So there was an atricle in the Marine Times this week about how the term Devil Dog has a negative conotation amongst the younger generation of Marines and it got me to thinking why is this?

Well I have an answer to this and it has to do with Marines such as myself and those other “higher-ups” from the Cpl all the way to the SgtMaj as well as officers.  So how have we as leaders made this once positive term negative?  Let me tell you how:

 I joined the Marine Corps in 1995 and it was not uncommon to hear “Hey F^&KER or D**KHEAD” or just about any other vulgar slang you could think of when you were getting in trouble.  Well soon after that the powers that be (Generals) said we need to be more polite to the troops and stop hazing etc etc.  Well how was that Cpl, SSgt, Gunny or SgtMaj to do if he couldn’t yell out profanities across the grinder or field or what not to get the Marine’s attention well we did what we felt was necessary and started yelling “HEY DEVIL DOG!!”

So now the young Marine hears the term Devil Dog and it sets off a pavlovian response of “oh great now I am going to get my butt chewed” and this is why Devil Dog has become such a negative term in the Marine Corps today to the fact that I often hear Marines say oh damn you got devil dogged or it is reffered to as the double D.  And that is the tale of the once proud DEVIL DOG

Semper Fi

The Jarhead

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