On 10 November 2020, the U.S. Marine Corps celebrated its 245th birthday. After nearly two-and-a-half centuries of conflict around the globe, from that first amphibious raid on Fort Nassau to brutal house-to-house combat on the streets of Fallujah, the Marine Corps has transcended as a symbol of American resolve and courage. The honored legacy of the Corps is unquestionable, however, some inquires could be made as to whether those who wear the cloth today are living up to the legend. The illustrious history of the Corps is still celebrated yearly by each Marine in remembrance of those who have come before. The Marines of tomorrow live in a world that is vastly different than the one their sergeant major or commanding officer were raised in. The metaphorical elephant in the room is the massive divide between two generations serving active duty simultaneously. Blatant refusal to recognize and accept these differences only serves to widen this divide, and should the Marine Corps continue down a path of rejecting popular culture with the youth it desperately needs to fill its ranks, the service will find itself limited with options.
The Generational Divide: 9/11
The divide begins with age. According to the 2017 MCCS demographics booklet, more than 75 percent of the Marine Corps is under the age of 30. Approximately 66 percent are under 25. If these same numbers were applied to today that would mean the majority were born between 1995 and 2002. Although this generation is predominately Generation Z, they are often labeled as Millennials for the negative connotation. To be a Millennial is to be considered a lazy, narcissistic, entitled brat that is part of the everyone-gets-a-trophy childhood. For those in the Corps, it means those who question loyalty to the institution by shirking discipline and hard work. Despite the valiant efforts of recruiters and drill instructors, Millennials appear to have infiltrated the Marines without losing these negative qualities. Leaders admit that they see an incredible difference in the attitudes of the Marines who enlist today. The time a Marine joined is indicative of the individual Marine and what type of experiences they may have had in the Corps and outside of it.
Nearly 19 years ago an act of terrorism in New York City changed the way the world operated. This prompted the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Senior leaders who are approaching retirement will remember this time well because 9/11 was an important part of their decision to join the Marine Corps. The top rung of leadership today was introduced to the Corps during high-operational tempo and constant deployment amid a national tragedy. Today, a Marine who ships to boot camp at age 18 was born after 9/11. Those who joined in the last few years were hardly old enough to remember the devastation of September 11th and the way it unified the nation. These Marines are not initiated into the Corps with combat deployments, but instead to a garrison lifestyle. That same tenacity expected overseas wore a new mask that would become the identity of the Corps.
In 2013, the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James F. Amos, took up the task to “reawaken” the Marine Corps. It was his intent to change attitudes and mold the Corps to perfection. No more excuses from Marines of being “combat-hardened” to forgo regulations. Noncommissioned officers were to return to the barracks and police them, rather than live off base. A daily routine would be followed that included morning cleanup and chow with unit officers. No-nonsense barracks duty in the service uniform and absent of distractions. This was a completely different era from joining in the mid-2000s. The experience of deploying and fighting disappeared for many, and they were introduced to a disciplined garrison lifestyle. Marines are trained to take orders, however, this is under the guise that instant willingness and obedience can mean life or death outside the wire. With the forces overseas downsizing, young Marines were left with with only half the experience—following orders and training for the deployment that may never come.
Between the years of 2012 and 2017, the number of Marines with Combat Action Ribbons reduced by half. Those with a single deployment in their service are now fewer than one in five Marines, and those with multiple deployments account for 8.4 percent of the total force. Young men and women signed up to fight for their country but instead found themselves fighting the monotony of fleet life in the continental United States for their entire enlistment. Formations and Service-Charlie Fridays would be the way they remembered the Marine Corps and expressing disappointment in this seems to make them part of the problem.
This reawakening is where the disconnect begins. It is difficult to feel like a warfighter when leaders act as parents rather than noncommissioned officers. Marines enlisted believing they would be making life-or-death decisions for their brothers and sisters in arms, but what they found was something else. They found leaders micromanaging daily garrison life, inspecting for uniforms, barracks rooms, and vehicles. Classes on the issues that plague the organization, which they tolerate with disinterest and are given without enthusiasm. Most joined to fight, but this Corps has no resemblance to the life they expected. A Marine who is dissatisfied with the status quo will be reprimanded and be labelled as a problem. If a Marine expresses desire to leave the Marine Corps at the end of his or her enlistment, they often are sidelined instead of being made to feel valuable for their service.
The Marines who enlist today do so for the same reasons the senior leaders did in the early 2000s. On one side there are disengaged youth craving a true cause, and on the other there are seasoned Marines struggling to prepare for the next major crisis. Failing to close this generational gap is exhausting both sides of the spectrum. Simply blaming today’s youth for being entitled brats only worsens their attitudes toward their leaders. Equally so, blaming the older generation of Marines for being outdated only strengthens their resolve to enforce regulations within an evaporating culture.
The Influence of Social Media and Popular Culture
The fact of the matter is that the Marine Corps has always been a tradeoff. Personal freedoms are given in exchange for the promise of fulfilling service. The Marine Corps may tell you how to dress, how to act, and how to live your life, but this comes with the experience of war that can never be found anywhere else. The expectation when they step on those yellow footprints is that the training prepares Marines for the rigors of deployment. The mission of bridging the gap between an older generation and the younger one in the Marine Corps is overcoming the obstacle of competition with civilian life that can found in abundance through social media and popular culture.
Garrison Marine Corps culture is competing with social pop culture at the worst possible time. The newest generation of Marines grew up with computers, tablets, and social media from a young age. They are constantly connected to the digital world unlike the senior Marines they report to. With the swipe of a finger Marines can set up a date, order delivery, and even have a face-to-face conversation with loved ones half a world away. How many sergeant majors or first sergeants had that ability as a lance corporal living in the barracks? Marines wake up early each morning for unit physical training and after a long day at work they return to their barracks room for field day only to see their friends on Facebook or Instagram throwing college parties, moving in with girlfriends, and having a good time. Years ago, Marines were cut off from life back home, other than the occasional phone call, but now the endless window of the internet is there for young Marines to gaze into and experience the fear of missing out. The Marine Corps must capture the interest of this generation during a time when only 1 percent of the U.S. population is eligible and interested in serving the military.
The Marine Corps needs to think differently, especially in the context of those who makes up the bulk of the force. The Marine Corps will need to take into consideration the quality-of-life needs for those who enter the force. A young man or woman who volunteers to give their life in service to their nation will devalue that commitment when told they are not allowed to leave the barracks without a “liberty buddy” or that they need to change clothes because their expensive designer jeans with tears in them are inappropriate. The infatuation with Marines living their life off duty needs to end. Young men and women who are qualified and capable to take up arms against U.S. enemies should be trusted with the ability to spend time away from base and choose what they want to wear. Marines have traded out one strict parent for another.
Instead of competing with the social norms popular today, embrace them. Respect the fact that Marines are going to desire some individuality when the uniform comes off and leaders should expect rigid discipline the moment it comes back on. Accepting that Marines desire independence to make their own decisions regarding their lives also means holding them accountable for those decisions. The term resilience often is used at senior leadership levels. Marines on the bottom are lacking the resilience because they give up at the sight of adversity. Leaders also must be resilient through the difficulties that arise from allowing young men and women to make mistakes, and more important, to learn from those mistakes.
The Marine Corps Must Adapt
The Marine Corps is a family, but it is also a business. This family business must learn from failed businesses that did not change before it was too late. Blockbuster was once a thriving business that ignored the need to adapt to the modern landscape. Instead of catering to the whims of the consumer, it brought its identity to the grave in the wake of streaming services that better suited the needs of the public. Blackberry ignored the future until it was too late and, as a result, the ubiquitous touch-screen smartphone we see today rarely sports a Blackberry logo. It can be said that the United States does not need the Marine Corps, but rather that it wants a Marine Corps. The same cannot be said for the organization itself. The Marine Corps needs the best and brightest in nation to enlist, but it refuses to change and appeal to a dwindling consumer base. As a business, the Marine Corps will need to adapt to the future, or it will slowly shrink into an obsolete existence like Blockbuster and Blackberry.
Senior leaders do try to make Marines believe there is a purpose. The chances of deployment may be low, but they are not zero. Nothing can quite compare to the experience of deploying. The attraction to a life in the Corps loses its appeal when Marines enlist and find themselves performing tedious tasks and putting on a performance for superiors. With the staggering amount of distractions, it should not come as surprise that today’s Marines do not connect with the expectations placed on them, especially those not relating to combat. Non-infantry occupations are preached the same slogan since being recruited, “Every Marine is a Rifleman,” meaning all Marines are being trained for war. Yet, the Marine Corps in its entirety is being pushed into the higher standards of garrison life.
In April of 2019, Major General Furness of 2nd Marine Division created policy as an answer to the absence of discipline he witnessed. The transgressions of long hair, poor shaves, and improper civilian attire were to be solved with a basic daily routine to promote habits that aligned with the Marine Corps standards. This was reminiscent of General Amos’ reawakening from years earlier and met with some controversy. The policy raises questions on what the Marine Corps truly finds important, appearances in garrison or prowess on the battlefield?
The justification to these standards is that the devil is in the details. A Marine who follows the rules on base is likely to be the one you can trust on the battlefield. A Marine who takes care to shave each morning will be the one who double checks that the gear is operational before a patrol. The Marine who refuses to sneak around on liberty in inappropriate civilian attire is one who will stay vigilant during their watch rather than fall asleep. This is the theory behind the strict standards of discipline that govern garrison life. For those at the bottom rung of leadership, service appears shallow when comparing it to the past. Marines feel more like children in a strict household than warriors in the current culture. The myth of policy strict professional behavior being equivocal to warrior skills must be deconstructed or proven legitimate to rally young Marines to the lifestyle. Leaders of the Corps must find better ways to answer the question of “Why?” or risk alienating the youth from their cause.
Ultimately, the divide boils down a clash of values. The senior leaders who value time-honored traditions feel as though the Marine Corps is losing its identity among an influx of youth apathetic to their cause. Meanwhile, the freshest Marines to wear the cloth fail to grasp the importance of practices they deem outdated and unnecessary. The road ahead is a tough one to travel, and it is one where the difference in values must be set aside for the good of the service.
It is said that those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. The Corps often likens itself to Spartans of ancient Greece and their warrior culture. The Marine Corps is an organization notorious for upholding conservative values. The time-honored traditions and policies that reflect a different time are considered uncompromisable to the Marine identity. Ancient Sparta was also conservative of their values, and it was the refusal to change and adapt to the new realities of the world that led to the decline of a great warrior society. The struggle to retain values essential to being a Marine with the modern values of our society is a problem that can no longer be ignored. The solution to that problem must begin to take form before the Marine Corps becomes a relic of the past. Adaptability is a trait Marines pride themselves on, and perhaps the greatest adaptation of all will be the one that realigns the Corps with the youth they seek to recruit into their ranks.
