Part of what's infuriating about Trump's comments is that, as Hemingway put it:

"in modern war there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason."

Blaming the dead/wounded/captured is blaming victims of bad luck

On-brand for him, but

it's intolerable for us who put our lives on the line, especially if we believe in honor - which so many of us who served do

Also: So many of the troops who died during the Draft era were doubly unlucky: They didn't want to serve, had to anyway, were blown up

Suckers!? Losers!?

And in modern war, you know that you are being thrown into a possible meaningless death

a mangling of the body

a ravaging of the soul

To have to go through the act of marching to war, with this in your mind, then to be horribly demeaned by your highest leader?

*Intolerable*

Especially for marines, who die at elevated rates, kill at elevated rates, fight extra ferociously, drive harder, clench our teeth with more grit, give up more of our inner selves and long-term well-being to become elite killers of men

to dishonor our most venerated? **BEYOND**

Also: Being a marine is *so different* from other service

Other groups of troops are tougher than average marines: Rangers, Green Berets, Delta Force, etc

but the psychological forge of Marine Corps boot camp is uniquely harrowing

Degrading those who choose to go through it?

The Corps nearly universally prepares recruits to obey orders unto death

to be ready to march slowly into auto .50-cal fire if it's deemed necessary by a dumbass prick of a corporal

even if it just wiped out 20 marines before us

Trump degraded those who died doing that?

*NO*.

Trump degraded men who dove on grenades to save their comrades, who got up to charged into death when any sane person'd stay the f*** in their foxhole, who were waiting to die in a charge when a shell happened to blow them in half, and who lost their minds to trauma & died broken

You know what's worse than dying in war? You know what you fear more than death, more than traumatic injury, more than PTSD?

Seeing your friends die, seeing your comrades die

Trump attacked *those* *dead*, those whom we would eagerly leap into death protect

He attacked *them*

You know what else marines - even most poorly-acting marines - will die to protect?

The honor of the Corps.

I would still die *eagerly*, *happily*,

- even as I bear the scars I once carved through my Marine Corps tattoo -

to save the honor of the Corps

Trump attacked THAT

I did that horrible carving because I felt that the Marine Corps had broken its bond of honor with itself, its nation, and its marines

I did that in a form that was still about self-sacrifice for the sake of Marine Corps honor

I'd do worse to myself to protect it from Trump.

You can question things the Corps does to its recruits, to its marines, to civilians on/near our bases, to people we are sent to war against

You can question what some marines do to their spouses

but

*NEVER*

*ATTACK*

*MARINE*

*CORPS*

*HONOR*

Trump did exactly that.

Please pardon typos, oversharing