The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture

88 Chapter 4
“culture”—official texts must be matched against grassroots narratives, the
heritage tales celebrated and voluntarily passed from one cultural generation
to the next. Grassroots narratives may come in various forms, including
oral histories, poetry, humor, slogans, and legend. Oral histories and legends
provide a particularly rich source of data, since each typically offers the
additional benefit of providing context and insight into the “why” behind
genuinely admired cultural values or ritualized practices.
For all its ubiquity, Marine Corps legend is surprisingly difficult to pin
down. One might expect to find it in the pages of the Marine Corps Gazette
or Leatherneck, but a search reveals limited offerings. The stories “everyone
knows” are often not in print. Marine leadership is not naive to the essential
importance of legend to the fighting spirit of the Corps; in fact, the absence
of legend in the pages of the Gazette is likely evidence of that. Putting legend
in print may put it in jeopardy. A service journal would require of itself a
responsible level of research to validate the historic authenticity of any particular
legend. This research may result in significant downgrades of some
rather cherished institutional “memories.” Stewards of these tales are far
wiser to keep them as motivational oral history, passed down in classrooms,
from mentor to boot, and within units by word of mouth.
Those who act as oral history repositories within a societal band are
labeled “key informants” in ethnographic terms. Most ethnographers do not
rely on wide- sweep survey techniques but pick out common threads in an
interwoven culture through conversations with key interlocutors. These are
members of the culture who know a lot about the particular aspects of a
culture, are highly articulate, and are willing to share their knowledge. 7 Born
in 1925, retired major Rick Spooner represents a classic key informant where
Marine legend is concerned. A veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam,
Spooner dedicated his life to the Corps and has done the same with his retirement.
His restaurant near Marine Corps Base Quantico, the Globe and Laurel,
is considered a cultural icon for the Corps. Military memorabilia cover its
walls and ceilings. Most important, Spooner himself remains a repository of
oral history. He is often solicited as a speaker and is revered as the man in possession
of the full repertoire of leatherneck yarns. A testament to his cultural
credentials is the fact that any on base at Quantico who want to introduce a
newcomer to their culture immediately suggest lunch at the Globe and Laurel. 8
In 2010 Spooner relented to significant peer pressure and put his
“mostly fiction” version of Marine Corps legends into a book. His work
weaves stories stretching from the Banana Wars years through the last days
of the Pacific campaign. The themes are not all glory days. If anything,
Spooner’s primary theme is a love for the Corps despite the absurdities and
ironies and sometimes blood- soaked life it offers. 9 For the outsider, probably
the most surprising aspect of Spooner’s collection is its emphasis on
the upsidedownness of Marine Corps life. The wrong people get promoted,
slick do- nothings or screw- ups get medals, and men of genuine talent and