Try again. Despite you and oh8eleven, I have the highest respect for the Corps, just not every single Marine.
I see. You respect the Corps that makes you happy and agrees with you but not those nasty old Marines that actually fought and suffered for their country. A useful distinction, I'm sure.
I understand Oh8eleven's point: wow. another lucky young man attends a Birthday Ball and glory be, finds out that Marines are pretty great people. Wonderful, but far short of volunteering to get his head shaved and filling out the duty roster in Afghanistan.
In the war that Oh8eleven and I served in, we were part of the very few of the young men of our generation to volunteer and fight in Vietnam. We learned that our fellow Marines were good and decent men who fought with courage against a determined and skilled enemy. We lost 16,000 Marines of the 56,000 total killed in the war and I lost part of my right leg.
The rest of the country enjoyed all of the promiscuous fun of the 60s and the 70s without us while we returned the with the residuals of hard duty, diseases, lost friends, and missing pieces. We did learn what it was to be a Marine and we have always maintained that pride and that connection.
I am glad that young Mr. Timberlake had a nice party and had fine things to say. My real admiration remains for the young men and now lately young women who bear the real burdens of serving their Corps and their country.