Victory Point - Ed Darack [20]
Although their numbers measure just a fraction of those of the Army, Marines are almost always the “first to fight,” vehemently charging into combat against America’s enemies. As well, Marines represent the United States’ “911 force,” whom the president can send downrange for up to sixty days without a formal congressional declaration of war for “such other duties as the President may direct,” as outlined in the National Security Act of 1947. Resourceful, quick, and staunch in meeting any challenge regardless of type or scale, United States Marines stand alone in the world of war fighters not only in their history of battlefield conquest, but in their broadly diverse and adaptable mission spectrum, their expeditionary bloodline, and their centuries-honed ethos.
Truly understood by only the Marines themselves, the deep-rooted USMC ethos—their way—can best be described as a nucleus of values built of heritage, patriotism, discipline, competitiveness, and above all else, boundless fidelity—to their country and to all of its citizenry, to one another, and to the legacy of the Marine Corps. Their ethos allows them to push onward in a seemingly hopeless fight against an enemy of much greater size and firepower, ultimately not just to survive, but to stand atop a battlefield as victors, as they did in Belleau Wood. And in Khe Sanh. And in Iwo Jima. Marines become Marines not in order to fight; Marines become Marines to win, and to win decisively—for their country. Marines understand the concepts of surrender and defeat, but only as they apply to those against whom they fight. Never to themselves. They know America as the greatest country in the history of mankind, and to deprive the current or any succeeding generation of the opportunities America avails to its citizens, by allowing inimical forces any influence whatsoever over their nation, would be tantamount to shoving one’s own mother into a gutter.
Marines view themselves not as an institution of military power, but as a force of and for the citizenry of the United States of America. They hold the concepts of a civilian-commanded military, individual liberty, and national sovereignty as their most sacred. Just as Marines prize freedom for their own country’s citizenry, they despise tyranny abroad. They are infamously selfless, to one another on the battlefield as well as “parochially,” with other service branches in a joint environment, and of course, to their nation. Marines feel their greatest honor derives from sacrifice—sacrifice for their country as a whole as well as for individual citizens, be those citizens teachers, doctors, truck drivers, or businesspeople geographically and emotionally separated from the nation’s current fight, as well as those who would wait at an airport for Marines to return from a long and gut-wrenching combat tour and then spit in their faces and screech “monster!” The ethos that incites Marines to fight ever harder in the world’s bloodiest battles also engenders restraint, both in less clearly defined combat zones of a counterinsurgency nature and back home—and anywhere in between, at all times.
As an institution, the Marine Corps marches forward in a continual state of flux. Always conscious of their perceived relevancy in a world of changing political and military landscapes and fickle domestic mind-sets, Marines constantly strive to maintain and modify their readiness for overcoming the world’s current and future threats by improving their doctrine, their weapon systems, and themselves—as both war fighters and citizens. Fiercely competitive, not only on the world’s battlefields, but back home with other services (and often one another), Marines continually strive for the highest training and competency standards in the Department of Defense. They value stringent physical fitness levels, mandating institutionally as well as on a Marine-to-Marine basis what many non-Marines consider not just tough, but harsh training standards. Ever fearful of even the slightest whispers of “unification”—i.e., the death of