Scene: Tun Tavern, Philadelphia. Date: 1775 Time: Evening.
Lt. O'Bannon was sitting at a candle-lit table with a feather pen and an open ledger before him.
He was recruiting the world's first U. S. Marine Detachment. The first potential recruit, whose name has been lost in antiquity, walked up and said, “What's the deal?” O'Bannon said, “Just sign this book, and I'll give you $5, which is your first month's pay, a bottle of whiskey and you're in. Of course you have to have your own musket.”
The recruit thought for just a second and said, “OK. I have a musket”, signed, became the USA's very first Marine recruit, took his $5 and bottle into the back room to wait. Second potential recruit walked up and asked, “What's the deal?” O'Bannon said, “Just sign this book, and I'll give you $5, which is your first month's pay, a bottle of whiskey and you're in. Of course you have to have your own musket.” Looking sad, the second recruit said, “I'd really like to be a Marine, Sir, but I don't own a musket.”
To which O'Bannon replied: “Don't worry about it, son, we'll find you one.” (…which meant he was going to steal one from the Army.) So he signed, became the USA's second Marine, and walked to the back room with his $5 and bottle of whiskey. The first Marine looked the second Marine over and, by and by, asked, “So what was your deal?” The second Marine said “Well, I got $5, a bottle of whiskey and a musket.” The first Marine thought on it for a while and finally said: “Yeah. I figured, but you know, back in the Old Corps, you had to bring our own musket.”
And so it began.