In the United States Marine Corps there is a title given to any marine who achieves the rank of corporal and/or sergeant. That title is known as Non-Commissioned Officer. They are then given the opportunity to put the blood strip on their uniform. They are also given the opportunity to use the Marine Corps Non-Commissioned Officer’s sword. They are given more responsibility and put in charge of marines under their rank. Enlisted Marine Corps ranks are broken down into three levels, Junior Enlisted, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Staff Non-Commissioned Officers. As Marines move up the ladder his or her responsibility and contribution to the mission increases. This also means that those who have earned higher rank have a special responsibility to look out for the welfare of their subordinates. Traditionally, officers and noncommissioned officers of the Marine Corps wear a scarlet red stripe on their dress blue trousers to commemorate the courage and tenacious fighting of the men who battled before Chapultepec in the Mexican War. In the Corps, this stripe is more commonly known as the Blood Stripe. But how many realize that the battle at Chapultepec took place during one of the least bloody conflicts in the annals of U.S. Marine Corps history? Interestingly, more Marines were killed or wounded during the “Mayaguez Incident” battle with Khmer Rouge forces at Koh Tang Island, Cambodia, on May 14, 1975, than during the entire Mexican War. How many active duty Marines today remember the Marines of 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, and the human cost of the Koh Tang helicopter assault that closed America’s longest war in Southeast Asia? Until the Mexican War when the Marines stormed the steps of Chapultepec more Marines were killed or wounded during another conflict in American history often forgotten, the War of 1812. The death of any Marine who willingly sacrificed his or her