Semper Fi: New School

     In one of last year’s Newsletter issues, I brought to you the status of USC’s Semper Fi Society – a status of flux and transition. What can be said about this year’s organization for former, current, and aspiring Marines is that it’s not your daddy’s Semper Fi.

     First, the Marine presence at USC will be greatly damaged after this spring’s commissioning ceremony. The unit will lose five good Marines, but the Fleet will gain five newly commissioned leaders. MIDN Carlos, Horgan, Morales, Rey, and Teuscher will be leaving, and their shoes will be hard to fill. Carrying on the traditions upheld by this year’s Semper Fi president, MIDN Carlos, will be its newly elected president, Sgt. Enright, an 0121 Marine, who came to the Trojan Battalion at the beginning of the spring semester from the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton. Already his influence can be felt, with his reinvigorating of the enlisted presence in the battalion lost when 2^nd LT Fincher and ENS Garrison commissioned last August.

Also taking the lead in the MO side of the Battalion is a new batch of 2/C midshipmen primed and ready to attend OCS this summer along with Sgt. Enright. MIDN Ferrell, Laprise, Nelson, and Warner have been preparing all year for OCS, enduring grueling PT at the hands of the Terminator, I mean, Major Hamstra. What deserves extra note is the switch from Navy Option to Marine Option undertook by MIDN Laprise and Nelson this past year, bolstering the ranks of Semper Fi in a time when such ranks seem to be shrinking rapidly.

All in all, next year the battalion will have four 1/C Marine Options, one 2/C, and one MECEP. There are currently no Marine Options in next year’s 3/C, and the prospects for picking up Marine Options in the incoming 4/C are low. Additionally, with the loss of Major Parker at UCLA, the Marine presence in the unit as a whole will be diminished further. We are lucky, indeed, to have Marines like COL Morrison, MAJ Hamstra, GYSGT Bravo, and SGT Enright, and Marine Options like MIDN Ferrell, Laprise, Nelson, and Warner; but the simple fact is that, with the shrinking size of the battalion as a whole, the number of Marines and Marine Options is dwindling. We must, therefore, cherish our Marine presence in the Trojan Battalion and always look forward to any opportunities to receive new midshipmen who aspire to join the ranks of the few and the proud.

By MIDN 3/C Hendler