Reader Michael Murray (formerly Wpns Plt Sgt C Co 1st Bn 5th Mar) writes to us with his reactions to watching his brother Marines on television. We think they are worth sharing:

During the run to Bagdad I was glued to the TV. I spent many hours watching the "embeds", especially Rick Leventhal who was with the Marines. As the fighting got closer to Bagdad I  found myself cheering when I saw amtracs with "1/5 and "3/4"painted on the sides. (I was with those units.)

My eleven year old son was suprised by my outburst . He asked "Dad ,do you know those guys?". It is the kind of question a child would ask and Dad would find hard to answer. I explained to him about "esprit de corps" and Semper Fidelis .I told him those were MY units and I knew every man in them. Those Marines are not black, white, brown, yellow or red; they are GREEN.

Wherever they came from before the Corps ,the Corps is now home and "those guys" are brothers. This is the difference between the Marines and those "slimy civilians" who have never been part of anything greater than themselves. Those on the left who claim this is "the wrong war at the wrong time" fail to realise how this alienates a vet like me. This is OUR WAR at THIS TIME and "those guys" are our brothers, sons and fathers. It is not possible to separate the WAR from the WARRIOR any more than you can separate the blood from the sands of Iraq or Iwo Jima. Semper Fi.