While I think Col. Hackworth is sometimes a little looney, I think he's right on here...
The Marines Have Landed -- Again
By David H. Hackworth (Col., U.S. Army Ret.)
The first non-Special Ops unit deployed to Afghanistan is the U.S. Marines Corps -- no big surprise to this old Army doggie. In World War II's South Pacific, Marines were "the firstus with the mostus" into the Solomons, and they led the way into Vietnam. In Korea, they landed second, but unlike the Army units initially deployed there, Gen. Edward Craig's Marine brigade hit the beach ready to fight. And
without their skill, sacrifice and courage, the beleaguered Eighth Army would've been pushed into the sea during the early months of the
conflict. A similar scenario occurred during the early stages of Desert Storm, in which Marine units came in ready to fight while the first Army troops -- the 82nd Airborne Division, with its insufficient anti-tank capability -- were a potential speed bump waiting to be flattened.
The Corps, which has never lost sight that its primary mission is to fight, remains superbly trained and disciplined -- true to its
time-honored slogan "We don't promise a rose garden." When, under Clinton, the Army lowered its standards to Boy Scout summer-camp level
in order to increase enlistment, the Corps responded by making boot training longer and tougher. Now under USMC Commandant James Jones,
that training has gotten even meaner for the young Marine wannabes waiting in line to join up, as well as for Leathernecks already serving
in regular and reserve units.
Unlike U.S. Army conventional units -- their new slogan, "An Army of One," says it all -- the U.S. Marine Corps remains a highly mobile,
fierce fighting team that has never forgotten: "The more sweat on the
training field, the less blood on the battlefield."
The Marines are flexible, agile, ready and deadly, while the Army remains configured to fight the Soviets -- who disappeared off the
Order of Battle charts a decade ago. For example, right after Sept. 11, the two Army heavy divisions in Germany -- with their 68-ton tanks that can crush almost every bridge they cross -- deployed to Poland for war games.
Hello, is there a brain at the top somewhere beneath that snazzy Black Beret being modeled at most U.S. airports by too many overweight Army National Guard troops?