All posts by Jim

Left HS before report cards came out. Enlisted in the Marines for four years. By the time those years were over, I was hooked - they had me for life. Spent nearly ten years as enlisted. Received a Silver Star, Bronze Star w/V, Purple Heart as a Sgt during first RVN tour. Upon returning to the State's received a combat commission to 2Lt. Retired after 36 total years as a Colonel. Book follows my career, but is more about the heroes with whom I served, the great mentors I had, and the leadership principles they instilled in me.

The Death of the Marine Corps

My note: Who among my readers remember the early 70’s when contact teams from HQMC came to all major bases to conducted Human Relations (HumRel) training? We were told to develop seminars consisting of Marines of all ranks. I was a company commander in 2/7 at the time (for 27 months). The major from HQMC who conducted our briefing in the Camp San Mateo theater appeared in a rumbled uniform, shoes that had to have been shined with a Hershey bar, and sporting the largest Afro I’d seen to-date; he looked like a sea-bag with lips. My battalion commander Major John I. Hopkins (aka “Big John”) walked out in the middle of it . . . I followed. We got through that attempt at carnage, not by conducting their asinine seminars, but by applying something those at HQMC either forgot or never learned — leadership! However, this debacle is different. I fear for the young Marines of today for they have no senior leadership. Mr. Starmann, who is a Marine, states the obvious. My question is simple: where are the generals, I mean generals, not lackeys? We have none!

Friday, March 21, 2016

By Ray Starmann

The US Marines are the latest casualty in the Maoist Cultural Revolution being shoved down the throat of the military and incinerating the fighting spirit and readiness of the armed forces like a five alarm fire.

As reported this week by Military.Com, Marines across the Corps will be challenged on their unconscious prejudices and presuppositions as women get the opportunity to become grunts for the first time.

Unconscious prejudices and presuppositions defined as simple facts such as women lack the upper body strength, the aerobic lung capacity, testosterone for aggressiveness, are more prone to injuries, while possessing a myriad of hygiene issues in the field that men do not encounter.

The Marine Corps is rolling out mandatory training for all Marines before the first future female rifleman hits boot camp, aiming to set conditions for a smooth transition and head off cultural resistance.

Mobile training teams will be dispatched to installations across the Corps throughout May and June to offer a two-day seminar to majors and lieutenant colonels, Col. Anne Weinberg, deputy director of the Marine Corps Force Innovation Office, told reporters Thursday. Those officers will then train the Marines under them.

Mobile training teams defined as modern day Soviet Zampolits, or political officers, who will travel the world in order to brainwash Marines that this catastrophe is doable and un-negotiable.

Topics include unconscious bias, which focuses on how people prejudge others based on factors such as race and gender, and principles of institutional change. The seminar will also walk officers through the elements of the Corps’ plan for opening ground combat jobs to women and include vignettes featuring challenges units might encounter.

Challenges may vary and include losing wars, getting a lot of young Marines killed and being the laughing stock of our enemies worldwide.

“You’re in the field, you only have this certain amount of space for billeting and you’ve got three women and six guys. How are you going to billet?” Weinberg said, describing a potential vignette. “Just some of these common sense things that these units probably haven’t had to deal with so that ground combat units haven’t had to deal with, but we’ve been dealing with in the rest of the Marine Corps for generations.”

Newsflash to Colonel Weinberg from the USMC Innovation Office, aka Berkeley Pentagon Detachment: there are no billets in the field REMF! Your billet is a piece of ground.

The Marine Corps rolled out a “commander’s tool kit” of optional online classes on similar topics in late 2014 as the service prepared for the possibility of an integration mandate.

USMC Commander’s Tool Kit in 2016 includes: pregnancy simulators, breast pumps, tactical lactation station overlays, red high heels and the proper procedure to set up a unisex latrine.

A Center for Naval Analyses survey of 54,000 Marines recently obtained by The Washington Post gives context to the need for training on cultural and institutional resistance as female Marines go infantry. The report found that a significant majority of male Marines at every rank opposed the decision to have women serve in ground combat jobs. The resistance was strongest among male junior officers in the ranks of captain and below, who opposed women in ground combat jobs at a rate of more than 72 percent. At least a third of female Marines at every rank were also opposed to the idea.

The troops have spoken. They know an impending cluster when they see one.

“There’s no doubt we’re leading cultural change. It’s not the first time for the Marine Corps, but we like a challenge,” said Brig. Gen. James Glynn, director of the Marine Corps’ office of communication. “The purpose of the mobile training team is to begin to facilitate the cultural change … you’ve got to have the conversation.”

This isn’t going to be a challenge, General Glynn, it’s going to be a genuine, Grade A debacle that will lead to disaster, destruction and defeat on the field of battle.

What’s in it for you General Glynn? What’s it worth now to sell out the greatest fighting force on the earth to a bunch of Marxist social engineers?

It’s more than obvious that the Marine Corps brass and the Pentagon could care less what ordinary Marines think. The average Marine, like the average soldier, airman and sailor is being abandoned by their senior officers who have the backbone of jellyfish.

Women are being shoved into the combat branches of the Marines, even though most of them want nothing to do with the infantry, armor, artillery, the Marine Raiders and Marine Recon.

Women are being shoved into the combat branches of the Marines, even though women went 0 for 26 last year at the Marine Infantry Officers’ Basic Course.

Women are being shoved into the combat branches of the Marines, even though all female units and coed units performed far worse during various combat simulations conducted by the Corps during a several month long, 36 million dollar study that was completely ignored and tossed out the window by Secretary of the Navy and all-around lackey, Ray Mabus.

Nothing matters to the social engineers: readiness doesn’t matter, combat power doesn’t matter, unit fighting spirit doesn’t matter; plummeting morale doesn’t matter.

Nothing matters except the implementation of this insanity, the Marine Corps be damned.

The Pentagon perfumed princes and princesses are very clever. They have put the burden of brainwashing a whole generation of Marines on the shoulders of Majors and Lieutenant-Colonels, the middle managers of the Marines, who usually have families and responsibilities and the fear of being tossed out of the Corps and out into the big, bad world of unemployed ObamaLand.

The middle management of the Marine Corps is malleable, unlike junior officers, many of whom have no desire to make the Marines a career and who would gladly tell Ray Mabus where he can stick his gender neutral nightmare Marine Corps.

A majority of the civilian social engineers and the military minions have never served a day near any shot and shell. They have no clue what it takes to storm the ash laden hills of Iwo Jima, to hit the beach at Tarawa, to cringe under machine gun fire at Hue, to race to the gates of Kuwait City, to fight shoulder to shoulder in Fallujah. They have no clue what it’s like to be dirty and tired and terrified and to know that the only thing keeping you going is the knowledge that the Marines around you are the toughest, roughest sons of bitches on the planet.

Well, no more…

Requiescat in Pace United States Marine Corps…

As for Weinberg, Glynn, Mabus and the rest of the moral cowards and Quislings, you are going down in history as modern day Benedict Arnolds who will be responsible not only for the death of the US Marine Corps, but for the deaths of future Marines in battle.

Originally posted 2016-03-27 17:30:19.

Buy The Book Now

Author's PhotoHi Folks, Colonel “B” here, or for my troops of yesteryear “Sgt B” here. I have an announcement to make. If you are interested in buying my book, please do not go to the publisher; they charge way too much for all three versions (hard, soft, and eBook). I had no say in setting the retail price of the books, it was all their doing. It is a POD (Print On Demand), which means I paid to have it published, and they charged me an arm and ½ a leg. You could go to Amazon, but they charge too much as well. Last I checked the hard cover was over $42.95, which is what the publisher charges, and then you have to add postage. In the 8 years since publication, I have gotten back my initial investment. So, I sell only the hard cover because it is a beautiful book—not that I am biased at all—and it has some acknowledgements on the dust cover the soft cover does not. And, it will look good on your book shelf—smiles. I sell it personally inscribed for whomever it is going to for $35.00. I also now have the soft cover for $30. It’s not a paperback, it is merely a soft cover copy. You are getting a good read, cheaper than anywhere else, and it’s personally inscribed just for you. If you’re a Marine, or it’s going to a Marine, I eat the postage. Please understand, I do not get the fantastic discount that Amazon and Barnes & Noble get, I mean I’m only the author. This is not a money-making endeavor for me at this point—I simply want folks to read it. So, if you are a Marine, want to learn about Marines, or know a Marine, here’s a chance to get a book that I guarantee will be enjoyed! Click on “Contact Me’ and fill out the contact form, put “autographed copy” as the subject, send it, and it comes to me. Once I receive it, I will contact you for the inscription information, and will tell you how to pay for it. Thanks folks, and have a great Marine Corps day. Semper Fi, Jim

UPDATE: As of September 2020, I have severed relationships with the publisher; therefore, the book is no longer available from iUniverse or any of the online retailers.  I only have copies of the hard cover and am able to sell them for $35 personally inscribed and signed. Should you desire a copy, please do as instructed above by sending me an email at the “Contact” link and I will personally email you with details. Thank you and Semper Fi;

Jim

Originally posted 2016-03-25 17:08:05.

From The Leatherneck Magazine

scan0004We’ll All Die As Marines: One Marine’s Journey From Private to Colonel

Reviewed By: Robert B. Loring

We’ve got a whale of a book to recommend to all you gung-ho leathernecks. Colonel Jim Bathurst’s huge memoir is truly a treat to read and consider. In fact, I enjoyed reading every page of this fully packed professional, yet very personal narrative. Bathurst rose from a high school dropout and Marine boot to the exalted rank of gunnery sergeant before gaining his commission as an officer of Marines. His story will speak strongly to each and every Marine.

Marine General Peter Pace, the 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted in a dust-jacket comment, “Reading Jim’s book is like coming home!” And Gen Pace, I fully agree!
Initially, this wide-eyed boot set his cover on becoming a first-class Marine “gunny,” the early role models he admired most. Joining in 1958, he quickly adapted to the ways and ethos of his beloved Corps.

To young Bathurst, the Corps was not only a career, but a way of life. Starting off as a communicator, he continually sought assignment to the infantry field. His first overseas duty assignment was at Marine Barracks Yokosuka, Japan, where he spent his tour in a picture-perfect guard section. This formative experience would serve him well throughout his career. By 1962, the young corporal donned our Corps’ distinctive campaign hat and took to the field at Parris Island as a Marine drill instructor.

In early 1966, he arrived in Vietnam. Now an 0311 “grunt,” he joined Company E, 2d Battalion, First Marine Regiment south of Da Nang. Active patrolling, avoiding booby traps and ducking Viet Cong snipers were the names of the deadly game in “Indian Country.” For most of his combat tour, Sgt Bathurst, or “Sergeant B,” as the troops called him, in effect, served as their platoon leader. His stalwart actions in I Corps earned him a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with combat “V,” and the award he did not wish to win, the Purple Heart. There, his actions and instincts fully demonstrated he was a capable leader of Marines in combat.

Upon returning to “the world,” he was tapped to join the leathernecks at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., the “oldest post of the Corps,” steeped in the Corps’ time-honored history and tradition.

It was there that Jim was promoted to his long-sought grade of gunnery sergeant. But soon, his previously hard-won field combat commission came through. The newly promoted Mustang was awarded his gold bar and commenced a new and exciting part of his storied career.

Wise beyond his years, he excelled in each of his new and challenging assignments. Over the years as he gained promotions, he became known as an expert problem solver.

As a major, he turned around the sagging reputation of the Marine Barracks located at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif. The turnaround was so successful that the base was written up in a “Post of the Corps” article in the August 1981 Leatherneck magazine. By the end of his three-year tour, the IG inspection of the base, now considered unnecessary, was canceled. Maj Bathurst proudly wrote: “They were actually going to skip us, something I had never heard of happening throughout my career.”

Before being promoted to lieutenant colonel, Bathurst was assigned to square away the drooping morale and production in Recruiting Station Chicago in the 9th Marine Corps District. Using long-tested leadership experience, RS Chicago was transformed into a star recruiting area and rated as the top RS in the district for 19 straight months.

Rewarded with top-level school at the Naval War College, LtCol Bathurst received his master’s degree in national defense and strategic studies. Then he achieved the dream of any hard-charging Marine officer—battalion command. LtCol Bathurst took command of 2d Bn, 6th Marines. The battalion was special with a reputation rooted in World War II, when it was known as “Huxley’s Harlots,” and highlighted in the Leon Uris novel, “Battle Cry,” and the movie, “Battle Cry.”

Promoted to colonel, Jim Bathurst was sent to Landing Force Training Command Atlantic in Norfolk, Va. There, he developed a riverine fast-attack assault boat capability for the Corps. As you might expect, this caused nervousness within the local East Coast SEAL command, and Bathurst pulls no punches in his descriptive dialog about the assignment.

Upon retirement in 1993, Col Jim Bathurst settled in Montana. During the winter months, he treks to warmer climes where he has ample opportunity to reflect on his time as a Marine.

In summarizing his life and career, Jim Bathurst says it best: “The Corps was not a job, a career, or even a profession; it was—and still is—a way of life.”

This grand tome is a sparkling tribute to the life and times of an “Always Faithful” Marine’s Marine. It’s jam-packed with significant lessons for leaders. The book keeps the leatherneck book lover focused on our Corps’ values, history and traditions.

When finished, I simply hated putting this electrically charged book down. Indeed, it was the best military memoir I’ve ever read. Thank you, sir. For a brief moment in time, I felt young again.

Originally posted 2016-03-25 16:15:39.

O SAY CAN YOU SEE, BY THE DON’S EARLY LIGHT

Col AndyAnother great one from Colonel Andy

 

 

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.  William Shakespeare

 

President Obama.  Of what country?

In Cuba, for reasons not know of value to the United States, he posed, not impromptu but calculated, before a monstrous image of Che Guevara.
Seriously?

He attended a baseball game while the rest of the world tended to the business of another terrorist attack, this time in Brussels, orchestrated by faithful of the religion of peace.
Seriously?

And he, at the game, managed less than a minute worth of remarks about the carnage that included Americans.
Seriously?

No golf?  Why not?
Critics are pointing to bad optics.
Well, no kidding.

But this is the president who refuses to call the terrorists who and what they are.

This is the president who played golf minutes after making obligatory comments following terrorists beheading an American.

This is the president who embraced Trayvon Martin.

This is the president who embraced Michael Brown.

This is the president who hugged the parents of Bo Bergdahl at our White House.

This is the president who traded five known terrorist “generals” held at Guantanamo Bay (some of whom have returned to battle) for the deserter Bergdahl.

This is the president who has still not come clean as to his whereabouts and actions during the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attack and murder of four Americans on duty.

This is the president dismantling our military.

The list goes on and on. And on.

Optics?

The president is either oblivious, does not care, or rubbing America’s nose in his disdain for our country.

None acceptable but he’s the trump card.

Absolutely known is what kind of president we have. Soon he is done.

Now folks are in a frenzy as to what kind of president Donald Trump would be.

The frenzy being based on the powers to be not wanting disruption to the status quo thus wild speculation to frighten and cause second-guessing.  Consequently, there’s an ongoing super-sized effort to take Mr. Trump down and out.

He’s not going quietly.

The fact is no one really knows what kind of president Mr. Trump would be.  Just as no one knew what kind of president Barack Obama would be. How could we, we didn’t know who Barack Obama was; and still do not.  The fact is no one really knew. Once in office, he spoke and acted contrary to pre-election word.

We heard Mr. Hyde and got Dr. Jekyll.

Don’s early light – Mr. Trump’s words to his countrymen – is promising return to a recognizable America; a great country.
For his blunt language, determination, and promises masses can see – O can they see. And they are saying, “Go Trump!”

He leads still the other two surviving GOP contenders.

Donald Trump is not Ted Cruz nor John Kasich. And he’s certainly not Barack Obama.  Had media etc., unveiled Barack Obama to the extent Mr. Trump is being exposed we’d – America and the world – not be in the mess we live.

That’s not speculation but logic.

Per Shakespeare, we, not the stars, hold our destiny.

Trump hatPerhaps it’s fate a man named Trump trumps Obama.
So say what you want, can, and will about Mr. Trump but his rise, I say, is a necessary and healthy thing.
Until a GOP nominee is sorted out…

Go Trump!

Originally posted 2016-03-24 09:17:54.