I chose to be a US Marine because I reject the norms of society. I wanted a different path...and I wanted to be surrounded by people who shared my beliefs.
But its in danger. Read these words from an Army Colonel about the US Marine Corps I want to be associated with....
By Col. Daniel F. Bolger,
USA
(Excerpt from DEATH GROUND:
TODAY'S AMERICAN INFANTRY IN
BATTLE
"What makes Marine infantry
special? Asking the question that way misses the most fundamental point
about the United States Marine Corps. In the Marines, everyone--sergeant,
mechanic, cannoneer, supply man, clerk, aviator, cook--is a rifleman first.
The entire corps, all 170,000 or so on the active rolls, plus the reserves,
are all infantry. All speak the language of the rifle and bayonet, of muddy
boots and long, hot marches. It's never us and them, only us. That is the
secret of the Corps."
"If Army infantry amounts to a stern
monastic order standing apart, on the edge of the wider secular soldier
world, Marine infantry more resembles the central totem worshiped by the
entire tribe. Marines have specialized, as have all modern military organizations.
And despite the all-too-real rigors of boot camp, annual rifle qualification,
and high physical standards, a Marine aircraft crew chief or radio repairman
wouldn't make a good 0311 on a squad assault. But those Marine technical
types know that they serve the humble grunt, the man who will look the
enemy in the eye within close to belly-ripping range. Moreover, all Marines
think of themselves as grunts at heart, just a bit out of practice at the
moment. That connections creates a great strength throughout the Corps."
"It explains why Marine commanders
routinely, even casually, combine widely disparate kinds of capabilities
into small units.... Marines send junior officers and NCOs out from their
line rifle companies and expect results. They get them, too."
"Even a single Marine has
on call the firepower of the air wing, the Navy, and all of the United
States. Or at least he thinks he does. A Marine acts accordingly. He is
expected to take charge, to improvise, to adapt, to overcome. A Marine
gets by with ancient aircraft (the ratty C-46E Frog, for example), hand-me-down
weapons (such as the old M-60 tanks used in the Gulf War), and whatever
else he can bum off the Army or cajole out of the Navy. Marines get the
job done regardless, because they are Marines. They make a virtue out of
necessity. The men, not the gear, make the difference. Now and again, the
Marines want to send men, not bullets."
"This leads to a self-assurance
that sometimes comes across as disregard for detailed staff-college quality
planning and short shrift for high-level supervision. Senior Army officers
in particular sometimes find the Marines amateurish, cavalier, and overly
trusting in just wading in and letting the junior leaders sort it out.
In the extreme, a few soldiers have looked at the Corps as some weird,
inferior, ersatz ground war establishment, a bad knockoff of the real thing.
'A small, bitched-up army talking Navy lingo,' opined Army Brigadier General
Frank Armstrong in one of the most brutal interservice assessments. That
was going too far. But deep down, many Army professionals tended to wonder
about the Marines. Grab a defended beach? Definitely. Seize a hill? Sure,
if you don't mind paying a little. But take charge of a really big land
operation? Not if we can help it."
"Anyone who has watched an
amphibious landing unfold would be careful with that kind of thinking.
The Marines actually have a lot in common with their elite Army infantry
brothers, if not with all the various Army headquarters and service echelons.
True, Marine orders do tend to be, well...brief. But so do those of the
airborne, the air assault, the light-fighters, and the Rangers, for the
same good reason: Hard, realistic training teaches soldiers how to fight
by doing, over and over, so they need not keep writing about it,
regurgitating basics every time. More enlightened soldiers consider that
goodness. A three-inch thick order, a big CP, and lots of meetings do not
victory make. The Marines consciously reject all that. And why not? Despite
the occasional Tarawa or Beirut, it works."
