Created using the first few lines of The Riflemans Creed 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 master my life In boot camp at Parris Island or San Diego, and in the Basic School at Quantico, no one escapes from the Rifleman's Creed. Every Marine is trained, first and foremost, as a rifleman, for it is the rifleman who must close with and destroy the enemy. The rifleman remains the most basic tenet of Marine Corps doctrine. It is believed that Gen. William H. Rupertus, USMC, authored the creed shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Every Marine must memorize this creed. And, every Marine must live by the creed.