HOLIDAY SAFETY
Date Signed: 12/15/2017 | ALMARS Number: 045/17
ALMARS : 045/17
R 151715Z DEC 17
ALMAR 045/17
MSGID/CMC WASHINGTON DC DMCS//
SUBJ/HOLIDAY SAFETY//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1.  To all Marines, including those who have left our ranks and our retired community, to Sailors, Civilian Marines, and our families, I want to wish you a very happy holiday season.  Our Marine Corps has had another operationally successful and busy year, and we have once again added to our legacy of honor, courage and commitment.  We continue to ask a lot of you and you continue to deliver.  I sincerely appreciate everything that all of you do for our Corps and our Nation.
2.  For Marines and Sailors deployed around the globe, standing the watch, supporting operations, and partnering with allies, we thank you for your commitment to the mission and ask you to remain laser focused on the task at hand.  Although you cannot be home with family during the holiday, we hope you are able to spend some time with your deployed Marine Corps family and celebrate in some small way.  For those fortunate enough to be home with family and friends, we hope you are able to take this time to relax and enjoy a short break.
3.  Wherever you are this holiday season, we need you to be safe.  Make smart decisions.  Look out for each other.  I expect leaders, especially NCOs, to engage with Marines and review holiday travel plans.  Apply risk management tools to ensure safe and smart decisions are made and avoid unnecessary risks.  If you consume alcohol, please don't drive.  Understand and respect its effects on you.  If you are traveling, anticipate and be aware of the hazards on the road.  Maintain your situational awareness.  We need everyone to return safely after this holiday season.  Sadly, we lost far too many Marines this past year.  Many of these tragedies were avoidable.  Our mission is too important to lose even a single Marine, Sailor, Civilian Marine, or family member.  Your fellow Marines are counting on you to return safely and continue the mission.
4.  In combat, while deployed, and in garrison, Marines take care of each other.  This is the responsibility of leaders, and also of peers and friends.  If you know of a fellow Marine who may not have a place to go for the Holidays, consider asking them to join you and your family for the day.  They will appreciate your offer and thoughtfulness.  No one should be alone during this season.  Again, we take care of each other.
5.  From the time you earned the title “Marine” you became part of a legacy.  You are now contributing to that legacy and making it your own.  You will pass that legacy down to future generations.  Please enjoy your holiday season.  Relax, recharge, and refocus.  Know that the Nation expects more from her Marines and we must meet that standard.  Be safe and come back to your units ready to fight and win in 2018.  Remember to Protect What You've Earned.
6.  Happy Holidays and Semper Fidelis. Robert B. Neller, General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps.//