'Shipmate' and 'Devil Dog:' Patronizing or terms of endearment?

“Devil Dog” and “Shipmate” are loaded terms – endearing but at the same time, still patronizing.

Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and sailors with the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group reflected on this fraught term and what it means to be a good teammate.

They did so amid a hectic deployment. The ARG sailed from Norfolk in late June and Marine AV-8B Harriers and AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters have conducted weeks of strikes on ISIS holdouts in Libya.



These are six excerpts from their essays, reprinted with their permission. The essays have been edited for brevity:


MORE THAN TEAM


Teamwork is the first thing that comes to mind when the term shipmate is brought up. After all, we are a team and the ship’s strength comes from its sailors just like the teammates make up the team. The ship is like a giant clockwork and we are the parts. If one gear goes missing, the whole contraption falls apart and stops working. If the engineers stopped making the ship run, or the cooks stopped feeding us, we will stop functioning. Everybody plays a huge role in the success of anything we do. And our job as shipmates is to do our best in the tasks we are handed. Together, we achieve more and we can make extraordinary things happen.

As shipmates, we are more than just a team. We are a family, regardless if we like each other. We cannot choose our family, just as we cannot choose our team. There will be arguments and disagreements, but there is also laughter and friendships that come with it. We all live, eat, work, sleep, play, pray, work out and train together. This is our home away from home, and we are our family away from our own. We can either complain about it or accept it and make the best of it. With these people, we have built friendships, developed camaraderie, formed a team, and shared some precious memories together. We see each other every day, perhaps more often than we see our family and loved ones, and that’s all the more reason for us to treasure these people who we call shipmates. They are people who will have our back.



Petty Officer 3rd Class Carmina Patio



NEVER LET YOU DOWN



I was taught that Devil Dog was a nickname given by German soldiers to describe Marines on the battlefields of World War I. Their eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, and their bodies dehydrated from canteens long since gone dry. With primitive gas masks fixed tightly around their faces, they sweated profusely, and foamed at the mouth as they charged with fixed bayonets into and through the German defensive lines. Though their officers and NCOs would fall upon the fields before them, sergeants commanded platoons, and privates led squads, advancing fearlessly into machinegun fire like “dogs from hell.” The Teufelhunden had been unleashed upon the world, and it would not and could not be put back in its cage. …



The fine young men and women who set alert 60 in the hangar bay, refine marksmanship on the flight deck, and continue to stay razor sharp and ready; they are the Devil Dogs who will write the next chapter in the annals of our Corps when a savage world cries out for help. The exhausted and anxious maintainers who check the bolts and inspect the landing gear for the fifth time, before they proudly report their aircraft fit for flight; they are the Devil Dogs who stand a little taller, and work a little harder as the ghosts of our shared legacy and battles past whisper, “Make us proud.” They are the best our country has to offer, and daily, they offer the best they have for our country. What does Devil Dog mean to me, you ask? Devil Dog means we will never let you down. Ever.



GySgt Brian R. Downing



IT’S ABOUT RESPECT




In every situation we face there is a certain level of trust in yourself or those around you, it may be hard to distinguish whether it is the right decision to place your trust in someone else: If I get hurt will this person be able to save me? If I use this piece of equipment can I trust that the maintenance was done properly? If someone walks through the front door with a rifle can I trust they will be stopped?


These are all difficult questions to answer however, when someone calls me their shipmate, they’re confiding in me to help them, to support them, and to save their life if need be. Not a single person in this family should ever feel left out or forgotten. We are all important, we all matter, and we all have an important role in this life. My goal is to make sure that every single person I come across knows this fact without a doubt in their mind. When I call you my shipmate I am doing so with the utmost respect, we have our ups and our downs, we have our good days and our bad ones but I wouldn’t trade this family for the world.




Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonah Long



BEING A SHIPMATE




Whoever we are, whatever we do, whatever we serve, as sailors we are always there protecting and defending our country. In the midst of the fight you might hear the words “hey shipmate.+” The term shipmate has had its own battle of understanding. Many believe that whoever uses the term to acknowledge another sailor is implicating that there is a problem with the sailor they are addressing. Some might just say it’s a derogatory term. To me the term shipmate means union or family. A phrase that says we are bonded by our nation’s colors.



Sailors do everything together. We sailors work, pray, sleep, eat and train as one. The tradition of the term shipmate has fallen apart. The term has strayed from the ideal image of honor, tradition, and excellence. …



The drive, motivation, and determination it takes to complete the missions are not easy to obtain on your own. You need your shipmate. We are fighting a ship as one unit. We are each other’s mate. “Shipmate give me a hand,” compared to “Hey shipmate, correct yourself,” can be an equally positive message by someone who is there to help you. Shipmates are my doctors, nurses, postal clerks, bodyguards, firefighters, my bosses and much more. Being a shipmate is respectable and honorable; it’s a privilege to be a mate.


Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyesha Beal



A TITLE THAT’S EARNED



We hear it every single day. “Hey there Devil Dog, why are your hands in your pocket?!” “Good job Devil Dog, the head looks amazing.” Whether it’s said with the intent to scold someone or with the desire to have someone recognized, the name “Devil Dog” is used to define us as Marines all the time. It may seem ridiculous and pointless, but if we stop to think about it for a few minutes, there’s a lot that goes behind the simple phrase.
It signifies that we are a brotherhood of warriors who respect our traditions and walk with the highest degree of pride and accomplishment, in turn giving us the responsibility to carry the torch for those who came before us.



To people outside of the Marine Corps, Devil Dog seems a ridiculous, fearful label that sounds like we are evil war hounds that thrive on fighting our nation’s enemies — and though this may be somewhat true, the phrase also brings us together as a family of warriors who are willing to give our lives to make sure our title as Marines is never tarnished. It instills in us this sense of belonging that reminds us why we joined in the first place. Truthfully, no one knows how the term Devil Dog came about, but what is known is the message it carries. It separates us from the other branches as a sole fighting force and outlines us as warriors thus putting a light on our Corps, which instills in us the pride and sense of full accomplishment from becoming Marines.



Devil Dog is a title earned by men who died fighting for each other in a war that wasn’t theirs, and though they never saw the true outcome of the title, we use it to remind ourselves of the traditions we have and the fighting spirit we carry.



Cpl Jorge Martinez



A WORD FOR EVERYONE

Nowadays, we call our Navy brothers and sisters “Shipmate” usually when they make a mistake or we want to be facetious, but we know the true meaning behind the word. Shipmate is a word that embellishes the diversity and camaraderie we share in the United States Navy.

No matter what rank or rate a sailor is or how long they have served we can get together and talk about our time at boot camp. … Our first classes will see today’s sailors with fancy Navy-issued black backpacks or Nalgene bottles properly stenciled in recruit hand-writing with our name and division number asking why we stopped wearing the canteens on our waste belt.

Shipmate is a word that looks past time in service, rank, rate, hair color, skin color, ethnic background, sexual orientation, gender, and every other physical or personal characteristic that divides us. Shipmate is a word which gives us a commonality allowing us to break through our differences and see that we are all human. We are all part of the world’s greatest Navy. A shipmate is a fellow United States Navy Sailor.