Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. So, The Few the Proud the Marines forgets the basic mission and focuses on the celebration of Pride Week. What is the basic mission of the Marine Corps? Is it to achieve diversity of all ideologies within the ranks? I was taught the mission 50 years ago as follows: To close with and destroy the enemy and to inflict maximum attrition on him. It is a mission and a history based on blood and sacrifice. Officers are taught that the order of value is first the mission and its successful completion, second the men under your authority, third your own life. You quickly come to learn and accept that your life as a second lieutenant is pretty far down the order of importance. I mention all that just to tell you that it is a beloved organization by the people who have served and most of us would not trade the experience for anything.  When we were sent into battle, we knew that we had each other’s back and we depended on and relied on each other. In fact, setting aside all the patriotic stuff, we fought for each other.  I assume Marines still do that and that is why division and divisive nonsense like Pride Month are such an insult to Marines. We are 10 days into Pride Month and everywhere you look there are rainbow flags signifying support for the month set aside to honor the “LGBTQ Community. “I’m an old Marine from 50 years ago so seeing a notice that the Marine Corps had finally surrendered to the woke mob was a little perplexing to me. I know things change and culture changes in keeping with the law of thermodynamics, but the Marine Corps does not change, it lives forever as is.  The exact statement the Marine Corps released from headquarters Marine Corps in Washington D.C. announcing recognition of Pride Month was as follows: “Throughout June, the USMC takes Pride in recognizing and honoring the contributions of our LGBTQ service members. We remain committed to fostering an environment free from discrimination, and defend the values of treating all equally, with dignity and respect.” The image released with the statement was widely mocked on social media and was apparently taken from the 1987 film by Stanley Kubrick, “Full Metal Jacket.” The illustration was a Marine helmet with several rainbow-colored rifle bullets in the band with the words “Proud to Serve” written on the helmet. The difference between that image and the film image was that in the film version the helmet said, “born to kill. “If you saw that movie then you understand what those men portrayed as Marines endured and you might start to understand. Whether born that way or not, killing is every Marines’ job and the bottom line of his duty. I suppose they should go ahead and change the slogan used in TV recruiting commercials for years, The Few the Proud, the Marines. Now perhaps we should just say we are proud to support pride. Seriously though I don’t get this. A whole month set aside to honor certain people’s sexual preference,