The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture

98 Chapter 4
Army and National Guard) for sloppiness in uniform or fatness. 72 Being
overweight is often treated as synonymous with being undisciplined—a significant
failing. “Being soft or overweight is not merely against regulations;
it demonstrates a departure from the warrior culture.” 73
When in the field, however, it is combat discipline that becomes paramount.
This comprises both coolness under fire and possession of the grit
and raw dedication required to accomplish the mission. Pain, misery, and
insurmountable odds are to be muscled through. “To Marines, failure is
never an option.” 74 When faced with an overwhelming condition, “You suck
it up, you deal with it, you deal with the situation.” 75 The Marine conception
of discipline has also come to include the restraint required when
conducting offensive operations against an elusive enemy hiding within
sometimes hostile civilian communities. Responding to an excess of force
used by Marines in Haditha, Iraq, in 2006, Lt. Gen. Jim Mattis reinforced
the expected discipline standard: “No matter how provoked, a marine has
to suck it up, stay friendly one minute longer and not turn into a racist. The
goal is to diminish the enemy, not to recruit for him.” 76
Marines claim that their professionalism and discipline account for a
higher degree of success than other services in training foreign forces in
the field. They argue that indigenous trainees respond better to a mentor
they can respect, who brings stature, bearing, and professionalism to the
equation. Marines actively cultivate a distinctive body language—“bearing.”
They train to hold themselves differently, look people directly in the eye,
inspire confidence, exude competence, and radiate the sort of leadership that
others will yearn to emulate. 77 When proper bearing is achieved, Marines
believe the natural result is admiration and a desire for emulation. It is
important to note that Marine focus here is on who they are and how they
present themselves, rather than the other side of the equation: treatment of
and effective training for indigenous trainees.
Characteristics and behaviors not included in the requirements of
Marine- defined professionalism and discipline deserve attention as possible
blind spots. Discipline, in the Marine mind, is not incongruent with extraordinarily
rough habits, including heavy alcohol and tobacco use, womanizing,
and caustic language. Underage binge drinking and the rampant availability
of pornography and tobacco are all part and parcel of enlisted life. (Terminal
Lance makes a point of this by crafting a “food pyramid” for corporals,
which places tobacco as the mainstay, supplemented with alcohol and energy
drinks, reinforced by porn to reduce the “pain” of Marine life absurdities. 78 )
The Corps has made an attempt to ameliorate substance abuse, with limited
effect. 79 Issues of sexual assault have only recently received serious attention.
Admiring as he is of the Corps, Thomas Ricks notes that the Marine Corps
does worst of the services in Department of Defense (DOD) assessments of
sexual harassment. 80 Up until January 2012, a search of “sexual assault” or
“sexual offenses” over the entire Gazette and Leatherneck histories (each