Your quote of the day...and one I wholeheartedly agree with...
There needs to be something of an Inquisition brought to the USMC these days. Amos and the Flyboys need to be purged from the Flag Officer ranks and be brought low before the Altar of Infantry. That such Douhet dilettantes can be found in the organization is a travesty--PARALUSI don't know how it happened and I hate using trendy terms, but when did Group Think become fashionable in the USMC? I first noted it with the issue with gays in the military. Whatever your opinion it should be observed that the Sgt Major of the Marine Corps and General Amos squashed any contrary opinion.
The same has occurred with women in the infantry. Marines are aware enough of danger to know that speaking out on these issues...and others...will be career killers.
A looming recruiting crises is on the horizon and I for one couldn't be happier. The institution is broken and is in need of a return to its moral roots! If the Marine Corps is going to become a laboratory for social experiments then its usefulness to the country as a war-fighting organization is over.
You're not thinking that absolutely correct conclusion through to the next logical conclusion.
ReplyDeleteThe purposeful intention of making the Corps (and all the services) a laboratory for social experiments was to ensure their usefulness to the country as war-fighting organizations is ended.
Even if people are risking their careers, they need to speak up if they truly believe in what is best for the organization. Ideally, an organization and its leaders new to create a space where dissent is welcome because they should appreciate critical information because it can improve that organization. If the leaders, however, are just political hacks who are only concerned with their legacy and future employment, then they are dooming the organization and forcing the party line on everybody.
ReplyDeleteI know it's an awful lot to ask of people to put in years of service and risk it by questioning leadership, but if they don't do it, they are damning those who follow them to an organization that is worse than they found it.
It will be a brave officer that puts it all on the line to stand up to the current leadership. It is a sure thing that there is dissent in the ranks concerning a lot of things going on in our Corps. Wanna know the truth? Ask a Lance Corporal. Be prepared for very politically incorrect answers to the current issues facing the Corps. For those that face us in 5-15 years, ask the Captains and Majors.....if they are willing to risk it for the sake of the future. No monuments, no accolades, just bad fitreps and drumming out for not toting the party line.
ReplyDeleteGeneral Officers being political? Well of course they are. O-6's even worse. O-6's wantthat star...those above want the next and the next.....they will tote the party line just to get a taste.
Even those in MCCDC "Ellis Group"...I pull a couple of lines from MCCDC brief on that think tank:
" Develop a Littoral Maneuver CONOPS to enhance amphibious operations
•Develop an Expeditionary Operations CONOPs within ASB to describe the role of expeditionary forces"
Will they buck the leadership in place to say we are not balanced? No, they will make their results match the current direction.
Spines can be in short supply. Gone are the days of the Little Mens Chowder and Marching Society.
well said. but the truly great like Colonel Ripley, and Major Z didn't worry and laid it all on the line for country and Corps.
Deletewe desperately need that today.