Semper Fidelis also the call of a Catholic

Earlier this year, I was interviewed for an article in Leatherneck, the magazine of the Marines. This provided me the opportunity to reflect on my service in the Corps, a pivotal time in my life. This experience was transformative, even if how it came about was quite irregular. 

It was 1956, and I was trying to figure out how I was going to pay my way through college. I thought I was joining the Army, and it was not until I was about to take the oath that I realized I was joining the Marines. It turned out to be a most providential mistake.

I have often said, if I had a son, the best career advice I could give him would be to serve a hitch in the Marines before going into business. I certainly did not feel that way when I was going through bootcamp, but looking back, I realized that everything the Corps did, it did for a reason. They have a systematic way of tearing each recruit down — not out of cruelty, but in order to mold him into a Marine. During bootcamp, I remember feeling myself being transformed into a better person – a more confident person, both physically and mentally. From the time I was young, I had confidence in myself, but it was a confidence on my own terms. The Marine Corps gave me confidence on someone else’s terms; it was extraordinarily hard, but as a result an amazing sense of accomplishment. 

We certainly were trained in many practical skills, but what was truly transformative was how we were taught to view our experiences and obstacles we faced. Marines are taught to improvise, adapt, overcome — in other words, to never quit. I also remember being struck by the sense that the Corps was something larger than myself, and something worth sacrificing for. These are great lessons in leadership.

Going through this experience forges a sense of brotherhood and solidarity not only with those I served with, but with all Marines. This is one of the reasons they say there is no such thing as an ex-Marine: once a Marine, always a Marine. There is also great meaning in the Corps’ motto, Semper Fidelis (Latin for “always faithful”), which embodies the Corps’ value of honor, courage, and commitment.

As transformative as the Corps was for me on a human level, I cannot help but see the parallels to our calling as Catholics: to submit ourselves to God’s transformative will, the solidarity we experience with fellow Catholics, and the spiritual warfare in which each of us is called to engage. In fact, it was this call that prompted Judge Robert Bork (also a Marine) to suggest that Ave Maria University’s mascot be the “Gyrene” (a term for “GI Marine” coined during the two World Wars) because he thought every student should aspire to this kind of spiritual engagement.