Looks great! As a signals guy myself (although in the USMC we just call it "comm" and not signals) I can appreciate it.

Thanks Capt, I am very satisfied! What a coincidence, "comm" is for communications?

Some time ago, I bought this book "Semper Fi" on the history of the USMC ... is really very nice! In Italy is rare.

Ah, finally got a chance to stop in and read this post this morning. Those are wonderful pics. The jacket looks to be in very good condition. You must be so delighted to have it in your collection.

And I do love the photo at Christmas too. Good pic of you and your girlfriend. Love the antique furniture. Looks very Italian! 😛

True! The furniture are "credenze bolognesi" - "furniture of Bologna", made ​​by hand by a cabinetmaker.

I am happy to have the entire uniform in collection, mainly because it is all of the same soldier!

It's all in very good condition, I almost could not believe it. But the thing that intrigues me most, is the engraving on the belt buckle of the jacket!

BTW, love the new look for you; the facial hair! Very handsome. Does you girlfriend love it?

It really is not a new look, I always wear a goatee, only to re-enactments I cut it, to be more correct! My girlfriend has known me with the goatee, and at the first re-enactment events, she not wanted that I cut it lol

Cute story!

My husband sports a beard and mustache and I have always loved it. I don't like scruffy, long facial hair, but I DO like the neatly trimmed look. Some women don't like any hair on a man.

😛

Here in America you see all these stupid commercials for men which tell them to get rid of chest hair, etc. What's with that? Are grown men supposed to look like 12 year-old boys?

My girlfriend does not like hairless men... lol, on the other hand, I'm very lazy with the beard, I do to shorten only when it's really needed...(imagine with other body hair )....

My friends who saw me without beard during the reenactments, they told me that I lose 10 years of age... (29-19) lol

On the other hand, 4 years ago, they asked me if I had 40 years ahah

In the USMC, facial hair is not a common thing among officers and not even that common with the enlisted Marines. Here is what Terminal Lance (an online comic about enlisted life in the USMC - sort of a modern day, more R-Rated Willie and Joe) has to say about it:

Read the rest here.

Now, this is take nothing away from yours or anyone elses facial hair it is only a commentary on the mustaches you end up with when you follow the USMC facial hair grooming standards.

"The face will be clean-shaven, except that a mustache may be worn. When worn, the mustache will be neatly trimmed and must be

contained within the lines of B-B', C-C', D-D' and the margin area of the upper lip, as shown in figures 1-1 and 1-2. The individual length of a mustache hair fully extended must not exceed 1/2 inch."

I grew out my facial hair when I was in college for a couple of weeks before it was just too itchy and I had to get rid of it. I'll scan some of the pictures if I find them. That will be a big laugh for everyone used to my current Marine countenance!

Ah, you always make me laugh. Great post!!

Very interesting, if I were in the USMC, I think I would not keep anything ... Too difficult to keep my facial hair in place ... lol they are very unruly!

I understand these rules, but the typical British mustache of SAS Cpt. John Price of the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare are always beautiful ... maybe a bit eccentric!? But I must say that there is a certain similarity between Cpt. Price and the last vignette "Marines in the field".

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BTW does anyone have any idea about the meaning of the incision into the buckle? Verne F. Bragg

Verne F. Bragg

I think that it is a full name. Normally the abbreviation for fort is "ft". It is true that when someone is scratching an inscription into a belt buckle they might use as few letters as possible, but why scratch the name of your base in it anyway? The reason you would want to put your name on a piece of gear in the first place is to get it back if you lose it. Putting only your first name and a base doesn’t seem the best way to do that. During WWII if you are where going to leave the mainland USA, you probably wouldn't spend that much time on one base and if you were stuck in the USA, your base is where you are most likely to lose any piece of gear anyway. If anything, I would think they would put a unit on it vice a location. This is especially true if you were set to go overseas. So my guess is that Verne put his last name and middle initial on it.

I would concur. I can't imagine why anyone overseas would be a US base on their belt buckle. So I say, we begin a tough search for a soldier named, Verne F Bragg!