Compass Points - 23 Years Apart

Important battles began

Compass Points - 23 Years Apart

Important battles began

January 21, 2024

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On this week in Marine Corps history, two important battles began, 23 years apart.

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On January 17, 1991 Operation Desert Storm began with the initial bombing of Iraqi forces. Marines units were among the first arrive in the area in the early days of Operation Desert Shield, Later, just a few days after bombing began, Marines were a crucial part of the successful ground campaign. Several Marine units that became part of Desert Shield and Desert Storm were participating in or preparing for the Unit Deployment Program in Okinawa. They were training for the jungle, but were sent to the desert.

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Another Marine Corps battle began this week. In Vietnam, on January 21, 1968, 23 years before Desert Storm, the battle of Khe Sanh began. The background to the fighting at Khe Sanh was that back in 1954 the Viet Minh had defeated the French in a siege and battle at Dien Bien Phu. The French were driven from Vietnam.

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In 1968 the North Vietnamese saw the American outpost at Khe Sanh as another Dien Bien Phu, where they could defeat the Western forces and drive them from the country. On January 21st, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines fought a North Vietnamese battalion near Khe Sanh. That began a siege of the outpost and a series of battles that lasted 66 days. Unlike the French at Dien Bien Phu, the Marines and other US forces at Khe Sanh withstood the siege and won.

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Compass Points salutes all the Marines who fought so well in Desert Storm and at Khe Sanh and salutes all those Marines preparing today for battles tomorrow.

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- - - - - Compass Points Mission & Values - - - - -

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Compass Points Mission

Provide an independent source of broader thinking, deeper understanding, and better decisions, for a stronger Marine Corps.

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Compass Points Values

We believe the Marine Corps must be responsive, relevant, and ready today, and more so tomorrow.

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We believe the Marine Corps is never owned by any small group of people, but is always held in sacred trust by every Marine and friend of the Corps, past, present, and future.

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We believe Marine Corps success in garrison, in the field, and in operations is a complex ecology of the physical, the intellectual, and the spiritual.

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We believe in the complexity of combat.

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We believe good data is good, but waiting for more and more data is not necessarily better.

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We believe no information system can or will sweep away the fog of war.

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We believe nothing is more uncertain than certainty.

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We believe planning is good, but first plans rarely survive first contact.

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We believe Marines must prepare to battle skilled, devious, and unpredictable adversaries.

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We believe Marines must be always ready to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel enemy assault by fire and close combat.

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We believe in combined-arms, multi-mission capable Marine Corps units that can quickly arrive anywhere, and address any conflict or crisis.

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We believe the Marine Corps must experiment with new technology constantly, and adopt it prudently.

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We believe in practicing and perfecting proven methods, while also experimenting with and adopting new methods.

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We believe in the Marine Corps culture of teamwork, trust, creativity, and courage.

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We believe in candid culture among Marines, never cancel culture.

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We believe the strength of the Marine Corps comes from the valor at the heart of each Marine. Each Marine draws strength from the entire Corps of Marines. Together, all Marines are joined across time and geography by the unbreakable red stripe of service.