Posted on 06/25/2011 4:04:59 PM PDT by lbryce
The service's top officer plots a post-Afghanistan focus in the Pacific region, where Marines experienced their most devastating losses and most heroic victories.
The U.S. Marine Corps, one of the most storied military forces, is searching for a mission after the war in Afghanistan ends.
Marines consider themselves a quick-reaction force, traveling light and giving their all whether waging war or responding to humanitarian disasters. But for the past decade, the Corps has been fighting long conflicts in the deserts of Iraq and valleys of Afghanistan, requiring it to behave more as a dug-in land army. Moments in the Marine Corps
With President Barack Obama's announcement this past week that he would begin drawing down troops in Afghanistan, the Corps sees the need to find a new calling.
Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos, the service's top officer, sees renewal in the region where Marines experienced their most devastating losses and most heroic victories: "We're going to reorient in the Pacific," he said during a recent swing through bases in Japan and South Korea.
The reorientation is in part because of the coming contraction of the defense budget, in part because of the shifting balance of power in the world, and in part because of a historical fear embedded in Marine culture.
Since World War II, the Marines have fretted about being remade into a second land army or, in times of economic contraction, cast aside as extraneous. Soon after enlisting, recruits are taught of great Corps victoriesat Guadalcanal and Fallujahits most devastating casualtiesat Iwo Jimaand the story that President Truman tried to eliminate the Corps altogether.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
...in case one missed Vietnam....
We don’t live in a post-war Earth.
There are dozens of wars currently under way and many of them have Islamists waring on one or both sides of the armed conflict.
We don’t live in a post-war Earth.
There are dozens of wars currently under way and many of them have Islamists waring on one or both sides of the armed conflict.
Someone’s always worrying about the future of the Marines. I think there’s a law about the size of the Marine Corps. If I remember right, they have to have three divisions. The Navy hasn’t been building a lot of ships. The Air Force hasn’t been building a lot of planes. The Army hasn’t been building tanks or fighting vehicles. I think a lot of armored Hummers and armored trucks have been built. I think the old peace dividend has already been cashed in. How many federal GS employees have been laid off over the past 20 years? I haven’t seen anything in the news about that.
There’s no identity crisis among Marines. We know who we are. Now, people who aren’t Marines may have a crisis about exactly who are Marines. That’s your problem and not one for Marines.
We know exactly who we are. There’s no curtain, smoke or identity crisis that confuses Marines.
Gates is a turd. He can look up the word in the DI’s dictionary.
If you’re still confused, go ask our brothers in the 10th Army who stood on the frontlines and flanks with us on Okinawa in WW II.
They’ll tell you who Marines are and we’ll return the compliment about who they are.
Semper fi!
Spread the word, brother!
But there’s always a Schmuckatelli to deal with.
Bookmark
Maj. General Roy Stanley Geiger (picture shows him after his promotion to Lt. General), Commanding Officer III Amphibious Corps, temporarily assumed command of 10th United States Army after the death of General Buckner, the only Marine to command a US Army.
Buckner and Geiger were two of my childhood heroes. My great-uncle, Rear Admiral Cletus Atkeson, USN, was an amphibious assault pioneer and had served with both men. He considered them to be two of the finest officers he'd ever had the honor to know.
Geiger was also one of the first five Marine Pilots when the Corps. was starting up it aviation branch. A remarkable man indeed.
Thanks for posting the pix, Stonewall Jackson.
It gives a face to the Okinawa campaign. Appreciate that a bunch.
May God bless you and your family.
“The history of the Corps is full of remarkable men...”
Allow me to add a bit of trivia to that.
When a Marine platoon took a hill on Okinawa, a Captain in the platoon raised a rebel flag and the men gave a good rebel yell.
Here’s a picture -
http://www.ww2incolor.com/us-marines/Marine_Raises_FlagShuri_Palace.html
This left-wing rag is spinning BS as badly as the WaPo & NYSlimes.
The Corps has never had an "identity" crisis...Although it might become susceptible to such an unthinkable state if the feminization that has occurred at P.I. is allowed to continue beyond the reign of our current dictator...
Since boot camp, about 60-years ago, even as the Nation slid into a socialist cesspool and the former Republic and Constitution that were it's cement were disintegrating, I always took pride in the fact that the Marine Corps would always remain the Marine Corps.
Now it drives me half crazy when I read that:
Hmmm..To steal a famoust quote: "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
‘...Marines experienced their most devastating losses and most heroic victories.’
Losses?
WHAT losses???
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