This isn’t a story, really. It’s an observation, and I guess a gripe. In September 1967 I arrived in country on the day that my recruit Platoon Commander (MCRD San Diego, Platoon 356, April 1966 ) GySgt Robert C. Roper was killed on Con Thien while serving as company gunny of H/2/9. Gunny Roper was the inspiration for the current DI Statue on the edge of the grinder at MCRD. Then SSgt Roper was the poster quintessential image of a Marine, an infantry veteran of Korea who enlisted in the Corps at 17, and the first Marine I saw at 2100 hours when I stood on the yellow footprints and began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. I write this to draw attention to a situation that to my eye, is all to prevalent in the way Marines of today present themselves in any uniform other than utilities. Call it bitchy if you wish, but here it is: we learned, well, we were forced to learn, that pride in the uniform we were about to earn the honor of wearing was paramount in how we viewed and would present ourselves as Marines. We shined our brass every day, and spit shined our boots every day, and, when we were given them before graduation, spit shined our dress shoes, and the visor of our barracks cover frame. Our gig lines, when first standing final inspection in, for me, the tropical uniform, was perfect, from the platen of the tropical shirt, through the belt buckle, and through the fly. I recently attended a “welcome home Vietnam veterans” ceremony at the DLI in Monterey where I observed two Marine sergeants, recruiters, both of whom had gig lines that made me cringe. Then, in the recent edition of Leatherneck, the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps appears on the cover with his belt buckle completely off the gig line. GySgt Roper is spinning in his casket, and I, for one, long for the day when the one thing, in garrison, that caused us to stand out from all the other services was the absolute perfection in the appearance of our uniforms. we had no anodized anything, including decorations. It was a difficult mindset to reacquire, after returning from Vietnam where we shined and polished nothing, and wore no rank insignia except on our soft utility covers, and of course never bathed, but reacquire it we did. I guess the old Corps is gone forever. Why? Stateside Marines are supposed to be perfect in uniform, from the Commandant on down. That is apparently not the case any longer. Do current Marines find that acceptable, or am I just an old fart learning for another era?
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I still maintain a straight gig line in my civilian attire.
In my day,1964-68, we called it, Military Alignment.
We just called it taking pride in our uniform and not dressing like a sailor.
Parris Island 1961 We also called it Military Alignment,,,,,,,,,After all these years, still do it to stay squared away every day.
Still to this day are my alignment points are exactly where they were to be in Boot. Tie ending at the buckle. Edge of the buckle in line with the edge of fly of our trousers. I don’t remember what we called it, I just know I wasn’t messing up during an inspection
I do it unconsciously. Good habits die hard
I too noticed the Sgt/Maj of our beloved CORPS gig line off. I’m 76 years old now and still keep a straight gig line..SEMPER FI
My wife said ” What’s wrong with you?. Why are you screaming at the picture like that?.” I said ” The MAN IS THE #%#+*#%# SGTMAJOR OF THE MARINE CORPS! LOOK AT HIS &$()?// GIG LINE !!!”. Thank you Gentlemen, Good to know I’m not alone. Sgt/0311/67-71/ C 1/5.
Guess us old farts are to set in our ways or maybe it’s because our DIs pounded things in our heads so hard we can’t forget how to dress. I also check my alignment even when in my work clothes. Didn’t see the Sergeants Major picture. Suspect if I had I would have repeateded Dickerson’s reaction.
My church clothes, my everyday clothes and my work clothes would make my DI (GySgt. Delkowsky) proud of me. Never never not squared away. Boot camp 1962 – Parris Island. What the hell happened in the meantime?
The Marines are this country’s last real military. There are and were those who have wormed their way into positions of power that hate the Marines for just that reason. Please write letters to Mattis and the Commandant ASAP. 0311, E2/7, 1974-1980
Like others Marines of the 60’s era, I still use the gig line on all my clothing. I have noted that the changing ‘terrain features’ as we age makes it more challenging to locate the waist and fly areas …
Not as lean, not as mean, but still a MARINE! Amen brother, that gave me a smile
David Waltz Sgt. 7th Engineers August 20,2017 To this day I check my self without thinking. Why can’t the teach this anymore in boot camp. They are to easy on them. They need to take more pride in themselves and the Corp.
Write a letter to both Secretay Mattis and The Commandant, now!
If the stories I’ve read about Chesty Puller are true, then perhaps the story in which he said, if ever being made Commandant of the Marine Corps, he would replace the Cole machines with beer machines and have the WMs shine the male Marines’ boots. After all, a Marine’s job is to fight, not to shine shoes
I still wear my original belt buckles with web belts every day, and always “line up” everything. I must say I don’t polish the brass always, but on occasion. Platoon 112, Jan. 1964. San Diego.
My kid is in MCRD as I speak. While going through MEPS a few weeks ago I was appalled at the slovenly dress and habits of some of the recruiters. Some of them stood around leaning against walls and pillars with their hands in their pockets. Uncovered outside. Pudgy guts pressing against the straining buttons of the uniforms. Don’t get me started on compliance with anything resembling a gig line. These ^*%holes had no business being in those Marine uniforms. I pointed all this out to my son and told him to take note in the lack of pride on display, and that I better NOT see him acting or dressing like that on Family Day and graduation. I wrote a letter to Secretary Mattis last week about this, and I encourage ALL of you to do the same, with copies to SecNav and the Commandant. Please do this RIGHT NOW!! 0311 E2/7, 1976-1980
And that’s why Chesty let God create Pogs.
Amen to that brother. I NEVER stand around with my hands in my pockets no Matter How cold it is! My gig line remains Perfect and has since boot camp! Will remain perfect until I die!
I too utilize the “gig line” in my daily work wear. The alignment gives a sharp impression and pride in how your dressed. I supposed in this day and age of the comfortable BDU that doesn’t matter. MCRD San Diego plt. 1044, 4/1974.
PI in August ’57 ! If you weren’t aligned, polished and shined, big trouble! At 78 I still try to make sure I am aligned.Anyone remember the”Ike Jacket”?
I remember it. Went through bootcamp in 1964 and after AIT was assigned to the 10th Marines at Camp Lejeune. We were some of the 1st to be issued the new dress greens. While passing a Gunny with an Ike jacket who saluted me thinking I was an officer and then realized I was a private, did I catch hell. I too still align my clothing. Semper Fi
military alignment looks to be a thing of the past. sad. the Marine Corps is not for everyone. but, unfortunately it’s be promoted as such. average is the norm of today’s Marine Corps. sad, but true.
I don’t think I ever knew that there was a name for this alignment, but it’s something I practiced even before I entered The Corps. I still get called “obsessive/compulsive” for my attention to this kind of detail. I find it odd that a young man should have to join The Corps before learning the concept of STYLE, and even then some still don’t “get it”. I was a peacetime Marine (1959-’65) and felt that, since I wasn’t having to lay my life on the line daily, the least I could do was to maintain a modicum of decorum and try to make a positive first impression wherever I might be seen while in uniform (or in civvies for that matter). I’m delighted to learn that so many of you, out there, recognize the value of attention to details which others seem to find insignificant. However, not to put too fine a point on it, this isn’t merely about how you wear your clothes, but reflective of how you conduct your life. Semper Fi Marines
Don’t get me started on gig lines, alright now you have me started. I was a “pog”, by terms described by others, but I am a “CAR” earning, wearing pog. Spent time, almost 11 years in the recruiting field and never let my gig line get out of whack or let my recruiters get out of line with the gigline. Wore covers when we were supposed to, and kept our hands out of the pockets, as we had them sewn shut to stop the bowing out and remove any temptation to where Army gloves. Now, back to the giglines, I needed work on my sphincter muscle to my stomache at Bethesda before retirement, heck of a gigline there. Years later needed quad by-pass, and put the doctor on notice about my gigline, well needless to say following surgery he let me know that my gigline was perfect from my neck to my belly button, damn that made my day. OOH RAH, GIGLINES TIL THE DAY I START MY TOUR ON THE PEARLY GATES. SEMPR FI>
Semper fi, MSgt!
This Marine spent half his enlistment on Sea Duty (Shangra La and Corral Sea) so you know I stay squared-away. So much has changed concerning the wearing of, maintenance of the uniform and drill its hard to understand.
I learned by example. My grandpa and dad (master and gunny) taught me and my brother what the gig line was long before we ever went through PI. Buckle and shirt aligned with the zip flap, trousers squarely on the waist, and the bottom hems at the top of the heel of the shoe in the rear with a slight break in the front. To this day, I have to get some trousers altered for that correct length. And for God’s sake, make damn sure your shirt’s neatly tucked and crisp. No bulky pockets. Make that tie knot tight and squared away with the tip of the tie no further than the belt buckle. Chest out and head up. Eyes steady. I haven’t been in uniform for more than thirty years, but I still adhere to those basic rules of military dress and address. It never left me. And I made sure my son knew those rules long before he went to PI in 2009. You can’t be a Marine and not look good!
Hell, that is why I joined the Marines in ’66, the year of the draft. did not want to get drafted (wanted to go on my terms), wasn’t going to college and sure as hell wasn’t running to Canada…..the army uniform never fit any joker I laid eyes on. the navy bell bottoms were ok and the air force…well all the males in my family were air force but I wasn’t having none of that. attended mid-night mass on Xmas….in strode this Marine in his fitting greens and I knew that is where I was headed. still blouse my shirt to this day…. pants are for women and squids, Marines wear trousers! 3114 killers sir!
Ooh-F’n-Rah!
I also maintain a straight gig line in my civilian attire. It drives my wife crazy when I check myself before leaving the house. After 45 yrs. of been married she still can’t understand me. Semper Fi.
Recently a Marine C-130 crashed in Mississippi. The news media posted pictures of the deceased Marines in their dress green uniforms. (Alpha when I was in) Those Marines had obviously not been taught the correct way to tie a tie (field scarf to the old breed). Their appearance to a man in those photos did not reflect the pride and attention to detail that was inculcated to Marines during my period of service. (70-78) What has happened to our Corps.? Is this a manifestation of Ray Mabus’ disastrous term as Secretary of the Navy?
When I reported in for DI School at PI in 1952, the Sgt of the guard at the main gate said your gig line is good, but your knot on your field scarf is bad. I said, what the hale is a gig line, I never heard of it. He explained it to me in detail. Then he said you better step in the head and re-tie that scarf, or you won’t get a very warm welcome. I was coming in from an Ammo Depot Base,and most of us tied Windsor knots, and no complaints about that. So after getting squared away, he allowed me to sign in, and the way I went to become a JDI. To this day, I tie the regulation knot and check my gig line. Never recall ever being told about regulation knots in MCRDSAN or ITR @ OCEANSIDE before going to Korea? I must have been asleep during that class.! I am 86 and have a lot of brain fog, so maybe I forget those things.
Awesome story, Bob. Semper Fidelis.
To this day, 46 years after my discharge from active duty, I maintain proper military alignment in my civies. Every other Marine I know does this as well A few years ago I was commuting from my home in Denver to the large corporate office of a multinational energy company in Houston when I noticed another of their employees maintaining impeccable military alignment in his civilian work clothes. I ask if he was a Marine and he affirmed that he was. You can always tell a Marine (you just can’t tell him much).
Graduated Parris Island SC in 1963. We called it, our “Military Alignment.” My last day of active duty was 16 June 1966, which was the second time I was officially wounded in Vietnam… That was when the Corps seemed to start changing, and politics started controlling the mindset of the Corps. Don’t feel alone, a lot more than military alignment slipped away from the Marine Corps in the last few decades. Most people don’t realize that the abolishment of the draft was also a factor to all the services overall… And the kind of “wars” the men have to fight now… Then have to come back to a VA filled of strange people that treat veterans like they are from a different planet. All I can say is, time changes things. Cpl. RC Binns, USMC Ret. Navy Cross. (Highest decorated living survivor of The Battle of Hill 488). Author of “The Price of Glory / Battle of Hill 488. If you want to hear about changes read it, it’s on Amazon as an eBook.
So I see most of these are from the real Old Corps. I graduated Parris Island in 1992. I still cannot walk out the door without checking my trousers, shirt, and belt for proper alignment. I also do not wear any headgear indoors. In fact, I told my son to remove his this morning while we were shopping when we walked inside. One must have some pride in their own personal appearance.
Sirs, you old TURDS amaze me.. 48 years after getting out we can still have a conversation about military allotment… Yes I still line things up, it’s a task sometime (I’m 71) but pride wins every time… Stay sharp brothers.. Semper Fi… L/cpl Henry young, RVN 65/66/69
Semper fidelis, Henry. God bless you, you old turd.
No F’n excuse Sgt Major of the Marine Corps….resign.
I watched the Presidents speech last evening and was amazed that the audience were all wearing their services working uniform, if they can’t wear their class A uniform for the President why even have them?