Posted on 04/23/2006 5:15:11 AM PDT by Graybeard58
Has anyone noticed? Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeding Gen. Richard Myers. Army Gens. George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley must be rolling over in their graves. A Marine is now the chief military adviser to the president and the secretary of Defense.
The Marines fought a lonely battle in the late 1940s. As part of the unification of the armed forces, the Army wanted to reduce the Corps to a role as the Navy's police force, and the new Air Force wanted to strip the Marines of their close air support aviation. The Navy was not much help, as it was fighting to retain its aircraft carriers and naval aviation.
The National Security Act of 1947 established the National Military Establishment, which gave some protection to the Corps after a very hard fight. The act resulted in the creation of the Department of Defense, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the U.S. Air Force as a separate branch.
However, with the minuscule Defense budgets of the late 1940s, an unfriendly president, Harry Truman, an equally unfriendly secretary of Defense, Louis Johnson, and Gen. Bradley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Marines were on a starvation diet. They were reduced to the equivalent of three infantry battalions on the West Coast and three on the East Coast, but they trained hard and were ready for combat.
Then, on June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded the South. Army troops were rushed in from Japan, but they were mostly garrison troops and poorly prepared to fight. On June 30, Fleet Marine Force Pacific was asked, "How soon can you sail for combat employment in the Far East: a) a reinforced battalion; b) a reinforced regiment? The answer: a) 48 hours; b) five days, including a Marine air group.
It was a scramble, but the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade did sail and did yeoman service defending the Pusan perimeter. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur had the idea, but the Navy and Marines supplied the know-how and the troops that pulled off the Inchon amphibious assault that broke the back of the North Koreans.
As a result of the Marines' service in Korea, the commandant was authorized in 1952 to participate as a member of the Joint Chiefs when matters concerning the Corps were discussed. Finally, in 1978, the commandant was accorded full membership.
And in 2005, a Marine became chairman.
Marine Corp Bump!
Every Vet knows that the Marines recruit the toughest, the most stubborn and the proudest of our fighting soldiers. You enter the Marines with the expectation of drawing the most difficult battle assignments and then strutting your stuff. As a non-Marine Vet, I have always been aware that the Marines are fewer in number but first called for the most difficult blood and guts missions. In a fight, one can always count on a Marine. Ex-Marines don't always make the best civilian workers. Their uncompromising nature often makes them difficult to work with.
As it should be.
Story of my adulthood...
You should live with one!
OO-RAH!!!!
God bless those magnificent bastards.
I have always admired the Corps attitude - Using a sledgehammer to kill a bug is perfectly accptable, it does not harm the hammer, and the bug will never be a problem again....
#2 son is a 0311 Marine, and while he has had his moments, he is much better person for his time in the Corps.
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