People Are Calling This Speech By Marine General 'Mad Dog' Mattis 'The Most Motivating Speech Of All Time'
General Jim "Mad Dog" Mattis, one of the most beloved generals of the Marine Corps, made a truly inspiring speech at the Marine Corps University Foundation's 2014 Semper Fidelis Award Dinner.
The Marine Times is saying the speech "may be the most motivating speech of all time" as it "summed up the Marine Corps ethos and experience-from bar fights to earth's orbit."
Here are a few highlights:
"I have never been bewildered for long in any fight with our enemies - I was Armed with Insight."
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"Images flash through my mind- and I speak from my heart: of an Eighth & "I" parade in honor of John Glenn who remarked that night: He had been a Marine for 23 years…but not long enough. That was from a man fought in WWII & Korea and was the first American to orbit the earth, His wingman in Korea, baseball legend Ted Williams, put it well when asked which was best team he ever played on. Without hesitation he said, "The U.S. Marine Corps"
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"On evenings like this most of us will remember the tragedy of losing comrades Beautiful Marines ... And we remember them, everyone, who gave their lives so our experiment called America, could live."
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"Because every Marine, if he was in a tough spot - whether a bar fight, or tonight in Helmand River Valley, our fellow Marines would get to us, or die trying."
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Entirely satisfied if we gave 100% And entirely dissatisfied if we gave 99% And those [noncommissioned officers] taught us the great pleasure of doing what others thought impossible.
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"So long as our Corps fields such Marines, America has nothing to fear from tyrants, be they Fascists, Communists or Tyrants with Medieval Ideology. For we serve in a Corps with no institutional confusion about our purpose: To fight! To fight well!"
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"Now this award can never be mine - And because we are members of the same tribe, every one of you knows what I will say next…. For I am grateful & humbled to be singled out with you tonight."
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"For to Marines, love of liberty is not an empty phrase… Rather it's displayed by blood, sweat and tears for the fallen."
General Mattis is a a prime example of everything a Marine can be. Having served in both Gulf Wars as well as the War in Afghanistan, General Nattis rose to the rank of a four star general.