ABSTRACT
The presidential campaign speeches are filled with questions about the future of the nation’s military forces. Mid-level officers are resigning in abnormally large numbers, morale in many units is at rock bottom, and the tension between planning “traditional wars” vs. fighting today’s “asymmetric” wars remains unresolved. Mid-level officers are resigning in abnormally large numbers, morale in many units is at rock bottom, and the tension between planning “traditional wars” vs. fighting today’s “asymmetric” wars remains unresolved. Instead of the corps being a rigid, authoritarian, regimented force, he explained, the “counter-intuitive” fact is that the corps is actually a “learning organization, which is willing to take risks, and is the exact opposite of what most people think.” The Marine Corps is the one service today that has no re-enlistment problems; it continues to have high retention rates and high morale.
