Culture.Mil - Rifleman’s Creed

Written by Jenifer Chrisman on April 6, 2015.

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...

My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...

My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but peace!

The Rifleman’s Creed, also known as My Rifle: The Creed of a US Marine, was written shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Major General William H. Rupertus (then a Brigadier General), in conversation with Captain Robert P. White (USMCR, Public Relations Officer), stated that his men must understand “that the only weapon which stands between them and Death is the rifle…they must understand that their rifle is their life…it must become a creed with them.”

Captain White suggested the general write it as an editorial with the tentative title, “My Rifle is My Life.” Rupertus, a distinguished marine and marksman, felt an editorial would seem too much like a sermon. In his own words he wanted it to be “something so deep, a conviction so great, a faith so lasting that no one should have to be preached to about it.”

The following morning, General Rupertus returned to White’s office with a scrap of paper bearing the penciled notes that became the first Rifleman’s Creed. For Captain White’s part, “All I did was to translate it, type it, suggest a few different word usages and add a line here and there to complete the General’s thought. My job was that of an editor; and no editor could have bettered the General’s piece in that particular.”

As Marines are, first and foremost, riflemen, the Rifleman’s Creed has become a basic doctrine of the U.S. Marine Corps. From boot camp onward, every Marine must memorize and live it.

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Note: Although other versions of the Rifleman’s Creed have developed over the years, the original remains the most widely used and accepted.

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