Compass Points - In Full Agreement
A Better Way Forward
With Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas holidays now over and the start of a new year just ahead, it is a good time to review. The goal of Compass Points is to be an independent voice focused on the Marine Corps and national security.
Compass Points is not authorized by the Marine Corps and does not always agree with official Marine Corps policy, but Compass Points shares many things with the current Marine Corps leadership. All Marine leaders and friends of the Corps are working toward a Marine Corps that is strong today and stronger tomorrow.
In a recent speech to the 3rd annual Marine Corps Association Members Meeting, the current Commandant, General Berger, talked about some of the issues and challenges facing the Marine Corps.
The Commandant had this to say about Marine Corps debate which should take place in the pages of the Gazette and elsewhere: "We don't just tolerate [debate], we encourage it. It's like a rugby scrum and we like it because that's how the best ideas get to the top."
Compass Points and the Commandant are in complete agreement.
The Commandant goes on to say:
"I'm very proud of the fact that our Marine Corps has a debate. That is our culture. I think we set the global standard there. We should be proud of it. We should celebrate it. Debate is healthy. It makes us stronger."
Compass Points and the Commandant are again in complete agreement. Stronger debate leads to a stronger Marine Corps.
As important as the Gazette is, debate must also take place more widely, including in the schools. The Commandant makes the point:
“In the 80s, many of the folks in this room remember the 1980s, the debate in the 1980s on maneuver warfare. We vigorously ripped that apart, and put it back together. [But] for every advocate we know, there was an opponent just like today. There was Bill Lind, General Al Gray, Michael Wiley on one side and the same number of people on the other side saying they have it wrong."
In his speech the Commandant goes on to suggest we should study current conflicts in the Ukraine and elsewhere and then have lots of people come up with their own list of the 10 most important lessons from current conflicts. Among all the lists of lessons there would be some overlap. The Commandant says, "We might want to study deeper the overlap part. That I think will help us move the Marine Corps where we need to go."
Compass Points is doing just that. In the new year, Compass Points will post new reflections on Ukraine and what the Marine Corps can learn. Once again, Compass Points and the Commandant are in agreement.
The Commandant ended his remarks by talking about the importance of Marine veterans.
"That's my point. 'Once a Marine always a Marine' it is not a bumper sticker we put on our car. We don't take them for granted. I'm just passing on to you that as your Commandant, even more than three four years ago, I have come to value the service, the contributions, the coaching, the teaching, the mentoring, of our Marine veterans"
Some Compass Points readers have come to the mistaken conclusion that because Compass Points is an independent voice for a stronger Marine Corps, that somehow it is against the Marine Corps. Nonsense. Compass Points is part of the great debate the Commandant says makes the Marine Corps stronger.
The Commandant wants debate, wants fresh viewpoints, big ideas, and broad discussion in order to, in his own words, "move the Marine Corps where we need to go."
We all agree.
The Marine Corps veterans of Compass Points and Chowder II appreciate the Commandant's words about Marine veterans. "I have come to value the service, the contributions, the coaching, the teaching, the mentoring, of our Marine veterans"
As we approach the new year, Compass Points is re-energized by the Commandant’s words. Thank you. With the help of entire Compass Points community, we will continue to provide discussion and debate about the issues and ideas that will help the Marine Corps find a better way forward.
The leader is judged by how his comments and actions remain in synch. What is said, what is actually done and how it is done reveal the character, motives and judgement of the leader. I do not doubt that the CMC believed his reforms were the best path for the Corps.
How it was implemented is another matter and was the impetus of the unprecedented push back from those in and outside who then looked more closely at the content of those reforms. The content was found wanting by plenty of active duty senior officers who were quickly marginalized for their sincere questions and analysis. Over the last three years they were purged. The retired officers were initially slow to respond to the method behind the implementation of the reforms and who sought to provide opinions in the traditional channels. They were rejected out of hand.
These recent comments by the CMC are exactly in line with how things should be done but 180 degrees out from what has transpired over the last 42 months. I would like to believe that he has had a change of opinion for the last 12.5% of his time in office. But, sadly I do not believe the quoted comments reflect a change of heart or methodology. Rather, I must reluctantly concluded that the pool available for selection to be the next CMC have been throughly vetted and tested to insure the continuation of the present trajectory.
It is unfortunate that the members of the wider brotherhood were, and continue to be, treated as adversaries to be outwitted and outmaneuvered. The fracture is one that will be hard to heal.
JC is on target! The Gazette should be encouraging the discussion.