Tag Archives: CMC

Recent Posts

Smarter Privates,

18 Comments

but what about the NCO’s

Oh my Lord. What’s next? So, we will have a bunch of privates who have their own idea how to conduct this squad sized patrol, ambush, raid, etc. We are talking about teenagers, 17-18-year old private’s. Lord please help them for they know not what they are doing. What do you think Marines. Oh the joy of being retired! I can’t believe they are doing this at SOI for privates. Please read on and would love to hear your comments. Who knows, maybe I am just an old fart who hasn’t kept up with the times?

From the Stars and Stirpes. This is factual Marines

Marine Corps seeks to make ‘smarter’ infantry force with new course

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marine Sgt. Alec Escalante, a squad instructor with Alpha Company, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry-West, moves a chess piece during a class on how chess correlates with battle tactics, as part of the first week of the Infantry Marine Course at SOI-West on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Jan. 27, 2021.
ANDREW CORTEZ/U.S. MARINE CORPS

The Marine Corps is ditching some of its formation marches and adding board games to a new, longer entry-level infantry training course aimed at creating Marines who can better think and act for themselves.

The Infantry Marine Course pilot program launched last month at the service’s School of Infantry-West on Camp Pendleton, Calif., where instructors were pictured instructing new Marines on how chess relates to battlefield tactics. The course focuses less on micromanagement and more on individual responsibility, the service said in a statement.

“Rote memorization, instant obedience to orders are good for certain things, and they’re not getting thrown away from this course,” Chief Warrant Officer 3 A.J. Pasciuti, the training battalion’s gunner, said in Friday’s statement. “We’re just going a step further, and understanding that the individual — and a collective of individuals — is what wins in combat.”

The new course was developed over a year and is based on Commandant Gen. David Berger’s plan for revamping the service for future conflicts.

Under Berger’s vision, grunts will be expected to fight in small units that will be highly mobile and independent, and often dispersed far from headquarters. The new course is aimed at giving rookie Marines the tactical and cognitive skills to act on their own, and takes a “fundamentally different approach” than its eight-week predecessor, the Corps said.

“To be more dispersed and more precise, we need privates now that can operate by themselves and don’t have to be told and shown where to go all the time,” said Lt. Col. Walker Koury, the training battalion’s commander.

The unit’s Alpha Company is taking the course first before a second one launches at Camp Lejeune, N.C., later this spring. It’s expected to alternate two more cycles between the east and west coasts before being finalized next year, the statement said.

Already about double the length of the course it’s meant to replace, the pilot is expected to eventually grow to 18 weeks, USNI News reported late last year. The added time and a dedicated combat instructor to lead each squad of 14 Marines allows for more practical application and repetitions, the service said in its statement.

Reflecting the transition from the industrial era to the information age, the Marine Corps’ seeks to shift from creating what Koury described to USNI News as “automatons” to what Pascuiti has called “autonomous Marines.”

“Through freedom of thought and freedom of action … they’ll have a higher level of understanding,” Pasciuti said. “Rather than ‘Do a thing because I said so,’ it’s ‘get to a fundamental end state, and here are the tools that can help you achieve that goal.’”

After initial training on a topic, Marines will be expected to apply their own thinking the next time it comes up. Instead of following itemized gear lists and being marched where they need to be, they’ll be expected to be more responsible for themselves throughout the course.

Playing chess is meant to encourage them to think about their actions in a complex environment. They’ll also no longer be trained in terms of narrow specialties such as rifleman, machine gunner, mortarman or anti-tank missileman, but instead will be expected to be proficient in every company-level weapon by graduation.

“The infantry Marine of the future will be able to do all (the skills of the specialties) and understand when and where that skill needs to be applied,” said Staff Sgt. Jude Stewart, the lead marksmanship instructor for Alpha Company.

During the first nine weeks, trainees will learn individual skills in weapons handling, land navigation and radio communications, mainly using the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle.

Later weeks of the training will focus on testing the Marines’ knowledge while they work in fire teams and squads, learning to patrol over complex terrain and employ fire and maneuver tactics. Students also will lead several force-on-force actions during the latter phase.

“What we have to recognize is these young Marines, through a collective of individuals, will win the day for us,” Pasciuti said.

OKAY, let me have it, tell me I’m all screwed up.

Originally posted 2021-02-24 16:56:29.

Recent Posts

Remember this Guy?

6 Comments

Of course some of you do. Remember my “Open Letter to Mr. Mattis” post? Well, that post was on 5 June, and to this day it is still getting hits (43 just today). At my last count it has gotten nearly one million views, and that does not count those who shared it. Why is that happening?

Yesterday I posted one entitled: “The Coming Coup.” Folks that one is already going crazy as well.

Call me a conspiracy nut if you choose. that’s your prerogative. However, I firmly believe something big is awry. The current crop of generals and admirals are a sorry lot. The Commandant of my beloved Corps is shredding it apart piece by piece. Daily I read of instances that prove to me this election will be the biggest fraud we have ever seen anywhere in the world. The Dems are so confident and you know why? Take a quick gander of this.

Feds Seize 19,888 Fake State Driver Licenses (Made in China) in Chicago O’Hare Airport – ALL Registered to Vote — ALL Democrat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why are the Chinese making so many fake U.S. driver licenses?  Why are they being shipped to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport?  Why are ALL the names completely phony; yet ALL are Registered to Vote . . .  and Registered as Democrats?  That’s a disturbing little tidbit to discover, especially right before an election, right? Oh, and BTW, as best I can tell they are Illinois drivers licenses. I had one for way too many years, but no more! LOL

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the bulk of these fake U.S. IDs flooding into the country come from China and Hong Kong, with the rest coming in from South Korea and the U.K.

Officials in Chicago just confiscated a shipment of these fake IDs totaling nearly 20 thousand. Of course, the local news media in Chicago doesn’t see a connection to “voter fraud,” but most other people do. As a matter of fact, it’s the main thing that most people see with just three months before an election.

Okay, have I got your attention? Good, back to my favorite General, Mr. Mattis, who in my view is a POS, excuse me sir. No, I take that back, you don’t deserve a sir. You are not a retired Marine! in my view.

Hear comes a dozy of an article, -please and please comment, even if you think I am a nut case. Hell, I hope I am, but doubt it! LOL

September 10, 2020

There is something very wrong with some in the top ranks of America’s military

By Andrea Widburg

With Bob Woodward’s anti-Trump book about to be published, the media is focusing entirely on the easily debunked claim that Trump mishandled the Wuhan virus by “lying” to the American people. What the media is ignoring, however, is a much more serious claim, which is that former Secretary of Defense General James Mattis plotted to overthrow Trump and his administration. This fact, if true, supports my long-time fear about the damage Obama inflicted on the upper echelons of the Pentagon.

The Conservative Treehouse caught the Mattis item:

According to a pre-release excerpt from the Washington Post Bob Woodward writes about a discussion between General James Mattis and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats about a plot to overthrow the elected government of the United States.

What do you call a conversation between the Defense Secretary and the head of the U.S. intelligence apparatus where they are talking about taking “collective action” to remove an elected President?  That’s called sedition…. A seditious conspiracy.

It began to be clear last October that the Obama administration (with some help from Bill Clinton’s presidency) had seeded the Pentagon with leftist generals whose allegiance was to the Deep State, to cultural leftism, and to the infamous and profitable “military industrial complex” that Eisenhower warned about in 1961. In only five years, Obama had conducted a major Pentagon purge, firing almost 200 senior officers who held the old-fashioned belief that the military exists to protect America and should not be a social justice institution with limited firepower.

The upper-level officers who remained were hardcore Democrats. While still in the military, Admirable McRaven gave bin Laden a respectful, private burial. Once out of the military, he wrote an editorial for the New York Times, strongly suggesting a military coup against Trump. Barry McCaffrey, a Clinton White House officer, likened Trump to Mussolini because he canceled the White House’s newspaper subscriptions. And Obama’s Joint Chiefs Vice Chair, James Winnefeld, was deeply offended on behalf of ISIS terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi because Trump did the psychologically smart thing of telling al-Baghdadi’s followers that he died like a coward.

In November, Sundance, at The Conservative Treehouse, pointed out that, even though Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman used back channels to try to counteract his commander-in-chief’s foreign policy solely because Vindman disagreed with the policy, the Defense Department invited him right back to the NSC. To Sundance, there was only one takeaway: “The United States Military is collaborating with the CIA to remove a U.S. President from office.”

All of the above says that there is something rotten happening in the Pentagon. The implications aren’t just in the past. They’re also in the future. Michael Anton has written the best article spelling out the fact that the Democrats are openly planning a coup if Biden doesn’t win. One of the crucial points about this planned coup is that the Democrats have been explicit about military involvement.

Their plan in the event Trump wins in a given state is to send their Democrat electors to the Electoral College along with (or even in lieu of) the Republican electors. In the chaos that results, which will spill onto the streets, Democrats trust “that the military would take care of the rest.”

Anton also says that retired military officers, such as the ones I discussed above (and I’m willing to bet that includes Mattis and McRaven), have already said that they will support a coup. I’ll add that it’s likely that they have allies still within the Pentagon, people who benefit from the perpetual wars that Obama, a supposed anti-war president, nevertheless fought and instigated, and who also benefit from the pipeline flowing from the Pentagon to that profitable military industrial complex.

The laughable Atlantic article about Trump disrespecting the military was intended, not just to get military votes on November 3, but to get military coup participants after November 3. Critical Race Theory training and eight years of Obama’s social justice policies have shifted many of the enlisted ranks from strong conservatives to equally strong Democrats.

The only way to put the kibosh on all of this is for an overwhelming Trump turnout on November 3, one that reminds Democrats no matter where they are – the media, Hollywood, the military, the defense contractors, your neighborhood – that the people are behind Trump.

As I heard someone say, the Democrats have ensured that, after the election, unless a bizarre miracle happens and Biden wins overwhelmingly on (not after) November 3, there will be upheaval. However, we know from the street battles in Democrat-run cities that, if Biden does win, the disruptions will spread. If Trump wins, the upheavals will meet the full force of the law (and due process), and America can once again get down to the business of being the best, freest nation on earth.

With all this notoriety I’m getting maybe I should lock my doors at night. Nah, let em’ come, they’ll leave on a gurney. LOL Be safe and try to sleep well my friends. Keep your powder dry though.

Originally posted 2020-09-10 16:40:33.

Current Events

Marines in Flight

9 Comments

Are those Marines in the photo above running to a fight or running away from a fight? Well, Fellow Marines, it appears the current sick societal norms have now finally affected our Corps. Sadly they are running away from a fight — UNBELIEVABLE! I am sickened by the below article, which by the way was sent to me by my bride. 

The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) has a legendary history of bravery and esprit de corps when it comes to defending America’s freedom. From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, the Corps hasn’t shrunk back from meeting any foe of the United States. So it may surprise some to learn that recently the Marines surrendered to a single activist who complained that an instructor at an upcoming seminar on strategy and tactics was a Christian.

The USMC scheduled an annual training for military lawyers earlier this month, at which the Battle of Gettysburg would be discussed. The instructor for one portion of that training was supposed to be Jay Lorenzen, an Air Force veteran who taught for 10 years at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Lorenzen’s biography, provided to the military lawyers in advance of the training, included references to Christianity, including his affiliation with Campus Crusade for Christ, now known as Cru, and a couple of religious-themed courses he teaches in his spare time. Several of those lawyers complained to Mikey Weinstein, who heads up a secular, anti-Christian group called the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, that Lorenzen was going to teach about religion.

That allegation was false. It didn’t matter.

Weinstein, himself an Air Force veteran, is adamantly opposed to any form of Christian expression within the military, and immediately contacted the USMC to voice his displeasure at Lorenzen’s scheduled appearance at the training, calling Lorenzen a “fundamentalist Christian extremist parachurch official.” Within 64 minutes, according to Weinstein, the USMC informed him that the event had been canceled. It was replaced with an instruction regarding systemic racism within the military.

First Liberty Institute, a public interest law firm specializing in religious liberty, represents and has represented military personnel, including chaplains, who have seen their religious freedom rights unfairly and unconstitutionally curtailed by the various military branches. The legal firm is calling a foul.

Jeremy Dys is the Special Counsel for Litigation and Communications for First Liberty. In an op-ed this week, he explained why the USMC is making a big mistake in this case.

“Let us be very clear: the Marine Corps bravely cancelled a speaker chosen to lead a discussion on the battlefield tactics and leadership lessons of Gettysburg based upon his expertise as a retired military officer and academy professor because that retired officer, in his speaker’s bio, confessed to be religious and associated with a religious organization,” Dys said.

“Such open discrimination against people of faith is unbecoming of our beloved Marine Corps. From Article VI of the U.S. Constitution to cases like Trinity Lutheran to numerous Department of Defense (DOD) policies, the law is clear: the government cannot require a religious test for office, nor insist that religious people be excluded from benefits—like teaching to a class of Marine Corps reservists—because they are religious.”

In a statement furnished to Fox News, the USMC confirmed only that the event had been cancelled when scheduled attendees “raised concerns” about Lorenzen.

When the Marines go into full retreat mode over the issue of religious freedom, it’s time for an explanation and some new direction from the Department of Defense. The treatment of this instructor should not be allowed to stand.

Bullshit, it’s time for some serious discourse by we Marines with some of the so-called leaders of our active Corps. I would expect the retired Generals to be rising up in protest, but then maybe not. There are a few I know personally who will certainly come up on line. They were going to discuss the Battle of Gettysburg, not the resurrection of Jesus. I am seriously sickened by this action. Commandant, where are you taking my Corps?

Originally posted 2020-08-08 11:11:51.

Current Events

Berger’s Corps

36 Comments

I never thought I would ever write such a letter to my Commandant of the Marine Corps. As I was writing my book, my editor reminded me several times to what President Reagan said: “Republicans (read Marines) should never speak ill of a fellow republican (read Marine). However, I could not help myself because during my nearly 36 years wearing the Marine uniform I learned that while we like to believe that all Marines are honorable, just, and forthright in their decision making processes, I found they were not! Therefore, I had to call a spade a spade; the principles I learned from my mentors would not allow me to lie. Some were nothing more than career-minded cocker spaniel Marines who looked out for no one but themselves. In fact, the Corps seems to attract those of that ilk and we also tend to breed them.

I remember when selected for colonel, a friend for whom I had worked and respected a great deal warned me that I was about to enter into the political side of the Marine Corps. He was right. The cocker spaniels who are discovered early normally do not rise above field grade, but every now and then one kisses enough ass, has the right tickets punched, collects a godfather or two along the way gets a star. Once anointed with that star, it then becomes critical that he sense the political wind and set his sails accordingly. And that Mr. Berger is a description of you.

I served under ten commandants. Most were okay, some I idolized, and one I detested for what he did to us enlisted Marines by taking away our collar emblems. Of the eight who served after my retirement, there are only two for whom I have any respect. I have often wondered why that is, why have we not had a Chapman, Wilson, or Barrow? I suspect that having achieved that “political rank” I became more aware of  the real reason for some of their decisions and actions. Then you appeared on the scene.

When first nominated and I read your Bio, I was impressed thinking we now had one who may steer the right course regardless of the political wind. Was I ever mistaken. You have done nothing but set those sails to follow the liberal agenda regardless of where it takes our Corps. All of your actions since appointment seem destined to change the Corps from an organization respected throughout the world for its nearly 250 years of honorable service to our country to “Berger’s Corps,” whatever the hell that happens to be. We retirees are still trying to figure that out. Your new force structure, organization, and employment concepts have every former commandant and most of the retired generals scratching their heads. But enough has been said about those asinine decisions; therefore, I shall let the generals have their say.

My concern is, as it always was when I wore the uniform, with the Marines themselves and what you are doing to them—the Pvts, PFCs, LCpls, and NCOs. In other words the doers in the Corps, the ones who bleed and die in the politicians’ wars. Have you any idea what goes through the minds of the privates? There is a chapter in my book entitled “The Private’s World,’ you should read it, you might learn something. Did you are any of your minions at HQ think of the average Pvt when you came out with that sick pride month statement or were you simply setting those sails to ride the political wind. I think the latter. What about the average young boy who enlisted in the Corps, the one who was raised by our once normal moral standards. What does he think of you pride month celebration? Or don’t you care?

I have friends, retired peers, albeit younger then me who have children and grandchildren in the Corps. Have you any idea what they are saying? Or do you just not give a damn, this is “Berger’s Corps”?

Of late you MR general came out and tried to attack the retirees’ pride reminding us of the meaning of Semper Fidelis and telling us “our Corps” needed our help in the recruiting arena. HA! Sorry, but it isn’t “our Corps” anymore; it’s Berger’s Corps. And I don’t want anything to do with that Corps as it is unrecognizable to me and many of my peers. I have already talked two young boys out of joining Berger’s Corps. My friends and peers say their hearing from their children and grandchildren that they are now counting the days not for reenlistment as was planned, but discharge. I don’t know how big the recruiting service is today, but you best look at increasing it drastically. But then Rand says that 70% of the 18-25 year old’s are unqualified mentally or physically from joining the military. Maybe the LGBQTs will answer the call and fill Bergers Corps .Won’t that help unit cohesion?

Speaking of  Semper Fidelis. Who is actually being unfaithful? Is it us retirees or you and your minions? What about all those traditions that brought the Corps to where it was before you started destroying it all? Yes, there probably were LGBQTs in the Corps throughout its history. I’ll buy that, so what? Does that mean we need to flaunt their existence. Do you know what else is celebrated this month? How about PTSD Awareness Month, or doesn’t that matter to you since they aren’t serving today? You have done nothing but added more gender confusion to the Corps’s many concerns.

You, Mr. Berger, will go down in the annals of Marine Corps history as the worse commandant ever, even worse that that fool that took my collar emblems away when I was a LCpl.

Your post has nothing to do with Marine readiness and everything to do with undermining unit cohesion — the esprit de corps that is the USMC’s foundational fabric. If mass eye-rolls among the Marine rank and file had a sound, the thunder from outside the Beltway — those not kissing Biden’s ass — would be deafening.

Fact is that this crap impacts readiness because the insult to morale impacts reenlistment decisions. Marines are ashamed to be associated with this degradation. One Marine Sgt spoke for many others: “This shit is one more reason why I am not reenlisting — nobody wants this shit and the result is that our best Marines, enlisted and young officers, are leaving. Lots of them are leaving.”

With all that said, I will leave you to your sick, demented, history destroying ways and pray that someone will come along and shut you up. I’d sign this with the normal closing of Semper Fidelis, but you have no idea what that means and you certainly do not deserve it

 

Jim Bathurst

Col, USMC (Ret)

Current Events

Merry Christmas Gang!

8 Comments

Greetings Friends and Patriots. Firstly, I cannot believe the number hits and your superb comments to My Open Letter to CMC Berger. It certainly has caused a firestorm, with several retired generals weighing in and even a former CMC through private communications. As expected even some active duty Marines weighing supporting Berger, which can be expected as they have been infected with his alien thoughts and had not truly learned our traditional values yet, or simply don not care.  I was surprised by the small number of negative comments (only 2) telling me I was full of it and just some old fart that thinks the “Old Corps” was the best. I did post their comments for everyone to have their shot. The count as I write this post is well over 12,000 hits and counting.

The one shocker for me personally was (is) the number of book inquiries I received (>40). I am having trouble keeping up with them, I mean I don’t have a secretary. LOL But I try my best to inscribe, sign, package so the USPS don’t destroy them, and mail them the same day I receive payment. I still have about ten in my files who inquired about the book but have not heard back from or told me they were sending checks. I thank you very much for this, as it was an unexpected result of the letter. As most of you know this book thing is not a business for me, I only make a couple of dollars off each sale since iUniverse did not give me the same discount they gave the online guys like Amazon who sold the book at a ridiculous price—I mean I’m only the damn author. Over the years I have recouped the enormous cost iUniverse charged me to print it, so now I just want folks to read it, especially my Marine brothers. And as you know, I eat the postage for any Veteran, regardless of service connection. If you’ve not read it—shame of you!

My bride, Nancy, our two Siberian cats, our dog Edgar, and I will depart tomorrow in the RV and head to MD (Brrr) to visit kids and grandkids for Christmas, then down to NC to see my only sibling, my sister, who just turned 89. So it is doubtful I will be posting anything for a week or so. Can you handle that?. Some are probably saying, thank goodness. LOL.

What this means for those of you sending checks for a book, I won’t get them until I return about 2 January. I apologize, but Grandma has to see the grandkids on Christmas, and so do I. I hope you understand. You can continue to send Book requests as I will have Wifi once I arrive in MD. Enroute to and fro is questionable.

I have been watching the furor, and reading message traffic of the latest Corps Woke-news. I speak of changing the SNCO promotion warrant. WOW. Haven’t seen a picture of it yet, but did listen to SgtMaj Black recite it. Sounded like it needs to be two pages long. I guess the senior SNCO’s who formed the committee, didn’t like their warrants—interesting, I loved and still cherish mine! I am certain the committee was stacked accordingly, otherwise why have it? I guess those of us who were promoted to SNCO using that old warrant just didn’t get it, so they need to spell it out for a third grader, or was promoted before he/she learned anything about leadership. I may have come out with something about it.

Anyway, my sincere wish to my followers is that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and that the new year brings you much happiness and joy!

Semper Fidelis

Jim Bathurst

USMC (Ret)