Marines and Families:

Together we are successfully meeting the demands of today’s Total Force with fierce resolve and unity of purpose. Our nation, our Corps and the 2/14 family has been challenged in many ways in recent months.

With no time to bask in the light of increasing accomplishments or dwell on harsh realities, we remain focused to meet new challenges. The War on Terrorism continues on all fronts. While engaged in conflict we squarely face both the task at hand, and some future but unforeseeable conflict. The fight for freedom didn’t end at Valley Forge, Tripoli, Belleau Wood, Saipan, Inchon, Hue City, or Kabul, and it won’t end in Fallujah. As long as there is evil, there will be a need for those of us who believe in all that is good and right to make a stand. We will.

As of this writing we (2/14) have Marines in Iraq, Marines who have returned from Iraq, Marines on active duty preparing for Iraq, and Marines in reserve preparing for activation later this year. We also have Marines on the forefront of our nation’s effort to modernize and strengthen the military by fielding the first rocket artillery battery in the Marine Corps. All of our missions are vital ones. I am personally and professionally proud of the entire battalion’s individual and collective effort, while also appreciating the consistently outstanding results of those endeavors.

Delta, Echo, Fox and Headquarters Batteries boast Marines, Sailors and families from all walks of life from Mississippi to Texas to Oklahoma and beyond. The geography that separates us during times of peace only increases in time of war, but our differences diminish, and the ties that bind us get stronger.

Now is a time for the motto that we speak, Semper Fidelis, to more readily become a condition in which we live – Always Faithful.