Compass Points - Mission, Values, & Discussion

Discussion, discourse, & debate for a stronger USMC

Compass Points - Mission, Values, & Discussion

Discussion, discourse, & debate for a stronger USMC

June 1, 2025

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Happy Sunday!

Sunday is a good day for reflection. Today is a good day for reflecting on the Internet.

The Internet is a big place. It has something for everyone. Compass Points, however, is a small place, not for everyone. Across the Internet, there are uncountable numbers of angry, bitter trolls, posting angry, bitter comments. Trolls sit and fling their lonely insults from the safety of their basements. As much as many Internet sites may complain about trolls, they actually like them because cranking up the emotion and stimulating angry controversy increases readership. The troll infested site becomes like a car wreck that no-one wants to be a part of, but a site from which no-one can look away.

Compass Points is much different. Compass Points is a discussion site about the Marine Corps and National security. Compass Points advocates for a stronger Marine Corps and a stronger National defense.

We live in momentous times and the challenges facing us today are worthy of robust discussion, discourse, and debate. This is not a petty discussion of personalities or persons. Rather, we are at a critical time, facing critical topics. The urgency of the issues dictates the frankness of the debate. All discussion should be conducted as a professional, patient, and polite exchange among Marines and friends of the Corps from all backgrounds and experience. Comments that are pointed, passionate, and even humorous are encouraged on all sides of a topic, but comments that are disruptive, inflammatory, and unprofessional are not permitted. Anyone seeking to generate angry controversy needs to find some other Internet home.

Those Marines on active duty years ago and those on active duty today are bound together on the same journey. We all share the same goal: to ensure the Marine Corps is strong today and stronger tomorrow.

If the Marine Corps grows stronger in the future, then all of us — on all sides of any issue — will win. If the Marine Corps grows weaker, then we all lose.

Are there guidelines for professional discussions? Yes. Writing some time ago in the Marine Times, General Charles Krulak, the 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps, reflected on professional discussion among Marines and some "bedrock principles."

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First off, it is not a commandant’s Marine Corps; the Marine Corps belongs to all Marines past and present, living and dead. It is all of our Marine Corps.

It became our Marine Corps the moment we earned our eagle, globe and anchor. It will remain our Marine Corps for the rest of our lives.

On a moral/ethos level, we, all of us, love and care for the Marine Corps. That commitment, that ethos, can sometimes be underappreciated or misunderstood. Yet it is our touchstone. We must never lose that commitment, that sense of ownership.

. . . I urge all to reflect deeply on our long-standing bedrock principles and to consider carefully the following points:

— We need to move from waging information campaigns against one another after serious decisions about our Corps future have been made to a much more inclusive and transparent process before decisions are made.

— We need to move from generalizations and straw man characterizations of contending views to serious, in-depth discussions about operational capabilities and the dependencies they have, discussions befitting professionals.

— We need to clearly articulate a future end-state and the means by which we will get there to include, rigorously red-teamed transitions that minimize exploitable opportunities by this nation’s enemies each step of the way.

— We need to return to a time when we “cast our nets widely” and think deeply and carefully about our own dynamic, complex adaptive system, and the many other dynamic complex systems with which we operate.

This is our Marine Corps, and we all have roles to play in helping it adapt to an increasingly complex future.

We must never denigrate or marginalize those who want to help shape its future. We must encourage, rather than suppress, different perspectives and life experiences. Open, inclusive stress-testing of hypotheses about our Corps make for both a stronger, more relevant Corps and a more cohesive and unified Corps.

Let’s revitalize “Gung Ho”— working together.

-- General Charles Krulak, "Whose Marine Corps?" Marine Times 05/27/2022

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Compass Points thanks General Charles Krulak for his wise counsel and thanks also all our readers who served as seminar leaders this week by providing topics, articles, and comments. Many thanks!

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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.

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.

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.

We believe in the complexity of combat.

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

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

We believe nothing is more uncertain than certainty.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.