Photo By Sgt. Nicholas Lubchenko | Retired military members discuss the past and present while waiting for breakfast at...... read more read more
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The Regiment of Retired Marines hosted a Military Retiree Breakfast at the Ball Center on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Saturday.
“This happens every other month here at the Ball Center,” said Al Karle, a retired Marine. “It’s just about a bunch of old retired guys getting together and having some comradery and having a good time.”
The retirees use this breakfast to look out for one another.
“We try and get together often to make sure no one has lost touch with each other,” said Michael Cline, the coordinator for the Military Retiree Breakfast.
Col. Michael Scalise, commander of Camp Lejeune, was the guest speaker for the breakfast.
“I think it’s great that you’ve still got this interest from this population of Marines,” said Scalise. “I mean, as I look around the room and I see that they’ve still got that Marine in them, and they take the time to get together, to talk about old stories, to bring in some active-duty folk to talk about the Marine Corps today, they’re still engaged. We know that, and we owe that solid Marine Corps to them.”
The event constantly invites active duty guest speakers so they can voice their concerns and share the knowledge and experience they have.
“We may be old but we have a lot of knowledge to share,” said Cline.
The breakfast allows the Marines to reconnect with friends and brothers they haven’t seen in decades.
“You run into a guy sometimes that you haven’t seen in 20 years, and you know this is what he’s been doing, here is what I’ve been doing,” said Merwin Fuller, a retired first sergeant. “You know the basic things you do when you run into a friend of yours when you are on active duty. You haven’t seen him in a while and you talk about what they’ve done and where they’ve been.”
Scalise answered questions and concerns from the breakfast’s attendees in addition to his speech.
“The Marine Corps is very good in the fact that we all know about the veteran Marines. We also all know that they have very high standards; we know that they are watching, and that we do owe them to maintain that Marine Corps that they were in, to the high standards that existed in those days and still exist today,” said Scalise.
The regiment holds some traditions that may be unorthodox but hold a powerful meaning to the retirees. One such tradition is that the officers serve everyone else before serving themselves.
“The field grade officers serve us in the morning as a way to give back to the Marines and say thank you,” said Cline.
According to Cline there are no plans to stop a 20 year tradition anytime soon.
| Date Taken: | 06.24.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 07.21.2017 10:12 |
| Story ID: | 242034 |
| Location: | NC, US |
| Web Views: | 38 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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