The best Marine Corps recruiting poster. Ever.

After posting the picture my sister sent me the other day, I started thinking about Parris Island, and boot camp, with one thought leading to another as I bounced around the web looking for pictures and whatnot. Then, I stumbled across what still is probably my all-time favorite Marine Corps recruiting poster, and my vote for best such poster, ever:

Anybody who’s ever been to boot knows that look.

This poster was actually the first to employ the well-known “The Marines are looking for a few good men” recruiting slogan, which was used on pretty much every poster, pamphlet, and bumper sticker the Corps produced from 1971 to 1984. I remember seeing it and several others adorning the offices where my father worked as a Marine recruiter in the 1970s. There also was a version with a female Marine drill instructor and the captions “We don’t promise you a rose garden, either,” and “The few, the proud, the women Marines.” While I do have copies of a few favorites, I haven’t seen either of these in years. I may have to hunt down a copy of the original one…perhaps when I take that tour of Parris Island I’ve been promising myself as research for a future book.

Speaking of which: while poking around the intrawebz, I discovered some cool infonuggets. The D.I. from the original poster, former Sergeant Charles “Chuck” Taliano Jr., worked for several years as manager of the gift store inside the base museum at Parris Island, decades after his original tour of duty and following a 30-year career in the publishing business. Apparently, you can buy copies of the poster there, and he signed about a bazillion of them over the years once people started recognizing him. I was saddened to learn that Mr. Taliano passed away just a few years ago, though I couldn’t help smiling as I read that his services were held at the Recruit Chapel at Parris Island.

Semper Fi, Chuck.