MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif.,   — Crystal Meyer has only been in California for a few months. She left the only life she’d known, back with her family and friends in Washington state, to marry Cpl. Zackary Meyer, a squad leader with 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.

Since then, she’s had to make some adjustments.

“Before we got married, I would come out and visit and meet some of his friends,” Crystal said. “It’s very different now. He’s not home all the time, so I am getting used to being by myself a lot, but still being there for him.”

The Commandant of the Marine Corps and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps present the 236th Marine Corps birthday message and honor the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and how the events shaped the lives of Marines past and present.