Take a look at the current Iraq conflict for instance. When General Petraeus assumed the central command of the mission there and launched his surge strategy -- moving soldiers away from large bases to small combat outposts in towns to win the support of the locals; financing more redevelopment; training more regular Iraqi citizens to be able to defend their own country; supporting pro-American and pro-Iraqi neighborhood militias – the Marine Corps had already accomplished these things. I can support this with my own observations. On the Syrian Border, a city called Al Qa’im, my unit had created an outpost at a tire factory in the town of Husaybah. We graduated new ranks of Iraqi security forces monthly and we worked closely with the mayor in launching dozens of civil-military reconstruction projects. It was dangerous work that inflicted a significant human toll, but we won the peace. I know some people out there would still dispute that claim, but it truly is what I believe. Some military and political leaders no doubt, would have advocated less intense war-fighting strategies – and some of them did try to push that agenda. You will recall that, with victory at hand during the First Battle of Fallujah the action was stopped because of political pressure. And then also recall that the Second Battle of Fallujah didn’t begin until after the 2004 presidential election.
That being mentioned, now that the wars have gone on for nearly ten years and a new administration is in charge (and they like their predecessor have also advocated a “surge strategy”), why shouldn’t we unleash the Marines to win the peace in anyway they can?
It’d be great to see if, in addition to their history of improvisation and innovation to the skills of combat, the Marine Corps could get hip to the challenges of dealing with the human toll of the post war. They are trying at least. I don’t think it helped out very much, but the Corps did keep me out in Iraq for two extra weeks for “mandatory decompression time” before allowing me to return stateside. The concept of this time period was that if you disarm those who have just served in combat and remove all responsibility to the larger conflict from them, they will feel encouraged to start making the necessary mental preparation to return home. Maybe they’d talk to their buddies about everything that just happened to achieve a sort of therapy. Maybe they’d plan a healthy return instead of just coming home quickly and going insane with excessive partying and drama. Maybe they’d use their mandatory education from those two weeks (classroom sessions about what to expect when returning home) and actually apply it. Maybe those two weeks would help them process healthy minds.
Like I said, it didn’t work for me, but at least they’re making attempts. Unfortunately, innovation only comes after dozens of failures.
One other thing the Marine Corps does do is maintain a network called "Marine for Life,” which is a job-seeking service for any veteran of the Corps. There are also sections of the network where older Marines can help mentor younger Marines about what to expect from being a civilian and how to accomplish their goals and dreams for life outside of the military. It makes sense to me that creating a community to watch over one another is essential to the health and wellbeing of our returning veterans -- that is the reason for this site after all. What say you, Not Alone community? What else can the Corps and the rest of the military do?
What can we do for each other, here?
Connect with Dario online:
Personal Website (Free Writing, Podcast, Dario in the Media, Biography, Books, Blogs)
20 Something Magazine (Editor-in-Chief, Creator)
JMWW Literary Journal (Senior Nonfiction Editor)
The Veterans Writing Project (Instructor, Nonfiction Editor)
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