Compass Points - Strong Voices

A variety of independent views

Compass Points - Strong Voices

A variety of independent views

February 28, 2024

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Two strong, independent voices, speaking up for the Marine Corps, all the military services, and the Nation.

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The strength of the Marine Corps comes not only from the hard work of Marines on active duty but also from the constant caring of those across the entire Marine community. Earning the Marine EGA is not the same as earning a dollar from a civilian company. Do those who spend a few years making some kind of widget for the widget corporation still care about the widget corporation after they leave the company? Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But Marines, regardless of rank, MOS, or years of service, always care about the Marine Corps. And everyone knows Marines are not afraid to stand up and not afraid to speak out.

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Just two examples of so many Marines who are speaking up in their own strong, independent voices today are Owen West and Gary Anderson.

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Author and Marine, Owen West, wrote a powerful article in War on the Rock, "Are the Marines Inventing the Edsel or the Mustang?" in which he said,

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The Marine Corps’ increasingly leveraged position did attract rare publicized criticism from its alarmed retired community. In an unprecedented act, many of the service’s luminaries objected to the scope of the divestment. This group included 22 four-star generals, including prior commandants. Although every organizational transformation has challenges, the resistance to Berger’s plan is unprecedented in the history of the Marine Corps.

-- Owen West

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More recently, in an opinion article in the Wall St. Journal, West (with Kevin Wallsten) warned, "Patriotism’s Decline Imperils the Military."

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This month, writing for The Hill, West's article, "The Pentagon’s new recruitment policy is a disaster" urges the Marine Corps and all the services to cancel what was sold as an advanced recruiting technology, Genesis.  Instead of being a leap forward, the new technology is harming the Marine Corps and all the military services.

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The service chiefs and service secretaries must present a unified front and remove Genesis from the recruiting ecosystem. Health requirements must be replaced by a simple, modern standard based on performance. We no longer have the luxury of stapling restriction upon restriction to winnow a volunteer overflow. Finally, recruiters must be given back latitude to use their hard-earned experience to detect who will perform well. It’s time to get back to commonsense at the grassroots, which the military-industrial bureaucracy seeks to stifle.

-- Owen West

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Owen West is just one example of a strong, independent voice speaking out to help the Marine Corps and the Nation.

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Gary Anderson is another strong, independent voice.  Author and Marine, Gary Anderson, has penned a remarkable series of commentary articles attempting to wake the Marine Corps, the Congress, and the Nation to the weakened state of the military.

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Always forceful and often brash, Anderson's articles include:

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-- "Forget China, We Can’t Even Beat the Houthis"

-- "Does the Marine Corps Need Course Correction? Congress Wants to Know"

-- "Lessons the US Marine Corps Should Learn from Gaza and Ukraine"

-- "Fixing What is Wrong with Our Generals"

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Anderson's most recent article was published in The Defense Post, 02/23/2024, "How to Ruin the Marine Corps."

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Things have not gone well for FD 2030 in the past year. Before he left office, General Berger was forced to admit that the Navy-Marine Corps team could not respond to contingencies in Sudan and Turkey due to a lack of amphibious shipping.

Congress has belatedly realized something may be wrong, and the current Defense Authorization Act has mandated a second look at FD 2030.

An exhaustive study by a group of retired senior Marine Corps generals revealed the war games justifying FD 2030 were manipulated to produce positive results. General Berger’s concept was built on a house of cards. He reduced the Marine Corps to something between coastal artillery and naval infantry.

-- Gary Anderson, "How to Ruin the Marine Corps"

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Those with doubts and concerns about the future of the Marine Corps are a sea of independent voices. They stand up and say what they want to say, when they want to say it, and how they want to say it. No one puts ideas in their heads or words in their mouths. Marines are trained to be strong and independent. Marines see what needs to be done and they do it.

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When Marines leave active duty, they do not leave behind their deep and abiding concern for the Marine Corps. Regardless of rank, MOS, or years of service the phrase, "Once a Marine, always a Marine" is not just a phrase, it is a promise to support the best of the Corps.

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To those who have gone on to build new lives after their Marine Corps service, the Marine Corps can seem at times like a wayward nephew. No matter how many bad decisions the nephew makes, you want the best for him, you want to do all you can to help guide him in a better direction.

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In the sea of independent voices speaking in favor of a stronger Marine Corps, Gary Anderson and Owen West are just two voices. But they are both strong voices. They are standing up and speaking out in their own personal effort to move the Marine Corps and the Nation toward a better future.

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Compass Points has never met either Gary Anderson or Owen West in person, or spoken with them by phone, or emailed with them. Compass Points does not agree with everything they say. But Compass Points salutes Gary Anderson and Owen West for standing up and speaking out in favor of a stronger Marine Corps. The future of the Marine Corps is bright because the Marine Corps is blessed to have so many independent voices speaking out to help the Marine Corps remain not just strong today but stronger tomorrow.