Event

MCAF Ground Dinner 2010

General James F. Amos, USMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps

December 2, 2010 - 6:00pm - 9:15pm

Crystal Gateway Marriott Arlington, VA

On Thursday, 2 December the Marine Corps Association Foundation, in conjunction with HQMC Plans, Policies and Operations Division, held the MCAF Ground Dinner Forum at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA.

The Dinner provided our new Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James F. Amos, with his first opportunity to address MCA members and supporters with his perspective on the current issues affecting the Marine Corps.

Following a no-host reception, the dinner commenced with a presentation of the colors, brief administrative and welcoming remarks and an invocation by the chaplain. Following the dessert course, the featured speaker, General Amos, took to the lectern and addressed the crowd. Here is a brief summary of his remarks:

His remarks started with some witty quips. He indicated that he did not know what was going to be harder – being an aviator Commandant presenting at the “Ground” dinner forum or testifying at the next day’s Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on the subject of “DADT”– Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell legislation and policy. He also teased the four Division Commanders in the audience with comments about them eating quiche and drinking warm milk.

His serious remarks started with comments about how magic and awe inspiring his change of command was followed by acknowledgement and praise for some of the ladies in the audience including, the wives of General Dunford (ACMC), LtGen Tryon (Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies and Operations), and SgtMaj Kent, the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.

Getting to the substantive issues, he talked about the differences between now and the world of 10 years ago. Ten years ago, he said, we were 10 months away from the horrific events of 9/11 and that the Marine Corps was about 176,000 strong with a MEU and Unit Deployment focus and mindset. He said it was tough for fixed wing guys (the Commandant is a fixed wing aviator) in the MAGTF communities and that Marines rode around in hummers with canvas sides. There was little concern about foreign cultures or concepts like distributed operations.

Since the events of 9/11 the whole nature of war has changed dramatically and we now see organized teams of women (FETS) set up to interact with women in restrictive cultures, Police investigators as integral parts of most Marine operations and tactical communications suites in the hands of Lieutenants what Battalion Commanders would have envied just a few years ago. The world and operating environment has witnessed amazing change.

Moving on to the subject of the commander’s guidance he issued to Marines he pointed out that the environment was very serious and that we could never get it completely right but can’t get it completely wrong. Lots of room for flexibility and interpolation. The key question is how does the Marine Corps with it’s unique capabilities fit into this new environment? In an attempt to help answer that question he stated that Marines need to be:

Forward engaged and forward deployed
Focus on the Pacific, Africa and South America
We need to be a middle weight force.
We need to take special care about how we describe ourselves within the spectrum of conflict.

Providing some anecdotal events to refine his points he pointed out that we sent two Marine Expeditionary Units to cope with the recent disaster in Haiti including a total of 9 Amphib ships in support. General Amos stated assertively that we needed to be able to perform that kind of mission anywhere.

Talking about how important Professional Military Education is, he spoke in praise of long time Missouri congressman, Member of the House Armed Services Committee and ally of Marines Ike Skelton who has long been a champion of military education and training. At General Amos’s directions, he was designated an Honorary Marine. Further to the education issue, he stated that we have Marine Corporals in the vastness of Afghanistan making strategic decisions daily in the absence of close supervision so they had better be educated.

He pointed out that we now have an opportunity to re-shape the Marine Corps for a bright future post Afghanistan and that this was being explored now with a report and recommendations due out in January 2011.

General Amos finished his remarks with a great story about a member of 3rd Bn, 7th Marines in Afghanistan. Clifford Wooldritch, a 6’2” former football player was on his second tour and was attacked with his unit by a sizeable force of the Taliban. The Marines counterattacked, taking the fight aggressively to the enemy, chasing and killing 15 of the Taliban while wounding about 5 more. After heavy fighting Wooldritch ran out of ammunition and, upon seeing a machine gun poking around a corner, dropped his weapon and grabbed the machine gun barrel, wrestling the enemy gunner to the ground and ultimately killing him in hand to hand combat. General Amos advised that the Marine has been nominated for the Navy Cross. He closed his comments with a witty story about a Marine who got a dear John letter from his girlfriend who wanted her picture back. The Marine rounded up pictures of his buddy’s girlfriends, sisters and others. Sending an assortment of about 50 pictures back to the girlfriend, the accompanying letter stated for the girl to take her picture out of the stack and send the reset back because the Marine did not remember which one she was.

Marines…awesome fellows!

Here are some pictures and videos from the event:

MajGen Usher, MCA President and CEO with Dinner Guests.