The Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., spoke to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Dec. 7. ...via USMC
The Role of the Marine CorpsSo in short, what is the Marine Corps mission or rather role in the defense establishment?
Dunford explained that the WWII draw down was crafted by the day’s best strategists, and they got it wrong. Their predictions about the future were wrong. And historically, we don’t have a good track record of making accurate predictions about what the future holds. The one thing we can safely say is that the future security environment is complex, dynamic and most importantly, uncertain.
This is why the mission of the Marine Corps as it was crafted in the early 1950’s by the 82nd Congress makes sense. In 1951 and 1952, Congress held hearings about what had happened in early days of the Korean War. They were horrified that we as a nation had sent men into harm’s way so unprepared. After hearing from witnesses and influenced by the actions of Marines on the Korean Peninsula, they determined that the nation needed a crisis response force and that that force should be the United States Marine Corps.
A little more than a year ago, then Secretary of Defense Gates challenged the Marine Corps to define its unique role in a post-Operation Enduring Freedom world. The Marine Corps convened a group of senior leaders called the Force Structure Review Group. That group looked at what the Marines’ mission was as described by the 82nd Congress, they looked at what the Marines had done in the recent past (to include 130 amphibious operations since 1990), and assumptions about the future security environment. They concluded that the mission of the Marine Corps was unchanged and that America still need a crisis response force in readiness, a force that could deter potential adversaries, demonstrate commitment, buy time for decision makers, respond to crises and enable joint/interagency operations.
To be most ready when the nation is least ready.
To provide a full spectrum force that is capable of arriving at far off shores and win.
The nation needs the Marines to be the Marines.
Nothing has changed. Just the way we do it has. Korea was huge for the Corps. After fighting for our right to be a service we proved why it was worth keeping us. Everyone talks about Chosien I like to talk about the Fire brigade on the Pusan.
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