Here are some Facts about the

United States Marine Corps

 
The Marine Corps "Makes Marines, and Marines Win Battles"

Strategic Concept

If a service does not posses a well defined strategic concept the public and political leaders will be confused as to the role of the service, uncertain as to the necessity of its existence and apathetic or hostile to the claims made by the service upon the resource of society.
(In other words, if a service does not have a clearly defined "reason for being" it will forfeit its place in national defense, its claim to increasingly scarce resources, and ultimately, its own special identity. Marines don't worry about their strategic concept -- You've told us what it is -- through your elected officials in Congress.

Strategic Concept for a Corps of Marines
  • "A versatile, expeditionary force in Readiness"
  • "A balanced force for a Naval Campaign and a ground and air striking force."
  • "Always at a high state of readiness"
  • "Ready to suppress or contain international disturbances short of war"
  • "To be most ready when the nation is least ready"

    • The above was influenced by US defeats early in the Korean War in 1952, this concept was as relevant then as it is today. Congress also notes that "In every war engaged in by the United States, Marines have served as a Nation Force in Readiness.

    And its from this Strategic Concept that springs our institutional ethos -- an ethos marked by five unique attributes that distinguish the Corps from the other services.
     

    Marine Corps Attributes
     
  • Combined Arms in three dimensions
  • Every Marine a rifleman
  • Task Organized
  • Soldiers of the Sea
  • "Most Ready" when nation is Least Ready

    • First and foremost the Corps is the only service tasked by Congress to be able to operate combined arms in three dimensions:  Air, Land & Sea.

    The Marine Corps mission has been to be ever-ready to respond to the international brush fires of disaster, emergency, crisis and when necessary, war.  The Marine Corps does not win wars, but do play an important part whenever our nation commits itself to war.  But winning war is the primary responsibility of the Army, Air Force, and the Navy.

    Pursuant to our crisis response role, we have been called "Teufel Hunden" -- Devil Dogs -- by German defenders at Belleau Wood in World War I, "Faresta -- Sea Angels -- by Bangladeshi flood victims in 1991; or simply "Heroes" by Captain Scott O'Grady, the Air Force pilot who was shot down in 1995 and then rescued in the early morning hours from deep inside Bosnia by United States Marines.

    Considering the broad range of capabilities that the Marine Corps offers the nation -- both as a naval service and as the tip of a joint spear -- no other force offers more "BANG FOR THE BUCK." The Marine Corps organizational costs are among the most cost-effective in the Department of Defense.  Right now, 6% of the Defense Budget allotted to the Corps buys 12% of active U.S. forces, 23% of active ground divisions, and 14% of all available tactical aircraft!
    Consider this to be one of the best kept secrets of the Defense budget.

    This broad-based global crisis response capability was exactly what the 82nd Congress had in mind when it legislated the role of the Marine Corps.  No other nation on earth possesses the politically and operationally flexible rheostat of national response capabilities offered by Marines embarked on Navy shipping.

    Compare that to the other services.  The Air Force, for example, has only four enlisted airmen for each officer.  Since officers are paid, on average, much higher than enlisted servicemen and service women, this means that the comparative Marine Corps rank structure is much cheaper than any of the four service.
     

  • Air Force  1 to 4
  • Army         1 to 5
  • Navy         1 to 5
  • Marines    1 to 9

    • In summary, then, the Marine Corps is cost effective in the:
    --way organized, train, and equip forces
    --operate forces
    --man forces
    --support forces

    Truly, the Marine Corps is, and will remain, the nation's "force of economy," both now and in the future.
    To the American people, that means Marines are the nation's MOST READY at the LEAST COST and with the BEST VALUES -- now and in the future.
     

    History Past to Present
     
    In the 1920's and 1930's, the Marine Corps developed amphibious doctrine, key to winning the war in the Pacific and in western Europe.
    In the 1930's and 1940's, the Marine Corps were the first to perfect close air support;  now no one fights without it.
    In the 1950's the Marine Corps pioneered the use of the helicopter, which revolutionized battlefield tactical mobility and operations.
    In the 1970's the Marine Corps pioneered the use of Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing Aircraft to provide quick response close air support to font-line troops.
    In the 1980's and 1990's, the Marine Corps introduced global propositioning of equipment on ships, allowing response more quickly to crisis around the world.
    And at the dawn of the 21st Century, the Marine Corps are ushering in tiltrotor aircraft, advanced amphibious vehicles and landing craft which will allow the Marine Corps to revolutionize amphibious warfare.
     

    Below was written by LtCol T.R. Fehrenbach (USA)

    The man who will go where his colors go, without asking, who will fight a phantom foe in jungle and mountain range, without counting, and who will suffer and die in the midst of incredible hardship, without complaint, is still what he has always been, from Imperial Rome to sceptered Britain to democratic America.  He is the stuff of which legions are made.  His pride is his colors and his regiment, his training hard and thorough and coldly realistic, to fit him for what he must face, and his obedience is to his orders.  As a legionary, he held the gates of civilization for the classical world...He has been called UNITED STATES MARINE.

    To Learn more FACTS visit: The United States Marine Corps site


     
     




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