The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture

Norms and Values 87
10,000 miles away. A fighting man, when successful, needs something closer.
Marines have it. Our Corps is our country.” 5
A seeming switch in perspective occurs when Marines are speaking to
“civvies” (civilians) about their service. In these conversations, Marines tend
to reference service to country in explaining their commitments and sacrifices.
The pattern of discourse, however, continues to tie back to fellow
Marines. Marines are making a demand of the American public to respect
the sacrifice brothers have made in their name. This perspective tends to
spill over into what Marines perceive as naive or offensively ignorant public
notions about the role of war in preserving freedom. Marines often see
themselves as the quiet guarantors of the “good life” swirling around them.
Sgt. Jeremy D. Lima captures the sometimes irritated stance of a returnedhome
Devil Dog:
I don’t think war is fun or glorious or anything like that but, I
am willing to do it again, in fact I want to do it again. I think the
military services are absolutely necessary especially with the world
is today [sic]. It seems that everyone (kids, parents, etc.) think that
the military is the last resort and these kids are too good for the
military, but in reality, if someone thinks that way, they must think
they are too good for freedom. Everyone likes to do their own thing
whether that is playing sports, playing music, read books or spend
[sic] time with family and friends, but no one is willing to defend
that, they just take it for granted. 6
A number of bumper- sticker- borne narratives capture the Marines’ attitude
toward what they perceive to be uninformed antiwar protesting:
Except for ending slavery, Fascism, Nazism, and Communism,
WAR has never solved anything.
PATRIOT DISSENT is a Luxury of Those Protected By Better
Men Than They.
If You Can’t Stand Behind the Troops . . . Stand in Front of Them
. . . PLEASE!
Marines fight for Marines, but they do expect the nation to honor the sacrifice
made in its name.
Commandants’ speeches, training manuals, official histories, and doctrinal
texts are all rich repositories of additional values, norms, and beliefs
officially pursued by Marine Corps leadership. To determine which of these
are genuinely internalized by members of the organization—which are
believed, cherished, and acted on with the sort of regularity that constitutes