May 30, 2004

A few years back an entertaining but disappointing film hit theaters entitled “A Few Good Men.” In this military courtroom drama, Jack Nicholson plays a lunatic Marine commander (Colonel Jessup was the character I think) who ultimately has to answer for misconduct by men under his command that was ostensibly tied to some unwritten Marine “code.” I say disappointing because I believe that the U.S. Marine Corps is one on the world’s great institutions. Like the fame of the Jesuits during colonial times, the Marines have an outsized reputation compared to their parent organization. I believe that this is in no small part due to the values and quality of thinking inculcated in their recruits from day one of their training – not the warped values and lack of thinking you see in the Nicholson film. Unfortunately, the film makes a mockery of these values in their Marine characters. In the climatic courtroom scene, Jessup loses control and in a classic film outburst speaks of the fact that the Marines are “on the wall” protecting America from the bad guys – “ You want me on that wall! You need me on that wall!”

The truth is that the Marines ARE on that wall protecting us and I am glad that they are BECAUSE of the values in that institution. If you read my journal from Australia you know that I wanted to do something to show appreciation for our servicemen because of the example set by the Australians in their ANZAC Day celebration. I was wondering where I could find American servicemen to thank and, in one of the frequent, strange twists of fate on this trip, I found them one floor above us in our apartment building! On Wednesday of this week, as I rode the building’s elevator I overheard a young American with a crew cut speaking to another person in the elevator in a very respectful tone – every sentence ended with “sir”. Putting two and two together I phoned the apartment manager and asked if there were any American servicemen in the building. “No servicemen but, ah, yes! You mean the U.S. Marines on the xx floor.”

As it turns out, the Marine guards for the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai stay in modest digs within shouting range of our apartment. I went up, introduced myself and invited them to dinner as a modest gesture of thanks from our family for their service to our country. Last night our family had the pleasure of their company in a local restaurant. You will not find a nicer, more mature, more impressive group of young men. Thanks to their great language skills, they knew what to order and we had an excellent meal. I would love to list their names but, being ignorant of appropriate security precautions, I'd better not. I will say that we met a cross-section of America, from Illinois, Texas, and Pennsylvania - big towns and small. Listening to their experiences and service I felt proud to be an American and relieved that we have men such as these representing our country and protecting our interests around the world. I’ll restrain myself from sharing my thoughts on their civilian leadership!