The men and women who earn the right to wear eagle, globe and anchor of the United States Marine Corps are a special breed. To those outside the Corps, they talk funny. They look funny. They are extremely impressed with themselves – and they have every right to be.

My beloved United States Army is a blunt instrument, a magnificent club that has pummels our nation’s enemies into submission. But the Marines are America’s rapier, a razor sharp weapon of war that has never been bested and never will be. For over two centuries, the United States Marine Corps has been fighting our country’s battles in the air, on land and sea. They don’t give up. They don’t quit. There’s no word for retreat in a Marine’s vocabulary. And they are making history even today in the mountains of Afghanistan and elsewhere.

November 10th is the Corps’ 234th birthday. With the indulgence of my Devil Dog brethren, here is this Army veteran’s countdown of the Top Ten Marine Corp movies.

Kurt Schlichter is a former stand-up comic and comedy writer. He is also a civilian trial lawyer and partner at Schlichter & Shonack, LLP, in Manhattan Beach, California, where his work has included entertainment issues. He spent over 20 years in the Army on active duty and in the National Guard, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanding the elite 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry. He also served in both Desert Storm and in Operation Enduring Freedom in Kosovo, as well as in several civilian support missions from the Los Angeles riots of 1992 to the San Diego fires of 2007. To read the complete list of his top ten Marine Corp films on Big Hollywood, click here.