Here we go

For starters, I should probably give an explanation for the (some might say) questionable title I've chosen for this literary venture into cyberspace. The term "Devil" is an abbreviation of "Devil Dog", a monochre most of you are probably at least vaguely aware of: one of the names the Marine Corps was strapped with in days of old and susequently adopted as its own. The title originated in World War I during the battle for Belleau Wood in France. After pushing effortlessly through the ranks of the French (nothing to their discredit; they're just a lot better at wine and tobacco than warfighting, two professions I believe are equally honorable and necessary to the perpetuation of our race), the German Army encountered a new foe which appeared to be retreating in the wrong direction. The 4th, 5th and 6th Marine Regiments had hit the beach that same day, and despite hearty suggestions to the contrary, they were simply not in the mood to hop back on ship quite yet; I maintain that it had less to do with courage and more to do with the sailors' hygiene... I digress. In any case, they pushed through the ranks of retreating French and engaged the Germans, doing what we do best and fighting with such ferocity that the Germans came to refer to them as "Teufelhunden", or devil dog. Since then it's become a term of familiarity among Marines, something along the lines of “Dude”, “Man”, or “Motherf***er” (which I still hear with a healthy regularity, but the "higher" forms of communication will never be totally replaced). To bring around this whole mess of an explanation to conclusion, and to say what could've saved us all precious time, well, it's a Marine Corps thing.