The Commandant of the Marine Corps joined ALL MARINE RADIO to talk leadership and current events.
ABOUT KEEP YOUR HONOR CLEAN: The Commandant isn’t sure if Marines are “buying it” when it comes to “keeping your honor clean.” Attempts to influence character are ongoing in the Marine Corps, it’s unfinished work and Marines are trying hard but the jury is still out. “I don’t know if you can get it until you experience it. In the aggregate we have really good people, we just have to do a better job explaining this.”
ABOUT GENDER: Does the Marine Corps still want women who don’t want to be grunts (Capt Lauren Serrano’s question)? The Commandant is conscious that the burden of child birth and being a mother is a heavy burden, “Of course we want her in the Marine Corps.” “At the end of the day you have to be ready to deploy, it’s a hard life.” “I think we’re trying to find that space, but we have to find that balance between our warfighting requirement and our retention.”
ABOUT AVIATION: We need to fly more. Every month our flight hours go up. It took us years to get into this situation and it’ll take us years to get out. Why CMC decided to have Marine Corps aviation units “take a knee” after the the 31st MEU MV-22 incident.
PART 2 of a GREAT interview.
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