Compass Points - Something Wrong
Marines always take action.
Compass Points - Something Wrong
Marines always take action.
January 20, 2024
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Intangibles make a Marine and the Marine Corps.
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The Clarendon bar district in Arlington Virginia has become a massive weekend party zone for young professionals in their 20's and 30's. Each weekend, tens of thousands eat, drink, dance, and party late into the night. An expanded police presence tries to keep the peace.
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One Saturday evening, a young man walked into a Clarendon bar, got a beer, and stood surveying the crowd. Almost immediately a big bouncer walks up and starts thumping the young man in the chest, yells at him, and tells him to leave. The young man leaves. As he exits the bar, the young man thinks, "I knew I should have never gone back there."
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Three weeks before, the young man had been at the same bar at closing time, very early on a Sunday morning. All the lights in the bar were turned on and the last patrons slowly shuffled out the front exit. As they left, they had to step over a young woman in a short skirt who had passed out and was lying across the front doorway. Each patron stepped over her and walked out. Finally, the young man stepped over her and walked out also. As he did so, he looked back and saw the big bouncer pick up the young woman, put her on his shoulder, and carry her back into the bar.
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The young man hesitated. That did not look right to him. Where was the bouncer taking her? The young man walked back into the bar. He followed the bouncer through the bar, down some stairs, down a long hallway, and saw him take the young woman into a back closet and lock the door.
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Other bouncers were just outside that door, but the young man walked through them and pounded on the door until it opened. The young lady stood bleary eyed behind the big bouncer. The young man asked her, "do you know him?" For a moment nothing happened, then the young man reached in and pulled the woman from behind the bouncer, pushed her out the back door, and told her to go home. That left the young man surrounded by bouncers. With only a few scrapes, the young man talked his way out of the bar and left.
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When all the other patrons stepped over the young woman as she lay across the doorway, when all the other patrons just went home and ignored the danger, why did the young man take action?
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The four living Marine officers who have received the Medal of Officers wrote an article in The National Review where they warned that the radical restructuring of the Marine Corps was doing more than costing equipment, it was risking the very nature of the Marine Corps.
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As Marines and Medal of Honor recipients, we believe the intangibles that make the Marine Corps exceptional are under attack and at risk of being overrun.
-- James E. Livingston, Jay Vargas, Harvey Barnum, & Robert Modrzejewski
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If the Marine Corps were ever to start to lose "the intangibles that make the Marine Corps exceptional" it would be apparent in small but sadly tangible ways.
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In Military.com, Drew F. Lawrence writes about a GAO report that said Marines are living in barracks that are filthy and in disrepair. Lawrence writes that since the GAO report, ". . . new images of dismal conditions at a Marine Corps facility appeared online in recent days -- dead vermin, flooded washers, apparent mold . . ."
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How can this happen? It is the very heart of the Marine Corps that Marines take care of Marines. Marines always strive to do what is right. When something is wrong, Marines take action.
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The reason the young man in the Clarendon bar took action was he had the habit of taking action, he had the habit of doing what was right, even at risk to himself. The young man worked nearby at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. The young man was a Marine.
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Intangibles make a Marine and a Marine Corps. The most pernicious effects of the radical restructuring of the Marine Corps are not just that combined arms capabilities have been lost or degraded, it is that the heart, spirit, and ethos of the Marine Corps has been degraded.
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Compass Points salutes the young Marine in a Clarendon bar at closing time who saw something wrong and took action, and salutes all those working to preserve, "the intangibles that make the Marine Corps exceptional."
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Compass Points - The Secret of Marines
At the heart of the Marine Corps.
January 6, 2024
https://marinecorpscompasspoints.substack.com/p/compass-points-the-secret-of-marines
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National Review (nationalreview.com) October 3. 2022
The Marine Corps is Dangerously Close to Losing its Customs, Traditions and Warfighting Ethos
By James E. Livingston, Jay Vargas, Harvey Barnum, & Robert Modrzejewski
As Marines and Medal of Honor recipients, we believe the intangibles that make the Marine Corps exceptional are under attack and at risk of being overrun.
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Military.com -- 01/12/2024
Marine Corps Plans Resident Advisers in Barracks and Other Fixes as Gross Facility Photos Surface Online
By Drew F. Lawrence
My grandson is a Marine Sergeant. When he was home for Christmas I asked how things were at CLNC. He complained about the barracks and the messhall. The barracks were reported to be in very poor condition and we're the responsibility of contractors who would not do their jobs. The messhall complaint was the poor quality of the food. His response was perplexing.
The Marine Corps going to Barracks Advisors is disturbing. The quality of life where Marines live, eat and work is a primary command function. Turning the command responsibility of where Marines live over to barracks advisors goes a long way toward explaining why this problem exists.
As a squadron commander at New River in 1980 my Sergeant Major and I inspected barracks weekly. This procedure not only results in early recognition of structural problems, but it motivates Marines to do their part of field day maintenance. Barracks upkeep is part of professional life.
As a new squadron commander at New River in 1980, I was also dealing initially with a rampant marijuana problem. One of my barracks buildings had an indoor passageway. Marines who were found to be marijuana users were required to move to rooms that had their doors removed. It was not long before I could no longer detect the lingering odor of marijuana on weekly barracks inspections.
Commanding officers who do not inspect their barracks and deal with barracks issues on a regular basis are not doing their job.
The sad point of this issue reflects poorly on the command structure for allowing these barracks to fall into this state of disrepair! As a leader of Marines, I was taught to "take care of your troops and lookout for their welfare". To allow this to have happen is unconscionable. This situation did not happen overnight. It would appear that several commanding officers ignored this issue during their tour of command!
Further, it is embarrassing to establish a program of Resident Advisors (RA's) to handle these situations. This is not a college campus or Air Force quarters. These are Marine Barracks! Where are the Sergeants and Staff Non Commissioned Officers? Are we allowing the Gen Z's to have their way?