Some USMC Pride!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching some of my very favorite Marines. The Commandant's Own Drum and Bugle Corps and the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. I've only seen the Commandant's own a few times. Twice here while on their yearly tour and twice in VA. I've been lucky enough to see them at both the Evening Parade at Marine Barracks Washington and at the Sunset Parade in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial in VA. AH-Mazing. If you are EVER in the DC area in the summer this is a must see! You have to get tickets for the Evening Parade (they're free!) and the Sunset Parade you just show up for. Seriously, you have to go!

The second half of the show is the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. I am in love with these guys and could stalk them everywhere they perform. The Silent Drill Platoon is a group of 16 Marines who do their whole show without any vocal commands or cadences. Fixed bayonets and all. Wow.

I have been able to watch them almost every year since 2002. When I worked at Invesco Field (Mile High/Sports Authority Field at Mile High/whatever you guys are re-naming it this year...) you could always find me watching them do the halftime show. I loved that I was up on the club level and could still hear their hands clapping against their legs and the snap of the leather band on the rifle. And I truly loved the fact that all the fans still out watching the show were watching with an awed silence that is so hard to achieve in a stadium that seats 76,000 people.

I am so in love with them, that I did in fact stalk them. I dragged my sister and Miss M up to Leadville, CO a few years ago when they were shooting a recruiting commercial.

Shooting their commercial in the background. Photo from www.our.marines.com

Really, I am so proud of these Marines and I hope that someday all of you will be lucky enough to personally see their precision and dedication to their craft and country.