This is the annual Marine issue of Proceedings, but in the spirit of Jointness, Managing Editor Mac Greeley and I, both rumored to bleed Marine green, decided to lead off with a piece by two of the Navy's most senior strategists, Vice Admiral John Morgan and Rear Admiral Charles Martoglio. Only then do we move on to the 800 fabulous Marine articles.
Joking aside, we view the handiwork of the two flag officers as seminal. We also recognize that both men are on the CNO's staff, so it seems clear that the piece has the blessing, if not the imprimatur—yet—of Admiral Mike Mullen. Some may see the concept as visionary, others as pie-in-the-sky. Let us know what you think. That's what our Independent Forum is for.
Admirals Morgan and Martoglio maintain that the U.S. Navy should not have to go it alone and call for an international maritime network of 1,000 ships to confront the terrorism and natural disasters that threaten to overwhelm individual nations. Much of the framework already exists; the authors cite the response to the Indian Ocean tsunami and the many ongoing multinational exercises as examples of what is possible when many link arms to solve a problem.
Lieutenant General Jim Mattis, a blunt-talking but thoughtful Marine, provides a strategic complement to the piece by the admirals. With his co-author, Frank Hoffman, the general coins a new phrase, Hybrid Wars, and expands on former CMC Chuck Krulak's concept of the Three Block War.
In an article we commissioned, Dallas Morning News military correspondent Rick Whittle chronicles the tortuous, two-decade odyssey of the MV-22 Osprey and offers an upbeat, if measured, assessment of the ill-starred tilt-rotor aircraft that the Marines are beginning to field.
Neal Thompson fills in an important piece of Leatherneck history. In what may be the first major feature-length article on the subject, he tells the tale of the Montford Point Marines, black men recruited into the then all-white Corps under orders from FDR as World War II loomed. At first, their drill instructors were white, many of them seemingly determined to keep the Corps monochromatic. Within a few years, though, Montford Point had its first black DIs, among them the storied Gilbert "Hashmark" Johnson (shown).
Major Phil Zeman—amazingly—found time to write the piece on "Goat-Grab Diplomacy" while serving as the executive officer of a rifle battalion in Iraq. He is still the XO of the battalion, now at Twentynine Palms, so he obviously did not neglect his day job. His insights provide us with practical advice on how to deal with a culture few Americans understand.
Our own Tom Cutler—Vietnam veteran, author, and student of history—wonders, along with us, why the Navy does not emphasize its proud heritage to the degree that the Marine Corps does.
Mostly for fun, retired Marine Colonel Fred Peck takes a look at recruiting commercials and muses on the differing appeals of an Army of One, the slaying of dragons, and the scaling of cliffs.
This issue contains the winning articles in the Marine Corps Essay Contest, sponsored by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, and the top images in the Tom Bartlett 2005 Marine Corps Photo Contest. The Naval Institute sponsors the latter, with support from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, to honor the memory of Marine photojournalist Tom Bartlett.
Hurricane Katrina remains in the news. Matt White, Rear Admiral Joe "Killer" Kilkenny, and Keith Oliver provide an update on Sea Service aid in the aftermath of the storm, while James Kelly calls for common sense when interpreting the Posse Comitatus Act.
It doesn't take a graduate engineer to be a naval officer, says Kenneth Harbaugh, who believes that many potentially outstanding NROTC candidates have been denied full scholarships because they are majoring in the liberal arts. This even though they take all the required physics, calculus, and naval science courses. Herman Wouk wouldn't have a chance today.
The ubiquitous Humvee—a lightweight vehicle designed to cover hilly European terrain at high speeds—has proved vulnerable to the improvised explosive devices favored by Iraqi insurgents. Colonel William Siuru, an eminently qualified engineer and author, gives us a heads-up on the replacement utility vehicles fast coming over the horizon.
Navy nurse Cheryl Ruff went to war in Iraq and found herself frequently the only nurse-anesthetist available. We excerpt a moving chapter from her new Naval Institute Press book Ruff's War, in which she and her surgical team fight to save a wounded Marine.
Happy Birthday, Marines. Semper Fi.