“Is the Salvation of the Marine Corps at Hand?” by William S. Lind
President Trump’s administration has a historic opportunity to act—let us hope they seize it, for the Corps’ future, and our nation’s security, depend on it.
Donald Vandergriff
Sep 26, 2025
As a retired U.S. Army Major with roots as an enlisted Marine, I have spent decades advocating for fundamental reforms in military personnel management to align our forces with the demands of modern warfare. My works, including Path to Victory: America’s Army and the Revolution in Human Affairs and Adopting Mission Command: Developing Leaders for a Superior Command Culture, emphasize that true military effectiveness hinges not just on doctrine, but on the human element—how we select, develop, promote, and retain leaders capable of adaptability, initiative, and decentralized decision-making.
The U.S. Marine Corps’ adoption of Maneuver Warfare in the 1980s under Commandant Al Gray was a bold step toward Third Generation Warfare, shifting from the rigid, attrition-based hierarchies of Second Generation Warfare to a philosophy that thrives on chaos, speed, and empowered subordinates. Yet, as William S. Lind astutely observes in the following article, the Corps remains mired in a 2GW culture. Why? The answer lies squarely in its outdated manpower policies, which serve as the unyielding foundation preserving that obsolete paradigm.
Lind’s piece, “Is the Salvation of the Marine Corps at Hand?”, cuts to the heart of the Corps’ current malaise: a misguided Force Design 2030 fixated on improbable scenarios, an creeping anti-intellectualism that stifles the very innovation Maneuver Warfare demands, and a leadership cadre compromised by cultural Marxism—or “woke” influences—that erodes unit cohesion and combat readiness. These are not isolated failings but symptoms of a deeper systemic rot.
https://donvandergriff.substack.com/p/is-the-salvation-of-the-marine-corps
