Under General Berger’s secretive guidance the Corps divested itself to irrelevance. It is a large force of 160,000 that cannot contribute in any relationship to its size. Its current, self delineated mission hardly warrants 15,000 Marines let alone 160,000. Congress will soon realize this and the Army, Navy and Air Force will gladly point it out. Their recruiting shortfalls will benefit from 145,000 Marines made available at the garage sale of people and equipment.
The nation’s inability to intervene will be an isolationist’s dream. To the liberal culture warriors the dissolution of the most traditional and Spartan military service is an unanticipated but welcome benefit.
As soon as the Maginot Line in the South China Sea is rendered obsolete the need for any USMC of any sort becomes clear. Probably a ceremonial squadron of about 1000 Marines as a Navy MOS. The Drum and Bugle Corps, Drill Team, Marine Band, White House support detachment and some Presidential umbrella holders.
The Marine Corps is and has been a pebble in the shoe of all five sides of the puzzle palace for decades and before that the war department and members of Congress and before that circa 1775 anyone who wanted to be a Marine and either didn’t or couldn’t. The last thing the transformational society of “elites” in Foggy Bottom want is a small seaborne force capable of short, mid and long term military and or humanitarian operations. General Berger and for that matter General Smith can paint it any way they want but they attempted and hopefully have failed to reduce the Corps to irrelevance. The open question is did they do enough to succeed. The larger question is what had prompted this dissolution effort. Not sure how it is today, but back 40 years ago there was a box that got checked by the reviewing officer on one’s fitness report. An officer could be marginal in many areas but the ONE box you wanted checked is “would serve with in combat”. If that box was a negative it was a show stopper. Something or someone had gone horribly wrong or bad. We all served with a couple of officers that we did not trust and did not like and did want to be in the TOAR with them. Sadly not knowing Berger or Smith, but knowing they came behind me, it is hard to imagine that they did not already smell badly. We know them when we see them. Equally we know the guys that without equivocation we would lay down our lives for if it came to it. It would be simple muscle memory and the pathological optimism in our personalities that would say “Hell we are both or all going to get out of this mess.” Then out to face whatever it was that trying to do us harm.
The next question is can we save enough of the blue water navy to get back out to sea and can we convince enough politicians that while they might not like us, America and Americans have spoken through the years, “Representative Pinhead, we may not need a Marine Corps but we want one.” Besides who will guard the gates of Heaven if not us. Exactly it’s a short list with one name, United States Marines…
Gen Zinni and BGen McAbee, in their article, aptly provided a mission statement that can be paraphrased for the Marine Unit we wish we had: "The Mission of the Marine All Domain Task Force (MADTF) is to confront threats from adversary general purpose and unconventional/irregular forces like those operating today where belligerents are effectively using combined arms together with emerging technologies to locate and destroy opposition using fires and maneuver.".
I agree with General Zinni and Brigadier General McAbee's position regarding the damage the Force Design 2030 Plan caused to the Marine Corps force structure. Sadly, we are no longer the 911 premier fighting force. The Corps is now molded into something of an unproven entity—a Corps with a defensive structure but with no real offensive bite as before!
I understand that the current Corps leadership controls the Corps's destiny. As a University professor for the past thirty years since my Marine Corps retirement, I fully understand that today's Marine Corps officers are products of the computer gaming genre. The wargamers at Quantico are convinced that future conflicts will somewhat follow the scenarios they have played many times before. Except, when disputes arise, they will not be computer games!
We "old timers," with our sense of loyalty to the Corps, have a responsibility to our active duty Marines and senior leadership to pass on our collective past experiences and observations to prevent grave mistakes of our Corps in the future.
Marine Corps Generals Zinni and McAbee have stated that "The Marine Corps has transformed to irrelevance." As an old Marine, this observation by two respected leaders feels like a death blow to the Corps. In an era of trillion-dollar deficits, it is only a matter of time before some observant senator or congressman suggests eliminating the Marine Corps to save billions of dollars. Why not? The other services can easily perform the "new" mission of the Marines. It is hard to sit on the sidelines and watch this occur.
To save our Marine Corps, a leader with big kahunas must admit the mistake of Force Design and strive to regain all the lost capabilities, restoring the Corps' credibility. General Al Gray, where are you?
Today the Corps needs a ginat in the mold of General Lou Wilson, General Robert Barrow, or General Al Gray; to date we have only seen l "little people."
We have witnessed the Death of Our Phoenix. Out of the “ashes” known as Feckless Design a new Phoenix, with its Eagle,Globe and Anchor symbol will arise! “Phoenix, in ancient Egypt and in Classical antiquity, a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The Egyptian phoenix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Only one phoenix existed at any time, and it was very long-lived—no ancient authority gave it a life span of less than 500 years. As its end approached, the phoenix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phoenix, which, after embalming its father’s ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis (“City of the Sun”) in Egypt, where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun, Re. A variant of the story made the dying phoenix fly to Heliopolis and immolate itself in the altar fire, from which the young phoenix then rose.!
I had thought about writing about this topic, but found that it added nothing new to the conversation. The Fantasy Island article and today's article are the pro and con of our discussions here on CP.
Just an idea, would it be possible for either General Zinni or General McAbee to contact Niharika Mandhana and explain our objections to the new direction of the Marine Corps? Her audience in the WSJ is probably a very wide net, more so than strictly military journals. Just the thought from a long ago Lt. 0402.
Under General Berger’s secretive guidance the Corps divested itself to irrelevance. It is a large force of 160,000 that cannot contribute in any relationship to its size. Its current, self delineated mission hardly warrants 15,000 Marines let alone 160,000. Congress will soon realize this and the Army, Navy and Air Force will gladly point it out. Their recruiting shortfalls will benefit from 145,000 Marines made available at the garage sale of people and equipment.
The nation’s inability to intervene will be an isolationist’s dream. To the liberal culture warriors the dissolution of the most traditional and Spartan military service is an unanticipated but welcome benefit.
As soon as the Maginot Line in the South China Sea is rendered obsolete the need for any USMC of any sort becomes clear. Probably a ceremonial squadron of about 1000 Marines as a Navy MOS. The Drum and Bugle Corps, Drill Team, Marine Band, White House support detachment and some Presidential umbrella holders.
The Marine Corps is and has been a pebble in the shoe of all five sides of the puzzle palace for decades and before that the war department and members of Congress and before that circa 1775 anyone who wanted to be a Marine and either didn’t or couldn’t. The last thing the transformational society of “elites” in Foggy Bottom want is a small seaborne force capable of short, mid and long term military and or humanitarian operations. General Berger and for that matter General Smith can paint it any way they want but they attempted and hopefully have failed to reduce the Corps to irrelevance. The open question is did they do enough to succeed. The larger question is what had prompted this dissolution effort. Not sure how it is today, but back 40 years ago there was a box that got checked by the reviewing officer on one’s fitness report. An officer could be marginal in many areas but the ONE box you wanted checked is “would serve with in combat”. If that box was a negative it was a show stopper. Something or someone had gone horribly wrong or bad. We all served with a couple of officers that we did not trust and did not like and did want to be in the TOAR with them. Sadly not knowing Berger or Smith, but knowing they came behind me, it is hard to imagine that they did not already smell badly. We know them when we see them. Equally we know the guys that without equivocation we would lay down our lives for if it came to it. It would be simple muscle memory and the pathological optimism in our personalities that would say “Hell we are both or all going to get out of this mess.” Then out to face whatever it was that trying to do us harm.
The next question is can we save enough of the blue water navy to get back out to sea and can we convince enough politicians that while they might not like us, America and Americans have spoken through the years, “Representative Pinhead, we may not need a Marine Corps but we want one.” Besides who will guard the gates of Heaven if not us. Exactly it’s a short list with one name, United States Marines…
Gen Zinni and BGen McAbee, in their article, aptly provided a mission statement that can be paraphrased for the Marine Unit we wish we had: "The Mission of the Marine All Domain Task Force (MADTF) is to confront threats from adversary general purpose and unconventional/irregular forces like those operating today where belligerents are effectively using combined arms together with emerging technologies to locate and destroy opposition using fires and maneuver.".
I agree with General Zinni and Brigadier General McAbee's position regarding the damage the Force Design 2030 Plan caused to the Marine Corps force structure. Sadly, we are no longer the 911 premier fighting force. The Corps is now molded into something of an unproven entity—a Corps with a defensive structure but with no real offensive bite as before!
I understand that the current Corps leadership controls the Corps's destiny. As a University professor for the past thirty years since my Marine Corps retirement, I fully understand that today's Marine Corps officers are products of the computer gaming genre. The wargamers at Quantico are convinced that future conflicts will somewhat follow the scenarios they have played many times before. Except, when disputes arise, they will not be computer games!
We "old timers," with our sense of loyalty to the Corps, have a responsibility to our active duty Marines and senior leadership to pass on our collective past experiences and observations to prevent grave mistakes of our Corps in the future.
Marine Corps Generals Zinni and McAbee have stated that "The Marine Corps has transformed to irrelevance." As an old Marine, this observation by two respected leaders feels like a death blow to the Corps. In an era of trillion-dollar deficits, it is only a matter of time before some observant senator or congressman suggests eliminating the Marine Corps to save billions of dollars. Why not? The other services can easily perform the "new" mission of the Marines. It is hard to sit on the sidelines and watch this occur.
To save our Marine Corps, a leader with big kahunas must admit the mistake of Force Design and strive to regain all the lost capabilities, restoring the Corps' credibility. General Al Gray, where are you?
Today the Corps needs a ginat in the mold of General Lou Wilson, General Robert Barrow, or General Al Gray; to date we have only seen l "little people."
We have witnessed the Death of Our Phoenix. Out of the “ashes” known as Feckless Design a new Phoenix, with its Eagle,Globe and Anchor symbol will arise! “Phoenix, in ancient Egypt and in Classical antiquity, a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The Egyptian phoenix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Only one phoenix existed at any time, and it was very long-lived—no ancient authority gave it a life span of less than 500 years. As its end approached, the phoenix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phoenix, which, after embalming its father’s ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis (“City of the Sun”) in Egypt, where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun, Re. A variant of the story made the dying phoenix fly to Heliopolis and immolate itself in the altar fire, from which the young phoenix then rose.!
I had thought about writing about this topic, but found that it added nothing new to the conversation. The Fantasy Island article and today's article are the pro and con of our discussions here on CP.
Just an idea, would it be possible for either General Zinni or General McAbee to contact Niharika Mandhana and explain our objections to the new direction of the Marine Corps? Her audience in the WSJ is probably a very wide net, more so than strictly military journals. Just the thought from a long ago Lt. 0402.