What Does The Term Jarhead Mean?

April 24, 2009 posted by OldWarrior

quanticoYou may have heard this slang term used and never knew what it meant. Well grasshopper let me tell you. This is the term used to identify members of the United States Marine Corps. I don’t know where the term originated but it probably refers to the way that marine recruits look when they  receive that first hair cut in basic training. I think that this is partly done to the recruit for its shock value, but it also gives a distinctive look and is a way of giving the recruit a new identity.

Military service is all about distinction. One reason that the comforts of home are taken away from recruits is to cause them to identify with the corps, and to begin to instill the prode of Marine Corps affliation in the new recruits. All of the branches of our armed services do this in some form or another.

Even though I left the military about 16 years ago I still identify very easily with servicemembers of today. Whenever I meet a servicemember there is an unspoken bond between us that nothing can replace. The purpose of the military service ring is to help us to display our military accomplishments.


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