‘Devil Dog’ term taking a beating

So apperantly the younger generation of Marines is having a problem with being called devil dogs. Here is a link and a snippet from the story. My comments to follow.

Marine Times

Quote :

Listen up, Devil Dogs. Oh yeah, that got your attention. Perhaps it even got your blood boiling? Or maybe you didn’t notice the big double-D.

Lately, reactions to the Corps’ longtime nickname generally depend on the age of the Marine listening.

A generational divide is opening around the term “Devil Dog,” which came into use 90 years ago on the battlefields of France. While it’s been a term of colloquial endearment for generations of leathernecks, some of the newest and youngest Marines say they’re tired of being called Devil Dogs. They even take offense at the term.

That came as a surprise to former Staff Sgt. Glenn Kirst, a 34-year-old financial advisor in Milwaukee who joined the Corps in 1991 and spent 10 years on active duty. He was out shopping with his girlfriend a few weeks ago when the pair passed a Marine in the parking lot of a Best Buy store.

Kirst grinned and nodded at the Marine, sporting a “USMC” T-shirt and close-cropped hair as he walked with a girlfriend.

“I said ‘Hey, there’s another Devil Dog,’” Kirst recalled. The Marine gave him a blank stare and the Marine’s girlfriend got angry. “She started shouting at me. ‘Before you make a comment like that, why don’t you grow some f---ing balls and serve your country.’”

“I was stunned,” Kirst said. “I called my friend, who is a Marine captain in the infantry. He told me the term ‘Devil Dog’ is not used much anymore, and is usually used in a negative manner. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“When I was in the Corps, I used the nickname Devil Dog like a badge of honor.”

I don't think it is a problem with the term or the usage at all. The problem is this newer generation of punks who can't thicken their skin and earn their way through the ranks. I was called a devil dog all the time and mostly by superiors before they yell at you. The NCOs were always yelling at us and calling us devil dogs. So what is what I say. As an NCO I would call my Marines devil dogs all the time. If anything it just got annoying to hear all the time but that is just how it is. What would these sissys rather be called, little bitches, assholes, shit for brains, boots. Devil dog is a good way to refer to them in my opinion. As Marines we know our history and where the name comes from. No matter how it is being used you should be proud to be called a Devil Dog. As always...

Semper Fi to all and to my fellow Devil Dogs.

Jimmy E wrote:

So apperantly the younger generation of Marines is having a problem with being called devil dogs. Here is a link and a snippet from the story. My comments to follow.

Marine Times

Quote :

Listen up, Devil Dogs. Oh yeah, that got your attention. Perhaps it even got your blood boiling? Or maybe you didn’t notice the big double-D.

Lately, reactions to the Corps’ longtime nickname generally depend on the age of the Marine listening.

A generational divide is opening around the term “Devil Dog,” which came into use 90 years ago on the battlefields of France. While it’s been a term of colloquial endearment for generations of leathernecks, some of the newest and youngest Marines say they’re tired of being called Devil Dogs. They even take offense at the term.

That came as a surprise to former Staff Sgt. Glenn Kirst, a 34-year-old financial advisor in Milwaukee who joined the Corps in 1991 and spent 10 years on active duty. He was out shopping with his girlfriend a few weeks ago when the pair passed a Marine in the parking lot of a Best Buy store.

Kirst grinned and nodded at the Marine, sporting a “USMC” T-shirt and close-cropped hair as he walked with a girlfriend.

“I said ‘Hey, there’s another Devil Dog,’” Kirst recalled. The Marine gave him a blank stare and the Marine’s girlfriend got angry. “She started shouting at me. ‘Before you make a comment like that, why don’t you grow some f---ing balls and serve your country.’”

“I was stunned,” Kirst said. “I called my friend, who is a Marine captain in the infantry. He told me the term ‘Devil Dog’ is not used much anymore, and is usually used in a negative manner. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“When I was in the Corps, I used the nickname Devil Dog like a badge of honor.”

I don't think it is a problem with the term or the usage at all. The problem is this newer generation of punks who can't thicken their skin and earn their way through the ranks. I was called a devil dog all the time and mostly by superiors before they yell at you. The NCOs were always yelling at us and calling us devil dogs. So what is what I say. As an NCO I would call my Marines devil dogs all the time. If anything it just got annoying to hear all the time but that is just how it is. What would these sissys rather be called, little bitches, assholes, shit for brains, boots. Devil dog is a good way to refer to them in my opinion. As Marines we know our history and where the name comes from. No matter how it is being used you should be proud to be called a Devil Dog. As always...

Semper Fi to all and to my fellow Devil Dogs.

Ooh Rah brother! You know my former handle OldCorp came from my experience as one of the last of the Old Breed, raised in a Corp where being struck by an NCO was a cause for embarrassment because you had fucked up epically, and not as an excuse to complain to the company commander about your feelings getting hurt. These guys sound like a bunch of pussies, almost like... Air Force recruits.

The Marine Corp is built on tradition, and the Battle of Belleau Wood has always been a part of that tradition. The Marines in that battle fought so fiercely that the terrified Germans called them "Teufelshunde" - Devil Dogs - and that nickname has been a badge of honor for almost 100 years.

How about this? If these guys don't want to be called Devil Dogs we can oblige them and call them by another Old Corp term: SHITBIRDS.


Ich Bien Eine Teufelshunde

Teuful Hunden!!!