Compass Points - “F**king Terrible!”
Military Leader Sounds off
Compass Points - “F**king Terrible!”
Military Leader Sounds off
January 19, 2026
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There are two kinds of military innovation: the innovation that proves itself as genuinely useful, and the innovation that does not.
Marines at Camp Lejeune are using innovative three dimensional printers.
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Marines with 2nd Marine Logistics Group are turning ideas into reality at the II Marine Expeditionary Force Innovation Campus. This facility lets troops design and produce parts on demand, cutting wait times for supplies and keeping units combat ready.
A Hub for Marine Ingenuity
2nd MLG opened the II MEF Innovation Campus in April 2022. It serves all Marines and Sailors at Camp Lejeune with advanced tools, including 3D printers, laser cutters, and electronics workstations.
The campus supports quick fixes and new designs. Marines print custom tools, brackets, and prototypes that would otherwise take weeks or months through traditional supply chains. The campus nests perfectly with Marine Corps efforts to adopt innovative approaches such as additive manufacturing, which can allow deployed units to fix gear faster.
-- Military.com
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The advanced work at the II MEF Innovation Campus holds great promise for the future. No doubt the technology can be useful. It is useful today. It will take time, however, to figure out how much of a contribution the new innovations can make.
Sometimes new technologies seem promising at first, but over time the promise is not achieved, or perhaps an early technology is by-passed by later developments.
The Secretary of the Army recently expressed his own frustration with one particular new innovation.
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The Army’s most senior civilian official recently criticized a counter-drone system that soldiers have been employing for years, including in training and on patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told soldiers during a town hall at Fort Drum, New York, this week that the Dronebuster — a handheld jammer designed to zap unmanned aerial systems out of the sky — is “fucking terrible” in his experience.
“It’s a joke,” he said. “It’s similar to things we deployed to Iraq with that just you’re thinking, like, ‘why is — who thought this was a good idea? What’s its use case?’ So whether that’s true or not doesn’t particularly matter, but if you agree that it’s terrible, you gotta say it.”
-- Defense Scoop
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No matter what the status of the particular Army jammer, the Army Secretary is right to speak up whenever some new innovation is not performing. There are two kinds of military innovation: the innovation that proves itself as genuinely useful, and the innovation that does not.
In a similar way, it is important for US Marine Corps leaders, both on active duty and those formerly on active duty, to speak up when innovation is not working as planned.
For example, over the last six years, the Marine Corps embarked on an innovative program to turn the focus of the “fight now” III Marine Amphibious Force that is forward based on Okinawa, Japan from a combined arms, crisis response force, into more of a distributed sensor and missile node in a joint kill chain. Sensors, missiles, and kill chains are all important, but a Marine forard deployed, rapid response force is also important. In the heedless pursuit of innovation, far too many Marine combined arms units, equipment, and capabilities have reduced or eliminated, including infantry, air, armor, artillery, engineering, snipers, and more.
It is time for leaders to stand up like the Army Secretary when some innovation is not working and frankly say the innovation is, “f**king terrible.”
Compass Points salutes the Marines at the II MEF Innovation Campus, and also salutes all those across the broad community of Marines, including many civilian friends of the Corps, who are working each day to ensure the Marine Corps is stronger and more responsive tomorrow than it is today.
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Military.com - 01/14/2026
Marines Revolutionize Readiness at Innovation Campus
By Robert Billard
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Defense Scoop - 01/16/2026
Army secretary says the Dronebuster is ‘f*cking terrible’ as soldiers continue to use the tech
By Drew F. Lawrence
https://defensescoop.com/2026/01/16/army-secretary-dan-driscoll-drone-buster-counter-uas/
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Marines are notoriously vocal when equipment does not meet expectations. I’m sure some are old enough to remember that square box that launched flame projectiles? In 1979 we trained on it and every instructor called it worthless. We need to weed out the crap equipment rapidly regardless of the cost.
I wonder if the SecArmy will keep his job! SecWar may not agree with the outspoken criticism.