"THE RIFLE CREED" Before God I swear this Creed. This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. My rifle is human, even as I am human, because it is my life. Thus I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights, and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. My rifle and I will become part of each other. We will. Before God I swear this Creed. My rifle and myself are defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace. So help me God.
I'm not the baddest man on the planet, but I'll show you where I buried him.
People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf
USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3), nicknamed "Devil Dog", was the second ship named after the Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I. Her keel was laid down on 5 March 1973 at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Ingalls Shipbuilding. She was launched on 11 April 1977, and commissioned on 23 September 1978, with Captain T.C. Steele in command.
Belleau Wood was the third of five ships in a new class (Tarawa class) of general-purpose amphibious assault ships and combined into one ship type the functions previously performed by four different types: the amphibious assault ship (LPH/Landing Platform Helicopter), the amphibious transport dock (LPD), the amphibious cargo ship (LKA), and the dock landing ship (LSD). She was capable of landing elements of a United States Marine Corps battalion landing team and their supporting equipment by landing craft, helicopters, or a combination of both.
LHA-3: displacement 39,300; length 820'; beam 106'; draft 26'; speed 20 + knots; complement 904; armament: three 5-inch/54 guns, two Basic Point Defense Missile Systems and six 20-mm machine guns; sensors: SPS-52 3D search radar, SPS-10 and SPS-40 search radars, SPN-35 Air/navigation radar, Integrated Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System, and OE-82 satellite communications antenna, SSR-1 receiver and WSC-3 transceiver.
