Does America Still Deserve The Marines?

Weekly column posted at Gunny Bob's 850am KOA webpage ^ | Friday November 11th, 2005 | Gunny Bob Newman

[ajolympian2004]

Does America Still Deserve The Marines? (by Gunny Bob Newman, retired 20-year veteran of the Marine Corps)

Not that I know what one is, but I do know what one looks like. A parabolic wave is a thing that looks like a wave when viewed from the side. Parabolic waves appear on screens that are part of certain machines and computers and other technical devices. I suspect they are useless, really, but scientists and technicians like them because they look cool and by turning just about any dial, one can change the height and frequency of the wave.

The war on terror can be viewed as a parabolic wave, with crests and troughs. The topographic equivalent would be peaks and valleys. In the last two days or so, as is so frequently the case, we have seen peaks and valleys in the war on terror. First there was a peak, with the death of Azahari Husin in a fight with Indonesian security forces. Who was that? He was the Malaysian who built the bombs used in the Bali nightclub attacks of 2002. Then we had the valley yesterday, when three al Qaeda suicide bombers detonated their deadly wares at three US-flagged hotels in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s capital of Amman.

Sadly, American hotel corporations knowingly and willingly live in an especially dangerous valley.

Even more troubling is how more and more Americans are simply unwilling to get serious about the war on terror. A recent MSNBC/Wall Street Journal poll revealed 57% of Americans agree with the Kerry Plan: begin surrender proceedings to the terrorists in Iraq as soon as possible and abandon the people of Iraq to whatever grim fate awaits the poor schmucks.

The same poll said a mere 39% agree with the way we are fighting the war on terror.

Beginning in the late 1960s, America, for a variety of reasons, began seeing retreat and surrender as a viable option when dealing with tyrannical regimes. In 1973 we retreated from Vietnam and left the people of South Vietnam, whom we had promised to defend, to be vanquished by the invading hoards from the communist north.

In 1979 and 1980, Jimmy Carter allowed a terrorist regime to seize our embassy in Tehran, with dozens of Americans held hostage for 444 days. Carter did nothing to punish the terrorists.

In 1984, we fled Beirut on Ronald Reagan’s orders. The terrorists who killed hundreds of Marines were never held accountable.

After quick victories in Grenada, Panama and Kuwait, we retreated from Somalia on Bill Clinton’s orders, leaving that stricken nation in the hands of terrorists and warlords. In 1993, Bubba warmed up for that move by doing nothing about the World Trade Center attack.

Clinton followed that stunt up by allowing terrorists to destroy a US military barracks and two of our embassies, and nearly sink one of our ships with no repercussions.

Then 9-11 came and we got mad. We swore to fight the terrorists everywhere and anywhere we could find them with everything we could fight them with. A paltry four years later, we are shaking and trembling as most Americans call for surrender.

Why? Because America remembered that bullets and shrapnel can fly not only toward the enemy, but toward our troops. Stunned with this revelation, we quickly decided that cowardice is the best way to get terrorists to stop killing us.

If only that were true.

Reality, on the other hand, has told humans for millennia that cowardice just leads to more of people being killed more quickly. But Americans have no interest in history, which is a tedious lesson plan that, if studied and heeded, cuts into our golf time.

At this very moment, Marines I led in the Gulf War are now the battlefield leaders. I dream of them often and think of them many times daily. I fear for their well-being because the majority of the people they swore an oath to defend now want them to surrender.

Surrender to a Marine is anathema. It is unthinkable. It is a concept so foreign that the very suggestion of it being an option brings Marines to a rolling boil.

Sometimes I wake up sweating and shouting orders in some distant dream scape, my Marines, with fixed bayonets, assaulting a burning trench line in the desert.

"Johnson! Get me some Mark 19 fire on the right end of that trench!" "Washington! Get your squad to cover 2nd squad as they clear from left to right! Make sure your SAW gunners are tight on target!"

"Nishimoto! Pop that clown behind the burning APC! Shoot him in the shins!"

Surrender is never in my dreams.

America spits in the Corps’ face when the majority say the Marines should surrender, and that is precisely what withdrawal before total victory is. Perhaps the majority of this country feel surrender is honorable, but as it has been to the Marines since their creation, it is the most vile of notions, not to mention incredibly stupid given how the terrorists stand no chance of defeating the Corps. Only 21st Century Americans would suggest surrender when victory is assured.

Fortunately for the United States, you can rest assured that on this 230th birthday of the Corps, the Marines will press on ‘til victory, with or without the respect and support of our employers.

[FReepaholic]

...Does America Still Deserve The Marines? ...

It doesn't matter. The Marines, and all the other men and women in the other services, will defend this country whether we deserve it or not.

So what's the point of wondering?

[PokeyJoe]

Never mind. I'm getting close to my answer.

Military manpower stats - but no demographic breakdown of recruits yet found

[Roses0508]

I received this from my sister this morning. It is so worth a visit from everyone.

This will make you proud. I don't know anything about this page other than I really wish the media would give these guys the coverage they deserve.

http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/THISWILLMAKEYOUPROUD.HTML

[PokeyJoe]

Go it.

Answer found here Northeast Region = 14%
North Central = 20%
South = 42.9%
West = 22.8%

Does anybody have a good skills with photoshop? Red Blue state map... change it to a grey scale (or a blush scale) with red being much, and white being null.

[Conservative Canuck]

To me, it's not about whether America deserves the Marines, it's that we NEED them. Marines serve their Commander in Chief, and their country, no matter what. They've been the vanguard of freedom and an instrument of all that is good about American power in the world.

Who was first on the ground after the tsunami? The United States Marines. Who stormed blood-soaked beach after beach to push the imperialist Japanese back in the Pacific, and ultimatley to their own shores? The United States Marines. Who stood and died for freedom at Peking, Heartbreak Ridge, Khe Sanh, and a host of other unnamed places? The United States Marines.

Many may not be grateful or acknowledge their sacrifices and fealty to this nation, but those are the ones who need their protection most; for, if the Marines did not sleeplessly and selflessly guard their freedoms, they would have nothing -- except cold, dark graves in which to lie. Yet, they perform these duties without asking, or expecting, recognition or thanks, because their commitment is not only to this great nation, but to duty, honor and courage.

Semper Fi.

[Eighth Square]

Many thanks, I'll send the Gunny an E-mail. As a former Marine I think the Gunny is pissed! not depressed as some think.

[Vor Lady]

Marine/Chesty Puller ping!

[kimosabe31]

Great words Canuck.

[Amerigomag]

In the face of the US political class the Corps does an incredible job to sustain their goals: kill people and destroy things to protect or further our national interests. My hat is off to them.

As a society we may not "deserve" their dedication but thank God there remain enough families in the US to produce young men willing to risk death for the good of our society and the principles that guide us. They are our warrior class. These warriors deserve universal respect even if their goal is not shared.

[USMCPOP]

This is what My Marine had to say:

"Hey, I agree that the "suits" who run gigantic corporate enterprises that make cutting-edge technology are more interested in money than the well-being of mankind, and frankly it disturbs me that wealth and power are becoming one. I know that sounds wierd for someone studying engineering, but I'm also Buddhist, so wealth and materialism is pretty darned low on my priority list anyway.

One thing keeps popping up in my mind though... a couple years ago I swore an oath, that I would "...support and defend the Constitution of the United states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..."

I didn't join up to be part of some government conspiracy--I joined because I thought it was just one small way that I could contribute to the people of this country... although the discipline didn't hurt much either. As I think back to that oath, something about all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC... I wonder who is really to blame for the degredation of the American society.

My money's on the American mass media. It seems like you can't turn on the news without seeing news reports about the death and destruction, and commercials that seem to subtlely induce worthlessness or fear, offering solace in the consumption of goods and services. The way I see it, people in this country (and the attitude is spreading across the globe), are encouraged by corporations and broadcasters to spend more and acquire more stuff, inducing a sense of security in material wealth. Some things, even tradition, can have a spin put on them to make the public needlessly wary--even fearful. Why aren't houses in this country built with big front porches anymore? Probably because we know more about fictional TV characters than we do our own neighbors....

Though I think this veritable brainwashing may not have been intentional, the people who cultivate this sort of society have a lot of the general public in their pocket, and many are trying to use their positions to reshape the world the way they think it should be, not taking into account any consequence of their actions.

Given a choice and an opportunity, I'd gladly do my part to "restructure" the commercial institutions that poison the society whose flag will one day be draped over my coffin.

[exdem2000]

www.sgtjohnbasilone.com

This is a great site on Sgt. John Basilone. Click on Promotional trailer, a must see.

Thanks to All the Marines and a special thanks to my Dad who served during the Korean War, who is and always will be a Marine.

[pickrell]

I'll try to write this carefully. Gunny Newman needs to substitute the words "sine wave" for where he is using the words "parabolic wave". I hate people who pick nits with a good article, but I don't want some university puke to be able to discredit his excellent work later. I hope he is reading FR and can quietly put in a small substitution to polish a great piece.

Also it wouldn't be bad to note that the young men who go into the Marines come from the same families who produce airmen, Army, Navy and Coast Guard recruits also. They are all brave, but the Marines perhaps have a much better focus not on career opportunities, but rather, as Red Mike Edson once put it, on understanding that "...the reason a military force exists is to prevail in battle..."

And that is stamped in Marine green.

[starfish923]

Many thanks, I'll send the Gunny an E-mail. As a former Marine I think the Gunny is pissed! not depressed as some think.

Depression? Nah, not a chance.
Please send Gunny my best.

Semper Fi!

[GunnyBob]

There's one in the 10 X ring.

[GunnyBob]

I am honored, Corporal.

[GunnyBob]

I have Spell-Check. Makes we sound like Papa Hemingway.

[GunnyBob]

Send some decent scotch instead.

[GunnyBob]

Para-frog, dual fool.

[GunnyBob]

Seabees build, Seabees fight.

[JoeSixPack1]

Enforcement of our laws against treason would result in: problem solved.

Semper Fi