Compass Points - Serve the Nation

Compass Points Mission & Values

Compass Points - Serve the Nation

Compass Points Mission & Values

November 17, 2024

Compass Points is made for the discussion of the Marine Corps and national security. The Mission and Values of Compass Points are included below. Like the Marine Corps, Compass Points does not exist for itself, it exists for a higher goal. The higher goal for a stronger Marine Corps is to serve the United States. The United States, at its best, is a powerful force for good in world, a beacon of a better future. Famed British popular historian Paul Johnson ended his great work, A History of the American People, with frank admiration for the United States:

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It is appropriate to end this history of the American people on a note of success, because the story of America is essentially one of difficulties being overcome by intelligence and skill, by faith and strength of purpose, by courage and persistence. America today, with its 260 million people, its splendid cities, its vast wealth, and its unrivaled power, is a human achievement without parallel. That achievement — the transformation of mostly uninhabited wildness into the supreme national artifact of history — did not come about without heroic sacrifice and great sufferings stoically endured, many costly failures, huge disappointments, defeats, and tragedies. There have indeed been many setbacks in 400 years of American history. As we have seen, many unresolved problems, some of daunting size, remain.

But the Americans are, above all, a problem solving people. They do not believe anything in the world is beyond human capacity to soar to and dominate. They will not give up. Full of essential goodwill to each other and to all, confident in their inherent decency and their democratic skills, they will attack again and again the ills in their society comma until they are overcome or at least substantially redressed. So the ship of state sails on, and mankind still continues to watch its progress, with wonder and amazement and sometimes apprehension, as it moves into the unknown waters of the 21st century and the third millennium. The great American republican experiment is still the cynosure of the world’s eyes. It is still the first, best hope for the human race. Looking back on its past, and forward to its future, the auguries are that it will not disappoint an expectant humanity.

— Paul Johnson, A History of the American People, First US Edition, 1997, p. 976

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Compass Points salutes Paul Johnson for his illuminating histories and also appreciates the great discussion on Compass Points this week and thanks 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.

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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.

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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.

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We believe in the complexity of combat.

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

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

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We believe nothing is more uncertain than certainty.

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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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.