The Marine Corps As A Power Projection Force Essay

Over the course of history, the strategic environment has changed rapidly and is now more complex than ever before – it is currently characterized by unpredictability and disorder, and may yet manifest itself in the collapse of nuclear armed nations, destabilizing conflict in geo-politically vital regions, and humanitarian crises. A world of disparate actors – not all nation states – now exists. Unpredictable events will continue to cause strategic surprise. The widespread effects of past conflicts such as World War II, Vietnam and the Iraq war are still being felt and have created significant strategic repercussions. The failures of these conflicts are the result of our military and political leaders’ failure to quickly adapt to wartime conditions. This occurs because of a general refusal to commit to a military culture of learning that encourages serious debate, critical assessments of our military operations, and challenges to our doctrine in the face of emerging change. Additionally, leaders have struggled with the critical responsibility of forecasting and providing for a ready force, one that is well-resourced and prepared to conduct future operations. It is the responsibility of our military and political leaders to send our military to war with a ready force, and a strategy that will ultimately result in victory. But understanding war and warriors is critical if societies and governments are to make sound judgments concerning military policy.

America never truly recovered from the shock that followed the collapse of the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan, the strike on the Pentagon, the final crashed airline in Shanksville, PA.

“There are only two kinds of people who understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else just has a second-hand opinion.” (Gen William Thornson, U.S. Army) For decades, the United States Marine Corps has established an identity as a unique and fearless war fighting machine.

In Mr. Greene’s first correspondence of March 15th he cited Federal statute 10 U.S.C. 7881 which clearly indicates the Eagle, Globe and Anchor along with the seal and the initials “USMC” (with no mention of Devil Dog or Devil Dogs), are deemed to be insignia of the United States and limits their use as shown in this excerpt of the cited Public Law:

War is not a common phenomenon anymore after the post cold war era. According a research conducted on active armed conflict across the world at the Uppsala University in Sweden, of all the 101 active armed conflicted between the late 80s and mid 90s, only six were actually between two different states (Solenberg &Wallensteen, 1997). These statistics clearly indicates that the conflict in today's world is more internal and ethnic based.

We are losing some of our best Machinists and Welders after their first enlistment due to the lucrative options available in the civilian sector and the lack of opportunities to display their innovative nature in the Marine Corps. An additive and subtractive fabricator in the trenches would serve to be an asset to commanders, because he/she will not be limited by technology or lack of expertise. Both of these specialties present an opportunity to exploit manufacturing capabilities. After all, exploitation is a human endeavor and until unmanned technologies take over completely, is it not the Marines using the technologies that are the assets? In the civilian sector, experience is often necessary in most fields; however, machining and

Conventional warfare follows the single battle concept, where two or more well defined forces using weapons that target the opposing force. The contiguous battle-space is well defined with a deep, close and rear area allowing the force commander to array forces that can be visually displayed in a linear graphic. This does not hold true in an unconventional warfare, where the rear area may also be the close and deep fight and forces may target the civilian population either through direct, indirect or propaganda attacks. The will of the people play an important part in unconventional warfare and their support to either force is equally important. The Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF), the Marine Corps force in readiness is capable

Understanding the tactics of the Viet Cong (VC) is crucial to analyzing the war that these marines faced. VC strategy was based on two simple concepts: blending in, and hit and run. The VC hid within the dense forests at night, and by day took on the role of peasant farmers. It was nearly impossible to distinguish between a Viet Cong guerilla, a Viet Cong supporter, and an innocent villager. An elderly lady was as much a horrific killer as a guerilla soldier completely camouflaged; a child running toward a

In the America I believe in military plays a huge role in America. Service men and women serve our country, not because they are forced to but because they want to. Back in the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis would drag people out of their homes and burn their houses after they took them to concentration camps. These camps would torture and brutally beat Jews for their religious beliefs. These actions would never occur in America. America was founded on religious freedom.

At the time of its creation, the Small Wars Manual was one of the first of its kind and the manual continues to serve as a useful culmination of the experiences related to guerrilla warfare, counterinsurgency conflicts, and peacekeeping. To understand the positive effects and relevance of the manual, it is important to understand the definition of a small war as defined by the Marine Corps. The Small Wars Manual defines a small war as,

As guidance for the basis of the future Naval Integration in enhancing ability to face the future challenges of the 21st Century, the Expeditionary 21 shown the important aspect of the own capability against the way to respond the challenges, whereas will continuously to be characterized in demand a force within capabilities for global response. Therefore, for USMC being expeditionary is a “strategically mobile and light enough to get to the crisis quickly,” and its operate on and from the sea, in and from the air, and on the land. US Marines is optimized to be “expeditionary” within Naval characteristic influence to meet the coming challenges. The potential threats and issues shown on the surface in certain area are directly affected US interests

The WRD is limited by the bureaucratic nature of its supervising organization, the Marine Corps. Most current recommendations can only produce incremental change with a narrow scope. It appears there must be a larger transformation of the Marine Corps’ overall organizational culture and its ensuing bureaucracy before real change can be enacted in highly technical departments such as the WRD. While parties, such as a group of USC graduate students, may conduct research and produce recommendations, the current military culture does not appear amenable to or sincerely consider external analysis and input. Therefore, whenever possible, future research must focus around collaborating with Marine Corps commanders to establish and detail prospects

The United States needs to adopt and maintain an irregular warfare mindset, above that of conventional, to ensure adaptable economic, political and military capabilities in an ever evolving global environment. In

There will be many wars and conflicts to come due to fact that there just won’t be enough resources for everybody. Michael Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, and the author, most recently, of The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources, informs us that there have been a total of six global conflicts that have

The fact that states are socialized through endogenous and exogenous variables is impossible to deny. This socialization, Finnemore argues, leads states to accept new norms, values and perceptions of interest. These shifts are frequently felt on a global scale as perceptions of interest alter state relationships and vice versa. Military interests are merely a reflection of states interests; therefore, these newly adopted norms and values inevitably seep into the realm of military power and international security. However, military values prioritize the security of the state first and foremost, therefore, certain norms and values are either accepted later than the rest of a state’s society, or simply never accepted. An example of this would be women not being allowed to hold front-line infantry positions or certain high-level special operations roles in the military. Women not being able to hold certain positions in part due to a fear that they will ‘interfere with group cohesion’, does not accurately reflect the social norms and values we value so highly as a country; such as gender equality. International security is also heavily affected by adoptions of new values and norms seeing as states interact with other states, based on their perceptions of them. These perceptions are in turn shaped by the shared norms and values of that state’s society and how their interests are perceived.