<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stingmon:
I've never heard of the term jarhead, but when I looked it up, it seems to have something to do with military personnel.
Semper fi also seems to have a military meaning, but what meaning that is I have yet to discover.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Craig,
"Jarhead" has had a few variations in definition over the 11 or so score of years that the United States Marines have served our great nation. I believe that the current vernacular is the reference to the shape of a Marine's facial and cranial profile. Although, obviously, humans come in a variety of physical attributes, the public has accepted a default image of a physically fit military man to have a robust, stout neck. Coupled with the "close-cropped" haircut mandated by Regulation 35-10 and the heavily-starched, blocky baseball-cap styled cap worn with the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) or "fatiques", a field or working, non-dress attire (aka, the "salad suit" in reference to the vegetation print for the jungle version) it gives the facial and cranial profile a distinctive jar or lantern appearance.
The term "Semper Fi" is short for Semper Fidelis meaning "always faithful."
"Seldom scorned and vilified are those always faithful." British Field Marshal Montgomery.