Compass Points -What are the Marines?

How is the Marine Corps useful to the US?

Compass Points -What are the Marines?

How is the Marine Corps useful to the US?

December 11, 2024

.

Imagine in the coming weeks, members of the new administration, including representatives from the DOGE - Department of Government Efficiency, gather around a large conference table to discuss what needs to be done with various federal departments and agencies. They begin with a brief overview of some of the largest departments. Eventually, the discussion turns to the military. The panel begins with the Army, proceeds to the Navy, and then Air Force. Then the panel turns their attention to the U.S. Marine Corps and asks, what is the Marine Corps? What has the Marine Corps been in the past? What should it be in the future?

One person says, the Marine Corps is America's 9-1-1 force.

Another person says, the Marine Corps is an independent, crisis response, maneuver force.

Someone else says, it is a scalable, forward deployed, global reaction force.

While another person says the Marine Corps is a global, air, ground, logistics force, that can deter, assist, and fight.

Then a voice says, an always ready force that is light enough to get to the crisis quickly, heavy enough to stay, and creative and tough enough to solve.

Someone else adds, it is a crisis response force that provides policy makers and regional commanders with a constantly available set of flexible options.

Which is the right answer? All of the statements tell something about the fundamental nature of the Marine Corps.

In addition, the United States Code, provides Congress’ official definition of the Marine Corps.

.

==============

.

US Code Title 10

§8063. United States Marine Corps: composition; functions

(a) The Marine Corps, within the Department of the Navy, shall be so organized as to include not less than three combat divisions and three air wings, and such other land combat, aviation, and other services as may be organic therein. The Marine Corps shall be organized, trained, and equipped to provide fleet marine forces of combined arms, together with supporting air components, for service with the fleet in the seizure or defense of advanced naval bases and for the conduct of such land operations as may be essential to the prosecution of a naval campaign . . . and shall perform such other duties as the President may direct.

(b) The Marine Corps shall develop, in coordination with the Army and the Air Force, those phases of amphibious operations that pertain to the tactics, technique, and equipment used by landing forces.

.

==============

.

Across the decades, the Marine Corps has worked on missions in cooperation with 5 major federal departments, but the Marine Corps is not confined to any single department, agency, region, or narrow mission set. Much of the continuing usefulness of the Marine Corps is in its flexibility.

.

1. Navy - The Marine Corps works closely with the Navy, but Marines are not sailors.

2. Air Force - The Marine Corps has aircraft, but Marines are not airmen.

3. Army - The Marine Corps conducts ground combat operations, but Marines are not soldiers

4. Special Ops - The Marine Corps is special operations capable but is not limited to special ops.

5. State Department - The Marine Corps patrols the globe building friendships with allies and providing humanitarian assistance, but the Marine Corps is not part of the State Department.

.

Author and Marine, Mark Folse, in his article, “Marine Corps Identity from the Historical Perspective" discusses the role and purpose of the Marine Corps.

.

==============

.

What this means is that the Marine Corps is both naval in character and purpose and there is nothing wrong or damaging about that. As long as the United States is a world power, the executive branch of the U.S. government will need a forward deployed naval force ready to provide a range of capabilities to theater commanders across the globe. Immediately after the end of the Cold War, and despite not having a clear threat on the horizon, countries needed humanitarian assistance, embassies needed to be defended, and a whole range of potential crises erupted where American lives and interests were at stake.

Commandants Alfred Gray, Carl Mundy, and Charles Krulak of the late 1980s and 1990s had to make sure the Marines could respond to all of these things. To this day the Corps is built, in part, to conduct naval campaigns and respond to these crises. It should be common knowledge that naval campaigns are not exclusive of ground and air combat that require infantry, armor, air, and the logistical capabilities to support all three. The commander in chief, the theater commanders, and the Navy need a force that can do all these things from ships off shore. Focusing too much on a core attribute like a “heavy mech force” or even “a small wars force” could make the Marine Corps far less useful in a world that will continue to require flexibility of capability.

-- Mark Folse, "Marine Corps Identity from the Historical Perspective"

.

==============

.

Mark Folse goes on to explain that US history shows the Nation always needs a strong and flexible Marine Corps.

.

==============

.

Marines and national security professionals should remember that history informs the Corps’ identity as much if not more so than its current mission sets. Who are the Marines? Every commandant and recruiter since Lt. Col. William Ward Burrows, the original commandant of the Marine Corps from 1798 to 1805, has had to form an answer for that. But here is an answer based on history, an answer that can date all the way back to George Washington and the founding era. Marines have military characteristics but the Corps is not an army. Marines serve on ships and have naval language and traditions but they are not sailors.

If history is any guide, then marines are soldiers of the sea, they are naval infantry, they are America’s expeditionary and amphibious force in readiness. All that means is they usually work in concert with the Navy, as in the 1804 assault on Derna, but are quite useful when detached far inland working jointly with the Army, as in France during World War I. Recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan may seem different, but they are not. Heavy and high-end tech has always been secondary to developing the Corps’ most important asset, the individual marine. Today’s cry for an identity reflects historical amnesia in much of the Corps, I’m afraid.

The solution is to keep doing what marines have always done after long wars. Look forward and plan, but remain flexible. Adapt to the needs of society and the Navy and train for both maneuver warfare and small wars. Equip the air-ground task forces with the training and equipment they need to respond to the most likely scenarios. Don’t become complacent with threat scans and preparation. If the United States finds itself in a war with a major military and economic power, then the Navy and Marine Corps will be just as able to respond quickly to that as they would still a more likely “other-than-war” or “gray-zone” scenario. If any of this sounds familiar, good, because historically speaking, this has proven to work.

-- Mark Folse, "Marine Corps Identity from the Historical Perspective"

.

==============

.

Compass Points salutes author and Marine, Mark Folse for his enlightening article, "Marine Corps Identity from the Historical Perspective."

Very soon, members of the new administration, including representatives from the DOGE - Department of Government Efficiency, will gather around a large conference table to discuss what needs to be done with various federal departments and agencies. When the discussion turns to the Marine Corps, the panel will ask, what is the Marine Corps? What has the Marine Corps been in the past? What should it be in the future?

Marines have an indomitable and irreplaceable unity and esprit that overcomes every obstacle and defeats any foe. All Marines are trained to be riflemen. All Marines are trained to locate, close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemy assault by fire and close combat.

In the months and years ahead, the United States will once again be faced with unexpected global challenges, threats, and crises. It will take help from Congress today to make sure that when the US dials 9-1-1, that a fully updated, restored, and enhanced, crisis response, Marine Corps is ready.

.

- - - - -

.

War on the Rocks - 05/13/2019

Marine Corps Identity from the Historical Perspective

By Mark Folse

https://warontherocks.com/2019/05/marine-corps-identity-from-the-historical-perspective/