When I was just a kid, my father used to sing a song he learned in the army. It was entitled "The Navy Gets the Gravy, But the Army Gets the Beans," and was from the 1951 Jerry Lewis film "At War With the Army." What made this so amusing is that Dad would follow up his rather lusty recitation with horror stories of the menu he was subjected to while in the Army. Mind you, he was stationed in France and didn't see any combat, but he's a very picky eater. Dinner time was not his favorite part of the day.
Fast forward about 35 years when my older brother also joined the Army. He was an MP who was constantly telling stories of drunk marines getting into trouble in Frankfurt. Between the two of them, one thing I learned form my dad and brother is that there's an ongoing rivalry among the various branches of the U.S. military, particularly the Army and Navy. And since the Marine Corps is part of the Navy, they are a big part of that rivalry.
It's a friendly rivalry, so don't worry about that. In times of trouble all the services band together to fight the enemy. But when they're standing down, they love to jab and best each other. The annual Army-Navy football game is but one great example.
If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of those games, you'll be quick to notice all the veterans in the crowd. You'll be able to identify them through patches on their coats or hats, or perhaps a tattoo if the weather's nice enough to forgo a jacket.
You might see a guy with US Army military patches, such as a black and gold US Army Veteran patch on one sleeve, and a US Army rocker patch on the other. There will be vets from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wearing their combat fatigues in honor of their fallen brethren. You'll probably even see guys wearing patches specific to the job they did in the service. Things like "airborne", "sniper", and "ranger."
On the other side of the stadium the Navy boys will be displaying their colors proudly. Marines will be wearing Marine patches or tattoos declaring the Marine Corps motto, "Semper Fidelis" or, "Always Faithful." A really cool patch I saw recently had a skull and crossbones look with M-16 rifles taking the place of the bones. The skull was donned with a green Marine Corps hat while the inscription read, "mess with the best die like the rest." Awesome stuff!
I think it might be a lot of fun to get a boat load of Army and Marine patches and sew them on opposite sides of a vest. In other words, one half would all be Army and the other all Marines. Then take that vest and wear it to the annual football game. It would be great to see what kind of reaction that would get. All in fun of course - I love them both!
Military Patches
