Terminal Lance #360 “Booger Battalion”

Probably one of the weirdest and most ubiquitous rivalries you’ll find amongst Marines is the honor of the shittiest battalion. For whatever reason, it seems to be something worth bragging about.

While I was with 3/3 in Hawaii, we occasionally came across 1/3 or 2/3 Marines depending on the rotation schedule. Seeing another battalion is always a weird feeling, it’s like some kind of alternate universe, with different Marines doing the same thing you are… only different. Like most things in the Marine Corps, the grass always seems to be greener on the other side here as well. Any time you’re able to spark up a conversation with a Marine from another battalion, it inevitably comes up that their battalion is much shittier than yours.

In fact, even in my travels to Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a Marine exclaim that their battalion was actually the best. Everyone, no matter who you talk to, will claim to have the shittiest battalion in the entire Marine Corps. It’s a weird phenomenon, but Marines tend to take pride in their misery. No one could possibly have it worse than us (we are convinced), that even other Marines have to have it better.

There’s two possible conclusions you could draw from this:

• The Marines are exaggerating and have limited exposure to other battalions.
• The entire infantry just actually sucks to be in.

I’ll let you decide.

In other news, I mentioned on Tuesday that we’re having some specials in the Terminal Lance Store to commemorate the 5th Anniversary of this awesome comic strip. We’re now offering an exclusive “5 Year Anniversary” hashmark shirt being sold THIS MONTH ONLY.

Also this month only, a discount code for 15% off your entire order. Enter the code “TL5TH” as a coupon at checkout to redeem.

Click here or at the top of the page to check out the official store!

Oh, lastly, I just want to add that I know people might be expecting me to talk about the terrorist attack in Paris. I feel like by now, everyone has already expressed or processed their anger and feelings over it. I chose to do a comic strip about it for next week’s Marine Corps Times print edition, which they were kind enough to publish online. You can read their story about it here and look for the comic in next week’s paper.