Compass Points - Next Step Comments
Time to take action now.
Compass Points - Next Step Comments
Time to take action now.
December 1, 2024
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Sunday is a good day for reflection.
With just over 7 weeks until a new administration takes office, wielding a new sword, it may be worth considering two ancient stories about the power and usefulness of the sword.
The first is Alexander's sword and the Gordian Knot.
The second is Solomon's sword and the baby.
Somewhere around 333 BC Alexander the Great marched his army into what is today Turkey to the Phrygian capital of Gordium. There he was confronted with the famed Gordian Knot. An oracle had declared that whoever could solve the tangled mass of knots piled on knots piled on knots would be destined to rule the world. Intrigued by the puzzle, Alexander wrestled with the mass of knots for some time, until at last he stood up, drew his sword, and with one stroke he cut the mass in two saying, "I solve it thus." Alexander did go on to conquer the known world and his solution to the Gordian Knot has stood for all time as inspiration for quickly solving even the most intractable problems.
The story of Solomon's sword provides another view of the sword. One day Solomon, widely regarded as the wisest King ever to sit a throne, was confronted with two women arguing over a baby. The first woman explained that recently each woman had given birth. No one else was with them, just the two women and their two newborns. A few nights later, the second woman's baby died. While the first woman and her baby slept, the second woman took the live baby into her bed and left the dead baby for the first woman to find in her bed in the morning.
When the first woman discovered the dead baby, she realized it was not hers. The women argued for some time in front of Solomon. Eventually, Solomon called for his sword. He ordered the baby to be split in half so each woman could have half. The first woman begged for Solomon not to kill the baby but give it to the second woman. The second woman told Solomon to go ahead and divide the baby as that was the only fair solution. Solomon ordered the baby to be given to the first woman who loved the baby.
The new administration is bringing in experts who claim to wield Alexander's sword that will solve intractable problems with one swift stroke. But many of these experts have no military experience. They are masters of finance, kings of cash flow. Bold business leaders can slice and dice a business with impunity. All that is at risk is money. But a military squad, particularly a Marine Corps squad, is not a business. It is a living thing that lives not on cash flow but on the intangibles of courage, duty, and esprit de corps. Slice carelessly into the Marine Corps and visionaries risk killing the baby.
Many Compass Points readers have suggested now is the time to reach out to the new administration. A sample of the discussion is included below. As always, all comments are edited for length and content.
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Ray “Skip” Polak
As the shadow of chaos darkens around us, how does our Corps reconstitute its power to be heard in Congress?
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Douglas C Rapé
Almost six years later: no T/E, no T/O, no ships, no doctrine, no weaponry, no concept of employment. We used to call this “on a wing and a prayer.” No garbage barge sunk, no position defended and no displacement or resupply. Please show me a demo on San Clemente Island. Insert, set up, shoot, defend, resupply and displace. Repeat. Until that can be demonstrated this is vapor ware. At its best it is amateurish. At its worst it is professional incompetence bordering on a crime. When will someone step up and put this long running farce to an end?
It is not enough to bury this delusional travesty. I would like to see accountability via trials.
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Samuel Whittemore
This week the USNI introduced the newly designated Secretary of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy, financier John Phelan. Who will brief Secretary of the USMC and USN Phelan about the pathetic state of the current DON?
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Bud Meador
We are blessed in having retired senior officers who have moved in that rarified atmosphere, & have a feel for what needs to be done. I think our salvation rests in their hands, as uncomfortable as that may be. Lead on! Semper Fidelis!
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Don Whisnant
Now is the time for Chowder II to have lunch with the new SecDef and SecNav.
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Paul Van Riper
Working hard to inform all the nominated Pentagon leaders and new as well as current members of Congress.
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Greg Falzetta
I'm STILL looking for Senator and Col. Sullivan USMCR (ret) to step forward and lead Congress’s effort to get to the bottom of this clusterf**k.
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Paul Van Riper
He has a very clear understanding of the problem and continues to professionally challenge Force Design 2030. I believe when the history of this era is written the Senator will be seen as one of the heroes that saved the Corps from its two misguided leaders.
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Solomon
Where does Compass Points see the fight going now? I'm sure the Commandant has feelers out to the incoming President to push his plan and show that its the way to go. Is Compass Points matching that effort? I get the feeling that the fight has moved to the incoming SecDef & SecNav.
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Paul Van Riper
Our focus of effort is with the Congress, which has a long history of protecting the Corps from its distractors and ensuring such protection in Title 10 of the US Code. We are also reaching out to the nominated new Pentagon leaders with information on the significant damage done to the Corps over the past five years. As always, our efforts are apolitical and aimed at getting the Corps on the right track for the future.
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Solomon
FREAKING AWESOME! Thanks for the news Sir. Much appreciated. Can't lie. Hope wasn't gone, but it was fading. Good to know the fight goes on.
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Yes, the fight for the future of the Marine Corps goes on. When the Marine Corps is inspected by the incoming administration, the inspectors should slice away at the Gordian Knots that need slicing, but do not kill the baby. Compass Points salutes all readers who in their own ways are continuing to build the discussion about a stronger Marine Corps and thanks all our readers who served as seminar leaders this week by providing topics, articles, and comments. Many thanks!
I am encouraged by the outreach and efforts I am unaware of and do not need to be aware of. Just knowing it is going on is a source of solace.
I do not believe that the Corps can do an about face with the authors of the conflagration remaining on active duty. A significant portion of the senior uniformed leadership must be retired in January. The perpetrators were both active and passive. No way forward without their departure. If this means a selective return to active duty of select leaders so be it.
To reconfigure and modernize three MEFs into MAGTFs will be a huge undertaking of significant cost and complexity. It must be executed in a short time span in light of looming threats across the globe.
A secondary effort must be afforded to accountability. A number of officers violated laws and must answer for their actions. They often acted outside of the realm of their authority, in violation of laws and appropriations and should be taken to task.
The last six years have been like no other in the history of our Corps that I am aware of. The split loyalties of the Civil War are not even close. The combination of delusional incompetence, deception, disloyal deceit, betrayal and irresponsibility have no equal. There can be no return to Esprit De Corps and unity without accountability. A lack of justice is injustice to those dismissed, defamed and marginalized. The degradation to the national defense effort has yet to be fully appreciated. There is no time for half measures. Move quickly and decisively.
Let’s add The Vice President of the United States to the list! “Once a Marine, Always a Marine!”.