Ah, the smell of it in the air. It’s like that first snap of fall after suffering through a blazing summer. You feel the change.

That’s how Marines are around the first of November. We get a little twitchy, a little giddy. FaceBook portraits change from the same, smiling mugshots everyone else has to those instantly recognizable bootcamp, command or in-the-field-raising-hell pictures.

And the countdown to the 10th starts, because that’s the big day. The day it all started in 1775.

The MARINE CORPS birthday.

On November 10, 1775, the U.S. Marine Corps was officially established by the Second Continental Congress to raise two battalions of Continental Marines to support and strengthen U.S. naval forces in the Revolutionary War. On this date, Captain Samuel Nicholas named Tun Tavern, a popular tavern and brewery on Water Street in Philadelphia, as recruitment headquarters. Although the building is long gone, a marker still claims the spot as the Marines’ official birthplace, and Tun Tavern still features in Marine Corps celebrations.

Although they succeeded in the war, when it ended so, too, did the Marine’s first tenure. They were no longer needed and there was not a budget to support the group—until July 11, 1798, when Congress created the “United States Marine Corps,” and President John Adams approved a bill for an organization that would fall under the Secretary of the Navy.

Henceforth, the July 11th date was their celebrated birthday, named “Marine Corps Day,” from 1799 until 1921; then it was moved to November 10th to recognize their original founding for the Revolutionary War.

Like many Marine Corps families, we ARE the “warrior caste” the Secretary of the Army is so dismissive of, and we wear it proudly. We cherish the Marines who came before us, with their stories of Central American jungles and Haitian zombies.

We revel in the pictures of our Dads when they were young Marines…

…and am so happy we had them with us as Marines ourselves to enjoy birthday balls together.

Being a member of this most special club means I still tear up at the of the honor of serving – however briefly – in the same uniform at the same time as ever so distinguished and very much loved uncles.

Our closest friends and adopted family are Marines. We have lived, loved, worried, and mourned together. We all speak the same language. We have all shared the same ground.

Marines catch up with each other in the oddest places and old comrades will pop up out of the woodwork after years. It will be as if you saw them yesterday. Marines trade seas stories at the drop of a hat, brag about our kids, or the nephews and nieces who are following the family tradition of service.

A Marine will see someone in a ratty Marine Corps ballcap or newbie jacket – a complete stranger, whatever age he might be – and say, “Oh, yeah? Me, too! When/where you in?”

Today they’d bellow, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARINE!!” loud enough to shake the shingles off a roof. Everyone will laugh and shake hands, clap backs. Me, I’m a hugger.

That’s the way it is. From our shared, hallowed history – taught to every Marine from bootcamp forward – to the young Marines today carving out their own magnificent legends in the annals of the Corps, every Marine has left his mark to the next generation by holding the values of duty, honor, and sacrifice above all else.

Every year the Marine Corps commandant sends a birthday message to his Marines. Since the age of video, they’ve gotten pretty fancy schmancy, and downright motivating in many instances. This year’s message from Gen Smith and our Sergeant Major is a barnburner of warrior ethos, patriotism, and esprit de corps, made all the more poignant by Gen Smith’s recent heart attack.

He knows, however, that his Marines – which includes every last one of us whoever wore that magnificent uniform however long ago – have his back. Semper Fidelis isn’t a slick recruiting tool – it’s a way of life.

As Henry V says, “…We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”

We truly are.

Happy birthday, Marines.

Semper Fi