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^ Lieut,
enant Steven J. Dunn, U. S. Navy
SuPPort(?)
w0r] j 'nost dangerous weapon in the ay the drill instructor intoned, “is If th^ ^tates Marine and his rifle.” state6re Can ever a one senter*ce will ?®nt of a complex fact, that one aijjiv" l^e hill. Other weapons may be indi, ■ ,Ual,y more powerful, but none is ,! I dually as deadly, p "*vidual.y” is the key word. To
fr0ni th&Se anc* tIuote a 8reat a|Jthor 1929 l”e ^ava* Academy class of Wh0] ’ ,^e other weapons make war \ Mar*nes make it retail,
niake 6rS are imPersonah the Corps the^Hgs as personal as a punch in
off af 'rst t0 fight’ ’ is not just a phrase not erecnjiting poster. No other outfit, in guVen 'he men on the Central Front Utom r°Pe’ are as likely at any given •y^ft to be in combat. gic (j6re are four Navy missions: strate- tr0] eterrence, naval presence, sea con- Of ^ant* Projection of power ashore.
Seif CSe’ 'he first is in a class by its° outside the nonnal meaning of
the term “naval” as to have no bearing on this dissertation. The middle two are window dressing, depending on the effectiveness of our ability to prosecute the last.
“Projection of power ashore,” however, is the crux and the reason for our existence. It is through this mission, or the threat of its use, that we implement national policy. Of the methods available to us to project military force, the most versatile is the Marine Corps. If war is “diplomacy by other means,” then the Corps is the most effective “diplomat” the country has.
Get to the point, you say. Any officer worth his salt intuitively knows this. All right, then: Why aren’t we prepared to support the Corps properly?
The Marines are the United States’ elite assault force. So why does their equipment consist of hand-me-downs from the Army? Shoot, the Israelis get the newer gear quicker than the Corps does. How many years after the introduction of the M-60 were the Marines still using the M-48? When will they get lots of M-ls? Hear the hollow echo. Answers for the AH-64 Apache helicopter come from the same echo chamber. Harrier AV-8Bs in large numbers? Soon, maybe.
Well, at least our amphibious warfare ships are the most modem in the world. Right. But for a big operation we will have to borrow hulls from the civilians. And Lord help us if the Marines are needed in two places in the world at the same time.
No matter what, jarheads—who wear the funny green uniforms, devour all the gedunk, butt into the chow line, buy out all the souvenirs of the ship’s store, and everything else the sea stories say will do their best to carry out the missions assigned them. But it will not be the congressmen, the accountants, the bureaucrats, the lobbyists, or even the admirals who must write the letters to relatives of the kids who did not make it when they failed to receive support they needed in combat.
The solutions are obvious and have been aired on the pages of this magazine. Now is the time to provide the support the Marines deserve.
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'"gs / November 1984