To quote a well-known internet bag-o-wind: Heh. Indeed.

I got my new issue of Leatherneck: Magazine of the Marines in today's mail. I just had to share this letter to the editor in the Sound Off section from an eagle-eyed old salt, and the editor's response:

Why doesn't the Commandant trust his Marines?

I'm a bit embarrassed to ask this. In the March 2005 issue of Leatherneck, page 20 includes a photo of Company B marching in the Presidential Inaugural Parade. The Marines didn't have bolts in their M1 rifles. Nor did the color guard on page 21.

The rifles are not cleared with the bolts locked in the rear of the receivers; they are missing. The operating rod is forward and the follower is exposed.

What gives?

SgtMaj Thomas R. Jablonicky USMC (Ret)
Colby, Wis.

And the response:

Our readers don't miss a thing.The nation is at war and, consequently, security at the inauguration and related events was high. According to Lance Corporal Earnest J. Barnes, Public Affairs Office, Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., the bolts were removed from the rifles carried by Marines in the inaugural parade for security purposes by order of the Secret Service. Gunnery Sergeant David Dunaway, USMC (Ret) of Shoreline, Wash., and Joseph Berthelot of Syracuse, N.Y., also took notice. - Sound Off Ed.

Can't trust his Marines. No Marine should ever salute that piece of walking dogshit again; he's an insult to the Men and Women I knew who wore the Eagle, Globe and Anchor with pride and honor.