There are no plans for beer and barbecues today in Fallujah. With the scorching Middle Eastern sun reflecting off the sand, and the temperature easily reaching 105 degrees before noon, few Marines are hanging about in the sun relaxing.

Memorial Day is a work day for the Marines here in Anbar Province. They left Camp Lejeune back in February for this deployment, and many of them are on their second tour. The holiday and vacation schedule back in the States doesn’t count for much out here, where life and death issues truly mean life and death.

After five years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, there are few illusions left about this war being romantic or glorious. It’s beastly hot. There are about a billion flies here, especially at chow time.  Wearing 80 pounds of gear in the heat is awful, yet it keeps one alive – except for the ever-present threat of IED’s.

Lots of Iraqis don’t like Americans, and in Afghanistan the Taliban seems to be making a comeback. While Marines continue to fight and die daily, the politicians in Washington -- where only 12 of 535 have had any family to serve overseas since 9/11 -- jockey for advantage. The media mostly reports on the ugly parts of the war. It’s easy for the Marines to feel ignored out here, especially when their friends and families back home make Memorial Day a long weekend.

But with their pride and enthusiasm in being a Marine, along with their belief in the correctness of their mission,  these young men endure the IED’s, flies, heat, and dirt with the attitude that these discomforts are actually a badge of honor.

Much of the attraction of the Marine Corps is based on their tradition. In the history books, on posters, and in the movies, the old stories of the Marines wading ashore at Tarawa, advancing through the wheat fields at Belleau Wood, and carrying out their wounded and their dead from Chosin, all come to mind

Tradition is more than parades and speeches.  Today a proud father toasts his Marine son, or an equally proud son takes his old man out for a drink and asks him about Korea or Vietnam.  Tradition isn’t built on any sort of formal recognition.  It’s built on the remembrance of those who came before you.

Memorial Day is a day to reflect on the sacrifices made by those who died in defense of the United States, but it’s important to keep in mind that we still have Marines and their Army brothers in Ramadi, Fallujah, and other “climes and places” who are getting ready to take the fight to the enemy.

So as we watch the parades this weekend and afterwards gather with our families in order to have our Memorial Day barbecues, let’s spare a thought for those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It’s certainly not a holiday for our Marines.

Recently, I sent an email to a Marine deployed on a ship.  He’s not currently in combat, but he might be soon.  I asked him where he would be on Memorial Day, and how he planned to celebrate the occasion.

Here’s what he wrote:

“I can’t really say over the non-secure net exactly where we’ll be, but we’ll be underway, steaming toward the fight.  Our helicopters will be in the air, and Marines throughout the ship will be working and training. Attending classes, running or hiking on the flight deck, firing or cleaning their weapons, beating the hell out of each other while honing their hand-to-hand combat skills. In other words, preparing for combat. What better way for Marines to celebrate?”

What better way indeed.  Happy Memorial Day, devil dogs. 

And Semper Fi.

Andrew Lubin, ON Point’s senior correspondent, is the author of the critically acclaimed “Charlie Battery: A Marine Artillery Battery in Iraq.” He writes and speaks on a variety of Marine Corps, international relations, and economic issues to both civilian and military audiences, and is finishing his next book “Keep Moving or Die; Task Force Tarawa at An-Nasiriyah.”