Compass Points - Run to the Guns
Marines run to the sound of the guns
Compass Points - Run to the Guns
Marines run to the sound of the guns
June 20, 2025
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Amid preparations for war on all sides in the Middle East today, at least two crucial military forces are missing, -- on one side is Hezbollah, and on the other side is the US Marines.
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Lebanese Hezbollah’s military defeat after 14 months of conflict with Israel has left it politically and militarily constrained and in no position to support its ally Iran in any future confrontation with Israel, analysts, military experts, and western diplomats told The National.
Israel’s deadly overnight strike on Iran decapitated much of Tehran’s military and nuclear leadership. And a broader regional offensive by Israel over the past two years has severely weakened Iranian proxies across the region, leaving Hezbollah unable to come to its sponsor’s aid.
Under normal circumstances “Hezbollah would definitely respond to the Iranian attack right away,” according to Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut and an expert on Iran’s proxies. “But now I think we are in a different phase and it's a very defeated organisation struggling to rebuild after the hits it has taken.
“Hezbollah is in a difficult position. Iran is in need of support from its closest ally and they are incapable of delivering,” he added.
-- The National News
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Because of its weakened condition, Hezbollah is simply unable to come to the fight.
Meanwhile, US forces continue to prepare for new actions in the Middle East.
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USS Nimitz (CVN-68) sailed west through the Singapore Strait Monday, bound for the Indian Ocean, according to ship spotters. The carrier is sailing to the Middle East, a defense official told USNI News.
The Washington-based carrier was already scheduled to sail to U.S. Central Command to eventually relieve USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), which deployed in mid-November and will need to head home soon.
Nimitz was operating in the South China Sea last week, according to the USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker. As of Monday morning, Vinson is operating in the Arabian Sea with the cruiser and three destroyers that make up the Vinson Carrier Strike Group.
. . . In addition to the carrier movement, U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotankers and K-46A Pegasus tankers departed the continental U.S. Sunday and flew east toward Europe, according to Flightradar24.
There are currently two destroyers – USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98) and USS Truxtun (DDG-103) – operating in the Red Sea. USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) and USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) are operating in the Eastern Mediterranean and USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) is in port in Souda Bay, Crete.
-- USNI News
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Recent reports indicate that the US relocated a dozen F-16s based in Italy to Prince Sultan air base, in Saudi Arabia,
In additional preparation, US officials continue to urge the families of US military and civilians to depart the region.
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The forces in the region have been taking precautionary measures for days, including having military dependents voluntarily leave bases, in anticipation of potential strikes and to protect personnel in case of a large-scale response from Tehran.
Officials said they were not aware of many families actually leaving.
-- Military Times
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In all the preparations for war, where are the US Marines?
The US is on the brink of a sudden violent clash with Iran. It is possible negotiations will solve the current conflict, but it is not likely. There should be a flexible, expandable Marine MAGTF in the western Mediterranean today. Where is the always faithful 9-1-1 force of Marines? Where is the Marine global crisis response force? Where is the always forward deployed force, always ready to arrive at a global crisis to deter, assist, or fight?
The families of US military and civilians serving in the Middle East may be in life threatening danger as soon as tomorrow. Who will rescue the families? Who will conduct an immediate non-combatant evacuation operation? If the mullahs who have ruled Iran since 1979 decide to go out in a suicidal, unrestricted bombardment of all westerners throughout the region, how will the US Marines help in those chaotic days? If a US Navy or Marine pilot is shot down in some hostile territory, there is no better, no more rapid solution than to have the special operations capable MAGTF Marines conduct an immediate TRAP rescue. Unfortunately, as things stand today, when that downed, desperate pilot needs rescue, the MAGTF Marines will not be coming to the rescue, because the Marine MAGTF is not there.
There is no US member of Congress and hardly any US citizen who does not know that the US Marines are the Nation's 9-1-1 crisis response force, always ready to arrive off any troubled shore. What many do not know, however, is that the Marine Corps is in such a weakened condition today that the combined arms, forward deployed Marine Corps has not been ordered into the troubled region.
In a series of misguided decisions, Marine Corps senior leaders in recent years have stripped the Marine Corps of too much armor, infantry, aviation, artillery, bridging, mine clearing, snipers and more. In addition, both the amphibious warships and the prepositioning ships the Marine Corps depends on to get to the fight and to prevail are too often unavailable, either because the ships are waiting to be repaired or because the ships are waiting to be constructed.
When the US is facing a crisis in the Middle East and the US Marines are in such a weakened condition that they cannot get to the fight, something is terribly wrong. It is not good for the Nation when the Marine Corps is in such a weakened condition. It is also not good for the Marines.
The US Marine Corps is a first to fight force. Marines are not made to sit on the sidelines. For more than two centuries Marines have been thrown into one desperate battle after another. To prevail, Marines have needed the tools of war, the right units, the right equipment, and the right capabilities. But it goes much deeper. Marines bring to every fight an indomitable will and a warfighting ethos that honors service, sacrifice, courage, and commitment. Marines never go to battle without their warfighting ethos and the US should never go battle without the Marines.
Marines always run to the sound of the guns. The guns are beginning to rumble in the Middle East. It is time to unleash the Marines.
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The National News - 06/13/2025
Axis of sitting ducks’: Why Hezbollah cannot afford to defend Iran from Israel’s attacks
With its arsenal decimated and pressure to disarm, the Lebanese group has little capability to support its ally
By Nada Homsi, Nada Maucourant Atallah, and Jamie Prentis
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Military Times - 06/19/2025
How the US has shifted military jets and ships in the Middle East
By Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press
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USNI News
UPDATED: Aircraft Carrier USS Nimitz Sailing to Middle East, Says Official
By Mallory Shelbourne
June 16, 2025 - Updated: June 17, 2025
https://news.usni.org/2025/06/16/aircraft-carrier-uss-nimitz-sailing-west-through-strait-of-malacca
Imagine if the senior military leadership decided they needed to seize and hold Bandar Abbas or the Port of Aden. The Marine Corps could do neither. What if the leadership decided to place a potent combat Brigade into Lithuania in response to Russian threats? It could not do it. Imagine that Iceland requested a military force be stationed there to send a signal to Russia. What could the Marine Corps send? What exactly can today’s Marine Corps do?
The Corps gave itself a mission to sink ships with short range missiles in one specific geographic location and in that target fixation discarded its ability to be able to do what it is tasked by law to provide. This unilateral disobedience of the law most certainly should result in consequences for those who executed this rouge charge into irrelevance.
Imagine this scenario. A Regimental commander orders a Bn to seize and hold a mountain pass and the Bn Commander issues orders to his companies to support his scheme of maneuver. One Company responds that they had expected to stay in a local village to defend it and had traded in the rifles, machine guns and mortars for shotguns better suited to this self assigned mission. The machine gunners and Mortar men have been sent to the rear. Nor do they have hand grenades and they plan to forage for food and water in the village. They believe the enemy is unaware they are in the village. The Company Gunny and two platoon leaders had reservations and were sent to the rear with the machine gunners and mortar men. The sitrep reveals that they have no shotgun ammunition. The shotguns have no ability to affix a bayonet. The Company Commander further reports that he has no cold weather gear as he was unfamiliar with the local climate and did not expect the arriving cold front.
How is this example different from what the Marine Corps has done over the last six years?