NOTE: The following was passed along in an email group list of which I am a member. cdh

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I picked up on something very funny this morning. CNN showed President Bush leaving HM-1. The Marine at the front step saluted, GW returned it, and as he walked away, the Marine executed a right face to stand facing GW's back...something that was missing in eight years of the Clinton presidency.

The traditional Marine Corps mark of respect was rendered to the new president. That one goes back to the days in the rigging, when the Marine orderly to the ship's captain always faced him, no matter his direction of movement, to be ready to receive an order.

Who says that enlisted men can't hold back when they don't respect someone? ...And for eight years, they did.

How neat. The subtlety of it is elegant in it's simplicity. Clinton never knew the difference, yet it occurred in front of the whole world. Here's to the Marine Corps :-)