The Marines

Many years ago I attended a performance of the Black Watch in a large Washington stadium. Their playing was stirring, and the vast audience was duly appreciative. At one point midway through the show the pipers began to play the Marine Hymn, and to my amazement, scattered all thorough that vast audience men rose and stood at attention, old men and young men, veterans of World War II and Korea and Vietnam and current marines, in uniform and out. I was deeply moved at the bond all those men had, across time and generations, to an organization like the Marines.

There is something special about the Marine ethic. I recall some years ago reading a business book about how to run a business along Marine principles, written of course by an active duty Marine. Two things impressed me about that book – the emphasis on mission focus and the emphasis on taking care of one’s people.

During the second Gulf War I happened to be working on a project with lots of retired Marines, and they shared with me the informal “lessons learned” emails that were being circulating in the Marine community from colleagues in the field in Iraq. Once again, the overall emphasis was on taking care of their people, getting them enough sleep, getting their mail to them, cobbling together makeshift armor for their inadequately-protected vehicles, boosting their morale.

American politicians could learn a lot from the Marines, if only they would.