Good article about Marine Corps OCS

The first week at United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, our instructor platoon commander pulled me aside and asked whether I needed kosher meals. “Good evening, Sir. This candidate does not want the Platoon Commander to go out of his way for this candidate, Sir, I stammered, standing at stiff attention, still tentative with my candidate-speak. “I don’t care what you want, Candidate. I’m just trying to find out if kosher meals are what you need.”

I wasn’t going to tell the captain that I grew up with a cut-and-paste Upper West Side-style Judaism, with friends who described themselves as “4-F peacenik yids.” Nor did I tell him that I kept kosher at my dad’s – on 96th and Columbus – but not at my mom’s – on 96th and Broadway. That I never ate swine, sometimes ate shellfish, occasionally filtered my tap water to rid it of treyf crustaceans, and am still an on-again-off-again vegetarian. I wasn’t about to tell the captain about my mishigas with Judaism. On the question of kosher meals, I believe I settled for a motivated (loud) and noncommittal, “Aye, Sir, good evening, Sir,” about-faced, and double-timed back to formation.

THE REST OF THE ARTICLE http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-few–the-proud–the-chosen-15507