Leading Marines.com: Recent Comments

Comment on Colonel John Ripley

JMH — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:57:21 GMT

The below link is to an article about Col. Ripley's funeral service. Very moving. We have lost a living legend.
Semper Fi,
JMH
http://www.tfp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1133 <http://www.tfp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1133>

Comment on MARINE CORPS BIRTHDAY MESSAGE - 10 NOVEMBER 2008

Major Roger F. Endert, USMC Retired — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:04:15 GMT

As a Marine of 24yrs service including 3 active & 4 reserve yrs (Pvt-Sgt) and 17 commissioned yrs, I'm extremely thankful to and proud of my Corps and what it did for me in all those years. In 1953 I was a college dropout without real goals.Sure I always had a job, grocery stores, lumber mills, but it was the 3 months at MCRD,SD and the leadership of two African Amer Cpls dur-ing 7 mos in 2d155GunBn(Towed)at 29 Stumps that put me on track. At George Co,3dBn3rdMars,MiddleCampFuji, the Top wanted me to reenlist for deployment to Suez (1956). I told him I had a chance for college on G.I.Bill; that I'd take my Nov rotation and join the USMCR to keep my 3 stripes. If I didn't make it through my first semester. I turned over my rifle squad to a stranger from Baker Co 2dBn, SouthCampFuji. That was a hard event for me-we were a great squad. Most of our SNCOS & officers were vets of Korea. We were well-led. I Long Beach State College, CA provided me a degree, a Marine LtCol mentor who taught German Lit., future Marine Wife and the USMC recruiting officer who'd set up shop on the path to the Student Union a day after my 15thRifleCo drill weekend. He'd spotted my spitshine and short haircut. He signed me for PLCs. Summer of 1960 I did two 6-week PLC sessions back to back and added a Sep- tember wedding to my bride of now 48yrs. She pinnned our gold bars on my
shoulders. June of '61 We drove cross country to Quantico,reported for duty at The Basic School. In August our 1st son was born at the Navy Hospital. December graduation brought orders to 2dBn4thMarRegt1stMarBrig,MCAS,Oahu HA. What a grand set of orders! Our 2nd son was born at Tripler Army Hospital In Fall'64 a number of 2/4 Officers went to FtBragg NC for the Military Training Advisor(MATA) course: Vietnamese lang., customs,history;US & Viet Cong weapons, US comm, and aircraft and PsyOps and Counter-Guerilla Ops. Having moved my wife and boys to Long Beach CA,I re- ported to HqMACV,I-Corps,DaNang,Vietnam with 6 other ex-2/4 Lts. We were assigned as Assistant Advisor Team Leaders. Teams were led Army by Captains, Australian Warrant Officers, Marine or Army radiomen. tours were split; 6mos. with Viet Army, 6 mos. with Viet govt District Hqs and militia. I served with 2dBn4thARVN, Tam Ky and with the Binh Son District Quang Ngai Provence. Back in the US,We moved to Imperial Beach, for duty at Marine Barracks, North Island; 2yrs as ExO then back to Long Beach on orders late August(after TET Offensive by North Viets)for 2d tour. Joined 1stMarineRegt as Civic Action/PsyOpsOff. Promoted Major, ordered to 1st Combined Action Group, Chu Lai base just north of my old Binh Son District. 1stCAG Squads joined Viet Militia platoons to coord suptg arms, train militia platoons to secure Villages. 1969-78: 2dMarDivG-3 Ops,2dBn6thMar,8thMAB/Med,1stBn8thMar,
Gitmo;CasualtySec,RetiredSec,HQMC;EdCtr G3Trng,InstructionalMgtScol,MCDEC. Ret'd,May,1978. MA degree,Viet G.I.Bill.
A Great Corps & Country! A fine career!

Comment on General Robert H. Barrow, 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps

Leading Marines.com — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:02:46 GMT

He was CMC early in my career as well. He did great things for our Corps!

Comment on General Robert H. Barrow, 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps

David Gran — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:06:02 GMT

General Barrow was the Commandant when I went through the PLC program and therefor my first Commandant. In the movie "Troy" a theme is repeated about Achilles concern that his name will be remembered in history. I will remember General Barrow and will invest a few minutes telling each of my four boys about his life.

Comment on Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Joe — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:10:00 GMT

There's a good excerpt at

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books_9780316346627_ChapterExcerpt(1).htm

Comment on Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Leading Marines.com — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:59:01 GMT

Here's the The Three Rules of Epidemics Excerpt.

Comment on Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Samantha West — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:04:10 GMT

Well, I just consumed this book in less than 24 hours. I couldn't put it down and it is a great resource for learning how to make things successful and especially for understanding why the Marine Corps concept of pushing leadership down to the lowest levels works so well.

Comment on Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Samantha West — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:36:13 GMT

I just finished "Blink" today and can hardly wait to read "The Tipping Point" that is resting on the desk next to me as I type.

An excellent read with lots of material and resources to help guide your decision making. I spent a lot of time at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ the place where Gladwell sends you to test your "unwilling-unable" distinction.

As well, I enjoyed reading about Gen Van Riper "mixing up" the Millenium Challenge for the Pentagon boys with his "unconventional" thinking.

Recommended book for everyone!

Comment on MARINE OFFICER LEADERSHIP

Bruce Lanctot — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:25:00 GMT

This site is a great idea and ongoing discussion on leadership is always worthwhile.

The longer I'm out of the Corps, I retired in '93 a gunny, the more I appreciate Marine leadership.

Of the many things the Corps does well, I would say high the list is communications. As a Marine I always knew what was going. Someone was always passing the word. We could be moving a battalion around the world and managed to keep everyone in the loop. In the private sector it seems that the word never trickles down to the people who need it.

As I reflect back, I think Marine leaders do a pretty good job of listening to the troops. In the private sector I see people who with good ideas get shut down in seconds and all that does is stifle initiative...

Semper fi...