You wanna know why the Marines always hit their recruiting numbers?
Those glorious commercials.
The Navy uses Keith David’s soothing baritone voice and flashy images of virtually unattainable SEALs. The Air Force uses images of supersonic jets that about give guys in the entire service get to fly. My beloved Army is still recovering from the abomination that was “An Army of One”, but even with their much improved “Army Strong” campaign, they’re still peddling college as their primary join-up motivator.
The Marines? You guys have an unkempt bad ass climb-to-the-top-of-a-freakin’ mountain with the ghosts of warrior’s past cheering him on, where he fights an evil warlord (or dragon – or whatever needed to be dominated on top of the mountain that day), and then, once victory is achieved, your untrained, but tough as nails dude turns into an impeccably groomed, uniformed Marine. Seriously, how much more badass can you get?
In fact, one of those commercials was just on and I suddenly realized that I was holding the phone with a recruiter on the other line…I think I just joined the Marines.
Looks like you’ll be getting some more coin from Hank, the downside of having three sons is they keep stealing my RangerUp T-shirts. Too many home runs to count; Don’t Tread On Me, Join Or Die, et. al.
When they started wearing Ranger Up to school I could predict a phone call or two from a certain milquetoast high school counselor distressed that my sons were brainwashing their classmates. I’ve only compromised on the shirts which feature high caliber encouragement. Regarding the rest, I asked them if they really thought it worth their time to antagonize a retired jarhead with his own business and web space to focus on their failure to recognize patriotism when they see it.
We’ll continue wearing your gear with unapologetic pride. I can’t wait til we hit the college campus with our oldest this fall.
With Utmost Respect ~ Semper Fi, Hank & Sons