[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 154 (Friday, September 29, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14629-S14630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           U.S. MARINE CORPS

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to bring to the attention of 
my colleagues a very insightful and compelling portrayal of the U.S. 
Marine Corps. In yesterday's Washington Post, George Will provides a 
heartfelt tribute to the culture and character our Nation's premier 911 
force. It is an excellent editorial which I encourage all of my 
colleagues to review.
  As Mr. Will so appropriately points out, the U.S. Marine Corps is a 
very unique institution. Its culture is rich with tradition, its 
character strong on conviction. Honor, discipline, valor, and fidelity 
are its virtues; dedication, sacrifice, and commitment its code. To 
those who willingly join this elite society, service is not merely an 
occupation, it is a way of life.
  Mr. President, as we grapple with the challenges of balancing the 
Federal budget and downsizing our military force structure, there is 
much we can learn from the U.S. Marine Corps. The men and women of our 
Corps have experienced fiscal adversity first hand. For decades they 
have endured shortfalls in procurement, operations, and 

[[Page S 14630]]
maintenance and qualify of life programs. Yet, amidst the challenges of 
austerity, they have remained true to their convictions and determined 
in their vow to be the most ready when the Nation is least ready. They 
have always delivered on this promise, and answered the Nation's call.
  Whether rescuing American citizens in Rwanda, maintaining the watch 
off Somalia, conducting migrant rescue and security operations in the 
Caribbean, and ashore in Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti, responding to crises 
in the Persian Gulf, or rescuing downed pilots in the hills of Bosnia, 
today's Marine Corps continues to deliver on its commitment to the 
American people and the United States Constitution. We owe them a 
profound debt of gratitude.
  Mr. President, in closing, I ask unanimous consent that yesterday's 
Washington Post oped piece by George Will be printed in the Record, I 
commend Mr. Will for his thoughtful observations on the U.S. Marine 
Corps, and I encourage each of my colleagues to read this article and 
reflect upon the service these brave men and women provide to our 
Nation.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                     The Military's Counterculture

                          (By George F. Will)

       Quantico Marine Corps Base, Va.--President Truman was a 
     former Army captain and given to pungent expression of his 
     prejudices, one of which was against the Marine Corps, which 
     he derided as ``the Navy's police force'' with ``a propaganda 
     machine almost equal to Stalin's.'' He said that in August 
     1950. Note that date.
       During the postwar dismantling of the military, other 
     services grasped for the Marine Corps' missions and budget. 
     Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Omar Bradley, a 
     Missourian and Truman confidant, said, ``large-scale 
     amphibious operations . . . will never occur again.'' He said 
     that in October 1949.
       In the summer of 1950 the Korean War vindicated the Marine 
     Corps' vow to be the most ready when the nation is least 
     ready. While Truman was criticizing the Corps, Marines were 
     rushing to Pusan to help stop the North Korean sweep, then 
     going to Inchon in September for the great amphibious landing 
     that reversed the tide of the war. The ``propaganda of 
     deeds'' was the Marines' decisive argument regarding their 
     future.
       Today, in another military contraction, there again are 
     voices questioning the Corps' relevance. Critics should come 
     here, to these 60,000 acres devoted largely to a stern 
     socialization of a few young men and women. The making of a 
     Marine officer amounts to a studied secession from the ethos 
     of contemporary America. The Corps is content to be called an 
     island of selflessness in a sea of selfishness, and to be 
     defined by the moral distance between it and a society that 
     is increasingly a stranger to the rigors of self-denial.
       The commanding general here, Paul K. Van Riper, says 
     Quantico begins by teaching officer candidates four things--
     discipline, drill, knowledge of the service rifle and the 
     Corps' history and traditions. The last is not least in a 
     small institution that subscribes to Napoleon's dictum that 
     ``In war the moral is to the material as three to one.''
       Marines tell young men and women thinking of joining one of 
     the military services that there are three choices and one 
     challenge--that the Corps is a calling, not just a career. On 
     this day, a cluster of young officers--from Harvard, the 
     University of North Carolina, as well as the Naval Academy 
     and other fine colleges and universities--eating a lunch of 
     field rations in a grove of trees agrees. Says one, other 
     people tell you what they do, Marines tell you what they are.
       A barracks poster portraying the Trojan horse proclaims 
     that ``Superior thinking has always overwhelmed superior 
     force,'' and officers are impatient with the stereotype of 
     (as one puts it) ``Marines with their knuckles dragging on 
     the ground.'' ``Why would the Marine Corps need a library?'' 
     asked an incredulous congressman when the Corps asked for the 
     one it subsequently got. The answer is that this nation, with 
     its vast human and material resources, has often waged wars 
     of attrition, but the Marine Corps, the smallest service, 
     must be, like Stonewall Jackson in the Valley, imaginative.
       Being so is a tradition. During the 1930s the Marines 
     refined the amphibious tactics that soon were used from North 
     Africa to the South Pacific, and after 1945 were particularly 
     innovative regarding the use of helicopters.
       True, there has not been an amphibious assault since 
     Inchon, and Iraqi sea mines--inexpensive leverage for second-
     rate nations--prevented one during Desert Storm. However, the 
     Marine Corps, which 50 years ago was in danger of being 
     consigned to largely ceremonial roles and embassy protection, 
     is the service least affected by the end of the Cold War.
       Lt. Col. Thomas Linn dryly estimates that about once every 
     11 years since 1829, someone in the White House or the other 
     services has declared the Marine Corps dispensable. However, 
     it is the nation's forward deployed expeditionary force and 
     will not want for work in a world increasingly ulcerated by 
     small, low-intensity conflicts fueled by religious, ethnic, 
     and other cultural passions.
       Speaking of cultural conflicts, what makes the Corps not 
     only useful but fascinating is, again, its conscious 
     cultivation of an ethos conducive to producing hard people in 
     a soft age. Toward the end of their 10-week program, officer 
     candidates arrive in the predawn gloom at the Leadership 
     Reaction Course--a series of physical and mental problems 
     they must try to solve under the stress of short deadlines. 
     The candidates arrive after a two-mile run they make after 
     they make an eight-mile march, which they make after being 
     awakened after just two hours sleep. What is their reward for 
     choosing this steep and rocky path in life? Life-and-death 
     responsibilities at age 23.
       Looking for today's ``counterculture''? Look here.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.

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