we capitalized (M) Marines, etc. Before some of us also capitalized Soldiers, Sailors Airmen, etc.
Semper Fidelis
Gunny G
aka: Dick Gaines
******
(no semper fi (we know what that that means...sorta like the hippies in the ‘60s and their “sorry bout dat!”)
And then the johnny-come-lately ooh-rah crap!
"A Marine is a Marine. I set that policy two weeks ago - there's no such thing as a former Marine. You're a Marine, just in a different uniform and you're in a different phase of your life. But you'll always be a Marine because you went to Parris Island, San Diego or the hills of Quantico. There's no such thing as a former Marine." Gen. James Amos, 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps
Like it or not, it's now policy.