Brass tacks

Not sure if the recruits in Josh’s platoon were even aware of this, but Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego hosted a high-profile visitor Friday: Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

During a two-day visit to San Diego, Gates also toured the destroyer Higgins at San Diego Naval Base, visited the San Diego Naval Medical Center at Balboa Park and a class of Navy SEAL recruits in Coronado.

While at MCRD, Gates served as the parade reviewing officer for a company of 196 new Marines, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. (One of the newspaper’s photographers, David Brooks, shot the photo above.) Gates also watched recruits during their combat training (was Josh one of them?). Some were able to have their photos taken with the Defense secretary.

Gates has ordered a Force Structure Review for the Marines, which likely will result in a smaller Corps. There are 202,000 Marines, as a result of the ground combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, up from 175,000. The future size of the force has yet to be determined – and, by mid-October, if all goes well, Josh will be one of them.

“It takes uncommon patriotism to join the military in a time of war,” Gates said at MCRD. “For my part, I will do all I can to see that you have everything you need to accomplish your mission and come home safely, because I feel a deep personal responsibility for every one of you, as if you were my own sons.”