Parent, Business Leader & Citizen: What We Can Learn from the Marine Corps

The Marine Corps Birthday
Last night, I took a friend of mine, Tony, out for an important evening. He’s 96 years old, a retired school superintendent, teacher and deacon. I think he is the father of seven. We went to an event that had about 200 people of all ethnic groups, ages 20 to 96. It included a billionaire, federal judges, musicians, attorneys, business people, and moms and dads. Blue collar and white collar. A diverse group bound by one thing: the birthday we share as US Marines.

It’s a thing. Every November 10th, Marines all around the world celebrate the birthday of their Corps.

In 1775, 243 years ago, the Marine Corps was born in a tavern in Philadelphia. Today, Marines will celebrate their birthday in formal balls, by sharing a birthday meal in a trench in Afghanistan, or even just by saying “Happy Birthday, Marine” to each other.

So, what can a fighting organization founded almost 250 years ago in a bar teach us about life today? A lot, I think. Let’s talk about three life lessons—story, diversity and relationships.
Story
The Marine Corps spent much of its history as a military afterthought. It's obvious that every nation needs an army to defend its land and a navy to defend its seas. But do we need a Marine Corps?

Marines started as soldiers at sea who guarded the captain from potentially mutinous sailors and boarded enemy ships in combat. But mutiny hasn’t been a serious issue for almost 200 years and no one today is firing muskets at an enemy crew.

Sure enough, our Marine Corps has been threatened with extinction several times in American history. Even after the Marine Corps performed spectacularly in World War II, many in government (and the Army) tried to abolish the Marine Corps. Your Marine Corps.

If you talk to the Army or Air Force, the Marine Corps survives because the Corps has great public relations. But that misses a deeper lesson. The Marine Corps survives—even thrives—because the Marine Corps understands the importance of telling a compelling story.

All the military services have honor and courage and commitment. But the Marine Corps brings those virtues alive in a super-powerful way by transforming them from theoretical ideas into real-world stories.

In 1847, during the Mexican-American War, the Marines played a role in the capture of Chapultepec Castle on the approaches to Mexico City. The Marines quickly published the story of their role in the battle as an example of Marine heroism. From the Halls of Montezuma….

In 1805, during the war against the Barbary states, seven Marines led several hundred mercenaries across the Libyan desert to fight the Battle of Derna. The battle itself didn’t mean much. It was fought after the Barbary war had ended. But the Marines turned this relatively inconsequential battle into an epic story. To the Shores of Tripoli….

The Marines turned their role in these relatively minor battles into their Story. They told that Story in song:

From the Halls of Montezuma,

To the Shores of Tripoli...

The first two lines of the Marine Corps Hymn, a song that a surprising number of Americans know.

The Marines didn’t just turn these battles into epic stories and song, they made them concrete in their uniforms and tradition. The red stripe on the legs of the Marine Dress Blue uniform remembers the Battle of Chapultepec. All Marine officers have a Mameluke sword, given to the Corps in remembrance of the Battle of Derna.

Going into the Spanish-American War, there was a move to abolish the Corps. The Marines happened to be the first forces to land in Cuba and won a relatively small, but tough battle at Cuzco Wells. The American newspapers—desperate for news about the war—made the Marines heroes.

In World War I, the US Army fought hard, but didn’t allow newspaper reporters to accompany them. The Marines took the reporters with them into battle. In the US, the heroic exploits of the Marines at Belleau Wood and Chateau Thierry filled th...