But history has shown that, unlike the other branches of the armed services, the Marine Corps has been closer to disbandment far more often than it would like to acknowledge. As all the other branches react to the restrictions on the modern economy, the Marines likewise will be forced to justify their existence and make tough decisions. Bravado and history alone will not be enough to maintain the Marine Corps; it will take dynamic, competent leadership to preserve the force.
Easy Choice for a Difficult Course
The choice to “go Marine Corps” was never a difficult one for me. I grew up with my grandfather’s tales of “the old Corps.” From the time I could talk to the time I had to start making decisions about my future, the Marine Corps was first on my list. Only more recently have I begun to realize just how difficult, strenuous, and rewarding my chosen destiny might be. The burden of leadership, the responsibility for everything done (and not done) by the men and women entrusted to me did not hit me all at once. Instead, the weight of this prospective lifestyle was gradually passed on to me by the scores of teachers, classmates, officers, and enlisted personnel who have affected my life at some point or another over the past four years.
In January, I stood in the pre-dawn cold—legs shaking, misty breath escaping my burning lungs in rapid bursts—as my Marine mentor stood over me, regarding me with careful disdain. My classmates, some barely winded by the exercises that had left me breathless, were dismissed to jog back to quarters.
“Did you blow off Christmas, or what?” the captain said, staring at me.
“Yes, sir,” I replied. What else could I say? He wasn’t irate—not even angry, really—nor all that unpleasant. Clearly I was just a problem that needed fixing. Weakness is an ugly thing to Marines; it is a danger to everything the Marine Corps holds dear and something that cannot be tolerated. I expected to be shunned or rejected outright. Instead, the captain looked me squarely in the eye and told me what I had to do to correct myself. I was given a requirement—and told to meet it.
That sort of direct, efficient, and simultaneously fraternal guidance has typified my observations of the Corps to date. That special brand of leadership stems from the history of the Corps. From its inception, Marines have numbered fewer and been stretched thinner than other land forces. Marines always have had a wider mission-set, tasked not only with being excellent infantrymen but also masters of opposed landings, the boarding of enemy vessels, and training indigenous forces, to name a few of the jobs assigned to the Corps from the Revolutionary War onward.
Requisites for Leadership
To that end, Marine officers are required to be adaptive thinkers and warriors in equal measure. It is a truth unchanged since 1775; it has only grown more essential. Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom are among the most complex conflicts the United States has faced. Success no longer can be measured in the amount of territory we hold or the capture of a capital city. Likewise, the tools employed to accomplish a mission today are more numerous and more technically challenging than ever.
An increasingly disruptive environment demands problem-solving leadership. The ability to process and react quickly to new intelligence, to respond rationally—subordinating fear or other emotions—is core to success on both the tactical and strategic level. That must be the officers’ realm, because they cannot hope to surpass their subordinates in their diverse technical expertise. Instead, during times of immense stress, fragmentary intelligence, and uncertainty, they must command their Marines’ efforts in the most effective way possible, with confidence and competency. Physical, mental, or moral weakness at any point—from the garrison, through the work-ups, or out into the field—runs contrary to success and threatens the mission.
My professor’s statement regarding the Marine Corps’ uncertain future was not meant to mock us. It was meant as a challenge. The Corps and the country have been through worse, and the right men and women in the right places prevailed. We must do no less.