Delaware Department Commandant Message July 2012
Marines, Corpsmen and Associates… Please allow me this opportunity to thank you all for the privilege you have afforded me to serve as your Department Commandant. There is no greater honor than to be elected by your peers to a position of importance within an organization that we all hold so dearly. Thank you.

When we recruit members we know quickly, if they are an eligible candidate for our membership. One of the mantras we always talked about was simply this, “It’s not the dues you pay to be a member, it’s the initiation to become eligible that’s so tuff.” We know when they fill out the application what they did to become eligible.

But, have you ever really examined the oath we all took when we joined the League. I have listened to it often when we swore in new members at First State Detachment. However it was not until I administered that oath and read it closely that its true meaning sunk in.

The second paragraph states: “I will never knowingly wrong, deceive, or defraud the League, to the value of anything,” and the next sentence reads, “I will never knowingly wrong or injure or permit any member, or any members family to be wronged or injured, if to prevent same is within my power.”

That’s some pretty heady stuff for a service organization. We put it into the oath and, therefore, into the very fabric of our League. Does any other service organization demand that sort of Esprit de Corps from their members? I think not.

We are Marines after all. No one will ever dare argue that fact. And the last point of the oath reads (in pertinent part), “I…will govern my conduct…and in my personal life, in a manner becoming a decent and honor-able person, and will never knowingly bring discredit to the league. So help me God.”

If we read the oath, we don’t need mission statements or paragraphs to describe our League. We do not require any explanations. We have earned the title of United States Marine!

It is our unending responsibility to maintain the integrity of that title by definition and by deed. As Marines we were expected to be the first to go, take the first shot, and take the first hit. And as we did that, we all knew that we never ever leave a man behind. As you read the oath of our League, please remember little has changed. We have a unique responsibility to look after our brethren. We were taught there’s no “I” in team, platoon or company. When we conduct our meetings, or gather for social events or fundraisers, we must always remember the basic principles for which we stand.

We are not looking for a few good men or women. We are looking for Marines. That is what makes us unique. That is what makes us the Marine Corps League. That is why we still look out for our fellow Marine, and we will never leave them behind. EVER!

Semper Fi, Fred Wise, Commandant MCL Department of Delaware

"The Marines have landed and the situation is well in hand. Attributed to Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916)"

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