WEBVTT 00:00.469 --> 00:03.799 Your job is to lead young marines 00:04.969 --> 00:07.670 and some of those young marines are 00:07.679 --> 00:10.850 marine officers . So I'd like to tell 00:10.859 --> 00:13.680 you two stories that both come from my 00:13.689 --> 00:17.129 first year in the fleet . One 00:17.489 --> 00:21.340 is a story . It's about trust and 00:21.350 --> 00:24.790 the other is a story . It's about love . 00:27.409 --> 00:30.799 Sergeant . Adam Bonnet was a squad 00:30.809 --> 00:34.389 leader in my first platoon . He had 00:34.400 --> 00:37.500 three years in the court . He deployed 00:37.509 --> 00:41.069 was with me that had participated in 00:41.080 --> 00:44.720 the Iraq invasion when he returned a 00:44.729 --> 00:46.959 second marine division board had 00:46.970 --> 00:49.259 meritoriously promoted him to sergeant . 00:50.250 --> 00:52.659 He was widely recognized as one of the 00:52.669 --> 00:56.490 best , if not the best NC OS 00:56.540 --> 00:59.459 in our company . The lieutenant that I 00:59.470 --> 01:02.810 replaced told me repeatedly how lucky I 01:02.819 --> 01:06.470 was to have him on a tire was good . 01:07.410 --> 01:10.750 He knew he was good . When I first met 01:10.760 --> 01:13.510 him . I also noticed how he called my 01:13.519 --> 01:17.300 predecessor , sir and how he called me 01:17.309 --> 01:20.269 lieutenant . I doubt I need to explain 01:20.279 --> 01:22.849 to a room full of salty S and C OS what 01:22.860 --> 01:24.970 that was about . But I thought to 01:24.980 --> 01:28.419 myself , you know , whatever we have 01:28.430 --> 01:31.269 work to do . I checked into the unit in 01:31.279 --> 01:33.650 April and we were leaving for Iraq in 01:33.660 --> 01:37.000 June Marines in our system at times 01:37.010 --> 01:38.899 were already dying in places like 01:38.899 --> 01:41.470 Ramadi and Fallujah . When we weren't 01:41.480 --> 01:44.000 training , I assigned the book uh the 01:44.010 --> 01:46.680 platoon , a book to read the science 01:46.690 --> 01:49.250 fiction classic and Meditation on 01:49.260 --> 01:52.419 Citizenship and soldiery starship 01:52.430 --> 01:55.589 troopers . And we will discuss a 01:55.599 --> 01:59.349 chapter a week . They hated this , 02:00.089 --> 02:02.370 sir . If we wanted to read books , we 02:02.379 --> 02:04.490 would have gone to college instead of 02:04.490 --> 02:06.657 joining the corps again . I thought to 02:06.657 --> 02:10.479 myself , whatever , a couple of 02:10.490 --> 02:12.490 weeks before deploying , we were in 02:12.490 --> 02:14.800 garrison . I briefed the platoon . The 02:14.809 --> 02:16.476 next day , we practiced squad 02:16.476 --> 02:18.587 patrolling techniques around the time 02:18.587 --> 02:21.089 area . I told the squad leaders to show 02:21.100 --> 02:23.559 up that morning with an overlay of 02:23.570 --> 02:26.020 their patrol route and a copy of their 02:26.029 --> 02:28.589 five paragraph order . When the three 02:28.600 --> 02:30.600 squad leaders came into the company 02:30.600 --> 02:32.656 office , the 2nd 3rd squad leaders , 02:32.656 --> 02:34.656 both corporals handed me their over 02:34.656 --> 02:36.990 relation orders . When I asked Sergeant 02:37.000 --> 02:40.880 Bonnet for his , he said , yeah , I 02:40.889 --> 02:42.945 didn't through lieutenant to which I 02:42.945 --> 02:45.220 responded . What do you mean ? You 02:45.229 --> 02:48.820 didn't do it ? He then said , uh I 02:48.830 --> 02:50.941 don't think that's good training . So 02:50.941 --> 02:52.941 my squad , we're gonna do something 02:52.941 --> 02:55.009 else . I asked him to meet me in 20 02:55.020 --> 02:57.187 minutes in the duty hall along with my 02:57.187 --> 02:59.020 sergeant where we could speak in 02:59.020 --> 03:01.710 private . When Bona T entered the duty 03:01.720 --> 03:03.942 hut , I presented him with a counseling 03:03.949 --> 03:06.399 sheet . The sheet was little more than 03:06.410 --> 03:08.243 a Microsoft word document that I 03:08.250 --> 03:11.160 quickly drafted , it broke down his 03:11.169 --> 03:13.750 proficiency in several categories from 03:13.759 --> 03:16.710 physical fitness to tactical confidence , 03:17.119 --> 03:20.899 all evaluated on scale from 1 to 10 in 03:20.910 --> 03:24.169 which I got him as outstanding across 03:24.179 --> 03:26.160 all disciplines , except for one . 03:29.649 --> 03:31.869 When he came to leadership , I marked 03:31.880 --> 03:35.029 him at the opposite end of the scale as 03:35.039 --> 03:38.490 woefully efficient . I explained to him 03:38.500 --> 03:41.949 that leadership requires loyalty both 03:41.960 --> 03:45.690 down and up the chain of command that 03:45.699 --> 03:48.130 by refusing to execute the training we 03:48.139 --> 03:50.339 all discussed . He'd shown me a 03:50.350 --> 03:52.570 startling lack of loyalty . And this 03:52.580 --> 03:54.358 explained his deficient mark in 03:54.358 --> 03:56.770 leadership . When I added that , I've 03:56.779 --> 03:58.890 been putting this counseling sheet in 03:58.890 --> 04:02.660 his srb . He interrupted me . What the 04:02.669 --> 04:04.947 hell did he know about leading marines ? 04:04.947 --> 04:07.169 Lieutenant ? I was leading marines when 04:07.169 --> 04:10.270 you were still in college ? Yeah , I 04:10.279 --> 04:12.500 told him that might be the case but 04:12.509 --> 04:14.342 that he still needed to sign the 04:14.342 --> 04:17.540 counseling sheet . But she did . Two 04:17.549 --> 04:19.438 weeks later , we left for a round 04:20.938 --> 04:24.779 units have centers of gravity just 04:24.790 --> 04:27.012 because you're the platoon commander or 04:27.012 --> 04:29.179 the platoon sergeant . It doesn't mean 04:29.179 --> 04:31.450 you are necessarily the only center of 04:31.459 --> 04:34.570 gravity in your platoon . Sergeant . 04:34.579 --> 04:37.029 Bonaty was one center of gravity with a 04:37.040 --> 04:40.070 platoon and leading the platoon with 04:40.079 --> 04:42.570 him out of alignment was like trying to 04:42.579 --> 04:44.809 ride a bicycle , holding a bowling ball 04:44.820 --> 04:47.519 in one hand . After a month in the 04:47.529 --> 04:49.529 country , our platoon had been in a 04:49.529 --> 04:51.751 couple of firefights and we hit some IE 04:51.751 --> 04:54.220 DS . We performed well enough , but we 04:54.230 --> 04:56.579 knew tougher days were ahead and I 04:56.589 --> 04:58.970 didn't know how to align our platoon 04:58.980 --> 05:00.869 given the underlying tension that 05:00.869 --> 05:02.702 existed between me and bonfire . 05:04.989 --> 05:07.322 As we began our second month in country . 05:07.322 --> 05:09.545 Our platoon participated in a battalion 05:09.545 --> 05:11.850 sweep along the banks of the Euphrates 05:11.940 --> 05:14.880 near Haditha . A particularly violent 05:14.890 --> 05:17.369 form of the war at that point . Now , 05:17.380 --> 05:20.589 it was July . Well , over 100 degrees , 05:20.890 --> 05:23.001 we've been on a this amount of patrol 05:23.001 --> 05:25.950 for hours low on water , sweating your 05:25.959 --> 05:28.440 boots as we finally entered downtown 05:28.820 --> 05:31.820 Pita in a platoon column on a road that 05:31.829 --> 05:34.640 ran along the river . I was in the 05:34.649 --> 05:37.329 center of the platoon with bonaty squad . 05:37.339 --> 05:39.700 When I got a call from upfront , the 05:39.709 --> 05:41.820 lead squad was at an intersection and 05:41.820 --> 05:44.042 they didn't know which way to turn . As 05:44.042 --> 05:46.042 I jotted the column , I passed bona 05:46.042 --> 05:49.160 fides point man , Pete Bagar , a string 05:49.170 --> 05:51.281 bean of a lance corporal from outside 05:51.281 --> 05:53.820 of Boston . My radio operator was 05:53.829 --> 05:56.149 struggling to keep up and Bagar made a 05:56.160 --> 05:59.269 joke at his expense as we jogged by , I 05:59.279 --> 06:01.429 could still hear Bagarella lacking 06:01.440 --> 06:03.649 behind us . When the IED clapped off . 06:04.709 --> 06:06.876 Incoming small arms fire came from the 06:06.876 --> 06:09.230 far side of the river bank . I called 06:09.239 --> 06:11.517 troops in contact over the company tap . 06:11.989 --> 06:13.767 We were in the middle of an IED 06:13.767 --> 06:16.549 initiated ambush . When I look behind 06:16.559 --> 06:19.309 me , Varella was lying in the middle of 06:19.320 --> 06:22.809 the road , his day pack rifle and other 06:22.820 --> 06:25.829 bits of gear strewn in a yard sale 06:25.839 --> 06:29.100 around him . He lost most of his left 06:29.109 --> 06:31.369 leg from the knee down and it was lying 06:31.380 --> 06:34.130 there with his gear . Fred also 06:34.140 --> 06:36.251 peppered his eyes and he was shouting 06:36.251 --> 06:39.269 and he couldn't see . We had to drag 06:39.359 --> 06:41.581 the cover so the doc could work on it . 06:41.950 --> 06:44.172 We also had to start running as Medevac 06:44.410 --> 06:46.521 which involved us linking up with the 06:46.521 --> 06:48.466 rest of the company . I was on the 06:48.466 --> 06:50.354 radio with my company commander , 06:50.354 --> 06:52.410 coordinating all of this . When Bona 06:52.410 --> 06:54.632 fide ran over to check in the volume of 06:54.632 --> 06:56.799 incoming fire is increasing and had us 06:56.799 --> 06:58.799 pinned down . We needed to gain and 06:58.799 --> 07:01.709 maintain fire superiority . He then 07:01.720 --> 07:03.831 asked some questions about moving one 07:03.831 --> 07:06.164 of his teams . I cut him off and I said , 07:06.164 --> 07:08.549 just fight your squad . And then I got 07:08.559 --> 07:11.549 back on the radio before long , the B 07:11.619 --> 07:13.341 and his squad had laid down an 07:13.341 --> 07:15.563 effective base of fire . This took care 07:15.563 --> 07:17.563 of the threat from the far bank and 07:17.563 --> 07:19.786 cleared the way for Garella Meow . Back 07:19.786 --> 07:21.952 in late in the afternoon , we finished 07:21.952 --> 07:23.952 our patrol and we withdrew from the 07:23.952 --> 07:27.010 city . After that day , the dynamic of 07:27.019 --> 07:30.839 our platoon changed . Orders were now 07:30.850 --> 07:33.072 received with a general sense of buying 07:33.220 --> 07:36.209 emissions went smoother . The center of 07:36.220 --> 07:39.290 gravity has shifted . We've come into a 07:39.299 --> 07:42.750 lineup . What time for this change ? 07:45.019 --> 07:47.619 20 years have passed since that ambush 07:47.799 --> 07:50.799 sergeant Bonaty is now my good friend 07:50.809 --> 07:53.160 Adam . Uh he's an er nurse and 07:53.170 --> 07:55.929 firefighter in Allentown P A and when 07:55.940 --> 07:58.359 we talk about those days , it's always 07:58.369 --> 08:00.940 with a laugh as he remembers to use his 08:00.950 --> 08:03.290 words , what a hard time he gave me . 08:04.230 --> 08:06.769 Uh But when I asked him once explicitly , 08:06.779 --> 08:09.640 why all that stopped after the ambush 08:09.649 --> 08:11.920 in Beita , he seemed surprised by my 08:11.929 --> 08:13.985 question is it , it should have been 08:13.985 --> 08:17.589 obvious the ship was completely clear 08:17.600 --> 08:20.700 in his mind . You proved your trust in 08:20.709 --> 08:24.220 me . He said , you told me to fight my 08:24.230 --> 08:27.010 squad . It's hard enough to trust 08:27.019 --> 08:30.799 someone who trusts you . The best 08:30.809 --> 08:33.460 units they run on trust . 08:34.919 --> 08:36.975 I learned that if you place trust in 08:36.975 --> 08:38.975 your marines , even your hard cases 08:38.975 --> 08:41.969 might surprise you . The best units 08:42.349 --> 08:45.659 also run on love , which is what I'd 08:45.669 --> 08:48.969 like to discuss next . So all through 08:48.979 --> 08:52.200 that summer of 2004 while a rifle 08:52.270 --> 08:54.960 platoon wage counterinsurgency in IA 08:55.039 --> 08:58.469 hit and other unbarred backwaters . One 08:58.479 --> 09:00.630 thing I remember is that it never 09:00.640 --> 09:04.080 rained . Not once within our platoon , 09:04.090 --> 09:06.210 we had a betting pool 10 bucks scotch 09:06.219 --> 09:08.669 in , try your luck and pick the first 09:08.679 --> 09:11.739 day of rain . And when the dust finally 09:11.750 --> 09:14.640 turned to mud on November 8th , all 46 09:14.650 --> 09:16.929 of us were staged just outside Fallujah 09:17.299 --> 09:19.410 in the assembly area hunkered down in 09:19.410 --> 09:21.640 slit trenches , waiting for the assault 09:21.650 --> 09:24.840 to begin . I don't remember anybody 09:24.849 --> 09:28.099 collecting on the pool . All it takes 09:28.109 --> 09:30.390 is the size of someone sprinting across 09:30.400 --> 09:32.650 the wet crosswalk and I'm back in 09:32.659 --> 09:35.469 Fallujah and back to one street in 09:35.479 --> 09:39.400 particular highway . 10 veterans of 09:39.409 --> 09:41.539 the battle each have their story of 09:41.549 --> 09:43.979 crossing highway Ten's expansive four 09:44.000 --> 09:46.809 lanes covered by machine gun fire with 09:46.820 --> 09:48.969 insurgents dug into the buildings on 09:48.979 --> 09:51.539 the far side , defending this their 09:51.549 --> 09:55.010 main line of resistance . The story of 09:55.020 --> 09:57.219 gunnery sergeant , Ryan Shane , of 09:57.229 --> 09:59.659 platoon sergeant , Aral has always 09:59.669 --> 10:03.039 remained close on the second day of the 10:03.049 --> 10:05.559 battle . Dunny Shane's rifle platoon 10:05.570 --> 10:07.799 was perched on a rooftop covering 10:07.809 --> 10:09.587 another platoon that rushed the 10:09.587 --> 10:13.099 gauntlet across the highway . 10 within 10:13.109 --> 10:15.549 minutes . A slug ripped through the leg 10:15.559 --> 10:18.909 of Sergeant Lonnie Wells , the 29 year 10:18.919 --> 10:21.086 old career marine and father of four , 10:21.969 --> 10:24.719 he was stranded in the open . He lay 10:24.729 --> 10:27.690 face down , blood pooling around his 10:27.700 --> 10:31.070 waist , moving only a little without 10:31.080 --> 10:34.760 hesitation . Ryan went for long leaving 10:34.770 --> 10:36.826 his rifle behind so it wouldn't slow 10:36.826 --> 10:40.380 him down . A combat cameraman captured 10:40.390 --> 10:43.929 the scene in four photos in the 10:43.940 --> 10:47.340 first . Ryan stands in the west street . 10:47.500 --> 10:51.030 He's bent over Lonnie . This £220 10:51.039 --> 10:53.940 frame tugs the drag strap on Lonnie's 10:53.950 --> 10:57.919 body armor in the second . 10:58.109 --> 11:00.869 Another marine runs to Ryan's side 11:00.960 --> 11:04.510 trying to help clumsily . The second 11:04.520 --> 11:07.000 marine bends over Lonnie while Ryan 11:07.010 --> 11:10.450 keeps pulling the next 11:10.460 --> 11:13.929 frame is taken just as a bullet 11:13.940 --> 11:16.109 tears into Ryan's lower back , 11:16.340 --> 11:19.940 scrambling his thumb . He's on his 11:19.950 --> 11:22.909 heels falling . The other marine 11:22.919 --> 11:24.975 watches in a half sprint heading for 11:24.975 --> 11:28.719 cover . The final frame is 11:28.729 --> 11:32.150 Ryan and Lonnie both laying face down 11:32.419 --> 11:34.409 on the street in the rain 11:36.450 --> 11:39.010 Lonnie is dead and Ryan will survive . 11:42.590 --> 11:45.859 So nearly two years later , 50 us ga 50 11:45.869 --> 11:48.039 of us gathered in an auditorium much 11:48.049 --> 11:51.570 like this one in campus . Ryan 11:51.580 --> 11:53.440 Shane would be decorated for his 11:53.450 --> 11:57.250 actions since Lonnie died . Ryan's 11:57.260 --> 12:00.869 £220 had withered to 100 and 50 12:01.809 --> 12:04.031 after countless surgeries , he had been 12:04.031 --> 12:06.142 medically discharged from the court . 12:06.719 --> 12:08.941 The toll his stomach wound had taken on 12:08.941 --> 12:11.059 his body could be seen in his African 12:11.070 --> 12:14.169 frame . But it was the first separation 12:14.179 --> 12:17.010 from the core that he loved that left a 12:17.020 --> 12:19.359 deeper wound . You can see that in his 12:19.369 --> 12:23.359 eyes . I sat in my 12:23.369 --> 12:25.760 candies a few rows back . We came to 12:25.770 --> 12:27.881 attention as the action member of the 12:27.881 --> 12:30.500 citation for Ryan's bronze star , our 12:30.510 --> 12:32.719 commanding general ended on his chest 12:32.989 --> 12:36.780 and then seated the floor to Ryan . He 12:36.789 --> 12:38.789 thanked all of us for coming to the 12:38.789 --> 12:42.179 ceremony . He thanked his family for 12:42.190 --> 12:45.039 their care during his slow ongoing 12:45.049 --> 12:48.669 recovery and then his voice 12:48.719 --> 12:52.340 thickened and he held his stare upward 12:52.349 --> 12:54.571 into the glare of the auditorium lights 12:54.950 --> 12:57.140 as if speaking through a place outside 12:57.150 --> 13:01.140 of that room . I'm finding it really 13:01.150 --> 13:04.909 hard . He said to accept that my 13:04.919 --> 13:08.039 greatest achievement as a marine . This 13:08.049 --> 13:10.979 medal also comes from my greatest 13:10.989 --> 13:14.119 failure . I didn't say long about that . 13:15.679 --> 13:17.901 Angling for Ryan's shirt pocket was his 13:17.901 --> 13:20.729 bronze star pen with a small brass bead 13:21.479 --> 13:24.929 which as you know , denotes that the 13:24.940 --> 13:28.609 conquest of fear , the 13:28.619 --> 13:31.739 fear . Ryan must have felt as he ran on 13:31.750 --> 13:35.020 the highway 10 is a sensation . I am 13:35.030 --> 13:37.989 familiar with that clench of the chest , 13:38.450 --> 13:40.900 the sluggishness of the limbs , the 13:40.909 --> 13:44.020 swing of time and the premonition of a 13:44.030 --> 13:46.099 violent death that lurks behind each 13:46.109 --> 13:48.809 shut door . You must shoulder open or 13:48.820 --> 13:52.039 alley , you must sprint across . I know 13:52.049 --> 13:54.640 the way it makes my mouth dry . I know 13:54.650 --> 13:57.669 the way it can stop you . I can 13:57.679 --> 14:00.429 describe to you how fear feels 14:01.799 --> 14:05.320 but not courage . Courage is not an 14:05.330 --> 14:09.130 emotion . It's a virtue you don't 14:09.140 --> 14:12.960 feel break . And what did Ryan 14:12.969 --> 14:16.929 feel ? What force overpowered his 14:16.940 --> 14:20.190 fear as he went after Lonnie compelling 14:20.200 --> 14:22.422 him to stand against the thick snaps of 14:22.422 --> 14:24.789 machine gun fire while he drags his 14:24.799 --> 14:27.539 friend to safety until one of those 14:27.549 --> 14:30.169 snaps found his mark in his stomach . 14:32.489 --> 14:35.270 So Ronnie and Lyon , Ronnie and Lonnie 14:35.280 --> 14:39.119 both serve in Robert , a close knit 14:39.130 --> 14:42.700 group . Ryan was tough and bighearted , 14:42.809 --> 14:45.520 a great mentor to the NC Os in Bravo . 14:45.919 --> 14:48.789 The corporals and sergeants who like 14:48.799 --> 14:51.369 Lonnie were coming up to the rents . 14:52.500 --> 14:54.710 He and Lonnie had trained for the 14:54.719 --> 14:56.799 better part of the year together and 14:56.809 --> 14:59.150 endured months of a grinding 14:59.159 --> 15:01.580 counterinsurgency before the Fallujah 15:01.590 --> 15:05.510 battle . It's safe to say that Ryan saw 15:05.520 --> 15:07.900 a younger version of himself in line . 15:09.349 --> 15:12.090 Ryan is a senior enlisted marine was 15:12.099 --> 15:15.739 also a key leader in BRAVO and as 15:15.750 --> 15:18.070 such , he felt responsibility for 15:18.080 --> 15:20.510 Ronnie . You fell in love for him . 15:21.570 --> 15:25.309 That love is the opposite of fear 15:26.530 --> 15:29.340 is why Ryan ran out to save one . 15:31.820 --> 15:35.760 Your Ryan's feeling of failure reveals 15:35.770 --> 15:38.609 a painful paradox of combat . 15:39.940 --> 15:42.320 As he and Lonnie lay bleeding in the 15:42.330 --> 15:44.900 center of highway 10 , our entire 15:44.909 --> 15:47.390 battalion including our regiment and 15:47.400 --> 15:50.849 vision . Thousands of marines had phase 15:50.880 --> 15:53.099 lines . Our commanders had ordered us 15:53.109 --> 15:56.780 to reach these phase lines , points of 15:56.789 --> 15:59.250 advance deeper inside . Fallujah 15:59.520 --> 16:02.309 indicated on the maps we carried mark 16:02.320 --> 16:05.419 our mission for that day . We had to 16:05.429 --> 16:07.929 reach them or fail in that mission . 16:09.049 --> 16:10.827 From the general commanding our 16:10.827 --> 16:13.049 division to the corporal commanding the 16:13.049 --> 16:15.216 junior list and his team . The mission 16:15.216 --> 16:18.099 came first before the marines . 16:19.250 --> 16:22.320 This is the nature of war . If our 16:22.330 --> 16:24.760 lives took precedence , no hill would 16:24.770 --> 16:27.280 ever be taken . No building storm or 16:27.289 --> 16:30.289 city seas because some of us would die . 16:30.299 --> 16:33.429 Achieving the mission . The courage 16:33.440 --> 16:37.150 shown by Lonnie by Ryan by countless 16:37.159 --> 16:39.960 others is essential to that success . 16:41.380 --> 16:44.520 It is a courage bread from love for 16:44.530 --> 16:46.840 months , mentoring together , knowing 16:46.849 --> 16:49.130 each other's families suffering , 16:49.140 --> 16:52.500 shoulder to shoulder and gathering as 16:52.510 --> 16:55.219 we do today to honor the memory of 16:55.229 --> 16:58.039 marine heroes like Sergeant Walter 16:58.049 --> 17:01.789 Singleton . These bonds 17:01.799 --> 17:04.750 fully realized , inspire an incredible 17:04.760 --> 17:06.989 sacrifice in service of one another 17:08.290 --> 17:12.119 and in service of the mission there 17:12.130 --> 17:16.060 in lies . The paradox emission 17:16.069 --> 17:19.930 still comes first . The price may 17:19.939 --> 17:23.859 be a hefty one , your friends , your 17:23.869 --> 17:27.288 marines , the profession of arms may 17:27.298 --> 17:30.428 call on you to destroy what you love . 17:31.369 --> 17:33.369 This is the heartbreak that I could 17:33.369 --> 17:35.909 hear in Ryan's voice , your heart can't 17:35.918 --> 17:38.068 break if you weren't in love . 17:40.079 --> 17:42.079 A lot of people have asked me about 17:42.079 --> 17:45.599 that day . Continued Ryan , but nobody 17:45.819 --> 17:49.109 has ever asked who came to get me 17:49.829 --> 17:52.349 after I was shot . There were two of us 17:52.359 --> 17:56.199 flying out there along highway 10 and 17:56.209 --> 17:58.750 his eyes fixed to the back of the crowd 17:59.209 --> 18:01.579 on two lance corporals who would 18:01.589 --> 18:03.959 receive no recognition except for this 18:03.969 --> 18:07.380 nod from Ryan , an acknowledgment of 18:07.390 --> 18:11.180 how they felt about each other . One 18:11.189 --> 18:13.411 by one that day , we got first seats of 18:13.411 --> 18:16.000 shake Ryan's hands . Many of us went on 18:16.010 --> 18:17.788 to more deployments in Iraq and 18:17.788 --> 18:21.219 Afghanistan and valleys , hamlets and 18:21.229 --> 18:24.680 cities too countless to number . Brian 18:24.689 --> 18:27.880 Shane's words held true . Our greatest 18:27.890 --> 18:30.390 achievements are often tied to our 18:30.400 --> 18:33.849 greatest failures . It's a paradox as 18:33.859 --> 18:37.300 old as war . So 18:37.310 --> 18:40.020 remember as you return to the fleet , 18:41.000 --> 18:43.739 if you trust your marines , they won't 18:43.750 --> 18:47.020 place their trust in you . And if you 18:47.030 --> 18:49.140 love each other , you will find 18:49.150 --> 18:51.910 reservoirs of courage . Thank you , 18:59.729 --> 19:02.069 the moral , the moral and the troops 19:02.079 --> 19:04.550 and the the cohesion that a team makes 19:04.560 --> 19:06.969 that can actually overcome uh great 19:06.979 --> 19:09.146 odds , right ? And you talk about that 19:09.146 --> 19:11.201 in your first story of building that 19:11.201 --> 19:13.257 team , a team that's found by love , 19:13.257 --> 19:12.780 right ? And you express that in the 19:12.790 --> 19:15.680 second story as well . And for those of 19:15.689 --> 19:17.856 you that see the uh the pamphlets that 19:17.856 --> 19:19.911 you might have already and you maybe 19:19.911 --> 19:21.633 read the citation about Walter 19:21.633 --> 19:23.578 Singleton . He does something very 19:23.578 --> 19:25.522 similarly to get his metal alarm . 19:25.522 --> 19:27.522 Right . He runs into gunfire and he 19:27.522 --> 19:29.522 goes in there to pull out different 19:29.522 --> 19:31.689 rings . And if you , you read a little 19:31.689 --> 19:33.856 bit more , if you do a little bit more 19:33.856 --> 19:33.750 research , he's not an 03 . Right . 19:33.760 --> 19:35.816 He's , he's support personnel that's 19:35.816 --> 19:37.760 with them . Right . And so doesn't 19:37.760 --> 19:39.871 matter what your M OS background is , 19:39.871 --> 19:42.038 that is something that could be called 19:42.038 --> 19:44.260 upon you to do . And that is the nature 19:44.260 --> 19:43.743 of our profession . And I think uh 19:43.753 --> 19:46.031 certainly the the front four rows here , 19:46.031 --> 19:48.197 these sergeants that are attending ser 19:48.197 --> 19:50.364 right now , that message that you said 19:50.364 --> 19:50.182 at the very end , uh talking about the 19:50.192 --> 19:53.302 dichotomy between the mission and the 19:53.312 --> 19:55.201 Marines , right ? Mission . First 19:55.201 --> 19:57.423 marines always , right ? Something that 19:57.423 --> 19:57.223 we see in the Marine Corps , I think it , 19:57.233 --> 19:59.455 they probably do it a little bit more . 19:59.455 --> 20:01.566 I resonate with them because they had 20:01.566 --> 20:03.789 just recently gone through a decision , 20:03.789 --> 20:03.615 important case study in which they were 20:03.625 --> 20:05.736 placed in the shoes of a captain that 20:05.736 --> 20:07.625 had made very difficult decisions 20:07.625 --> 20:10.615 inside of Korea . And it was very 20:10.625 --> 20:12.792 difficult for some of them . You could 20:12.792 --> 20:14.958 see it . They were battling with the , 20:14.958 --> 20:17.181 I want to take care of my marines , but 20:17.181 --> 20:17.095 I have a mission , right ? Uh So I'd 20:17.105 --> 20:20.599 like to transition us into the , the 20:20.609 --> 20:23.479 second part of this uh this event . And 20:23.489 --> 20:25.656 really what this next part is gonna be 20:25.656 --> 20:27.878 is we're just gonna have a discussion . 20:27.878 --> 20:30.100 I will lead off a discussion and I'll , 20:30.100 --> 20:29.469 I'll kind of get the gear spinning in 20:29.479 --> 20:31.590 all of us . And then I'd like to turn 20:31.590 --> 20:33.590 it over to the audience and anybody 20:33.590 --> 20:35.812 that might have questions for Elliott . 20:35.812 --> 20:37.979 Uh Could you please chime in ? We have 20:37.979 --> 20:37.290 a microphone over there and we have a 20:37.300 --> 20:39.522 microphone over there in the aisleway . 20:39.522 --> 20:41.689 So please , if you at any point have a 20:41.689 --> 20:43.911 question that comes to your mind , just 20:43.911 --> 20:42.989 make your way over which one of those 20:43.000 --> 20:45.222 microphones . Uh And when we transition 20:45.222 --> 20:47.389 after the second question that I asked 20:47.389 --> 20:49.270 them , uh we will build as many 20:49.280 --> 20:51.391 questions as we can in the time frame 20:51.391 --> 20:54.319 that we have . Uh So the other caveat 20:54.329 --> 20:56.551 I'll give to this is that the questions 20:56.551 --> 20:58.551 I'm gonna ask just to lead off this 20:58.551 --> 21:00.440 discussion , they're gonna have a 21:00.440 --> 21:02.607 little bit of context surrounding them 21:02.607 --> 21:02.290 so that whether you're familiar with 21:02.300 --> 21:04.133 Elliott's writing or his work or 21:04.133 --> 21:06.356 anything like that , you should be able 21:06.356 --> 21:05.780 to participate and understand what 21:05.790 --> 21:07.957 we're talking about in this discussion 21:07.957 --> 21:10.290 regardless . Uh So I'll start out , sir . 21:10.290 --> 21:12.290 And basically , I'll , I'll give an 21:12.290 --> 21:14.401 anecdote from my own life about how I 21:14.401 --> 21:16.623 basically came to be introduced to some 21:16.623 --> 21:18.790 of your work , right ? Uh So in 2016 , 21:18.790 --> 21:20.957 I was a sergeant and I was on duty and 21:20.957 --> 21:23.068 my officer of the day sitting next to 21:23.068 --> 21:25.012 me was reading a book called Ghost 21:25.012 --> 21:27.234 Fleet and some of you might be familiar 21:27.234 --> 21:26.810 with Ghost Fleet . Uh It's on the comos 21:26.819 --> 21:28.819 reading list . And so we started to 21:28.819 --> 21:31.041 talk about this book , Ghost Fleet . He 21:31.041 --> 21:33.319 highly recommended it to me . And so I , 21:33.319 --> 21:32.699 I quickly went on how to purchase it . 21:32.709 --> 21:34.876 Uh The , the next day after I got to , 21:34.876 --> 21:37.042 and I ended up reading the whole thing 21:37.042 --> 21:36.930 in like the first week I just finished 21:36.939 --> 21:40.339 this book . And about a week after that , 21:40.349 --> 21:42.516 I was in my design executive officer's 21:42.516 --> 21:44.571 office and I was fixing her computer 21:44.571 --> 21:46.460 and I saw the same book basically 21:46.460 --> 21:48.627 sitting on her desk . And so I engaged 21:48.627 --> 21:48.500 in a conversation about it and asked 21:48.510 --> 21:50.677 her how she liked it and whatnot . And 21:50.677 --> 21:53.030 she quickly told me that the commanding 21:53.040 --> 21:55.151 general of the first Marine Logistics 21:55.151 --> 21:57.262 Group had basically tasked every unit 21:57.262 --> 21:59.151 subordinate to him to stand up in 21:59.151 --> 22:01.373 officers book club and to start to read 22:01.373 --> 22:03.540 this book basically . And I bring that 22:03.540 --> 22:05.651 up because what was interesting to me 22:05.651 --> 22:07.540 is that this is a book about it's 22:07.540 --> 22:09.596 fiction . It's a book about a future 22:09.596 --> 22:11.762 military operation 10 to 1520 years in 22:11.762 --> 22:13.929 the future , basically where China and 22:13.929 --> 22:16.040 Russia team up to preemptively strike 22:16.040 --> 22:18.318 against America . And it's all fiction , 22:18.318 --> 22:20.262 right ? And so what was , what was 22:20.262 --> 22:21.984 interesting to me is that that 22:21.984 --> 22:21.670 immediately made its way to the commons 22:21.819 --> 22:24.400 reading list as well . Uh And so with 22:24.410 --> 22:26.739 that , sir , you were already uh after 22:26.750 --> 22:28.972 your career in the Marine Corps and you 22:28.972 --> 22:31.139 started to write , you published a lot 22:31.139 --> 22:33.194 of books before you ever got to 2034 22:33.194 --> 22:35.306 which is a book that we're gonna kind 22:35.306 --> 22:37.528 of discuss and , uh , that I introduced 22:37.528 --> 22:39.583 some of you all to in the audience . 22:39.583 --> 22:39.310 That was one of your later books , 22:39.319 --> 22:41.375 right ? And you've recently released 22:41.375 --> 22:43.375 2054 which actually just released a 22:43.375 --> 22:45.541 couple of months ago . And now you and 22:45.541 --> 22:47.763 Admiral , uh SCS are now writing 2084 . 22:47.763 --> 22:49.986 Is that correct ? Yeah , that's right . 22:49.986 --> 22:49.650 So that's gonna be the third book in 22:49.660 --> 22:51.660 this series , right ? These are all 22:51.660 --> 22:53.716 books about the future , right ? The 22:53.716 --> 22:55.938 years , the years are the time stamps . 22:56.020 --> 22:58.187 You're already an established writer . 22:58.187 --> 23:00.869 So what was it about this subgenre of 23:00.880 --> 23:03.699 fiction , uh this future cobas military 23:03.709 --> 23:05.820 fiction that was so intriguing to you 23:05.820 --> 23:07.987 that you were in essence uh willing to 23:07.987 --> 23:10.209 kind of state your degree on it because 23:10.209 --> 23:12.376 you're , you're devoting time effort , 23:12.376 --> 23:14.487 energy , uh period your life to write 23:14.487 --> 23:14.430 these books . So , what was so 23:14.439 --> 23:16.383 interesting about this subgenre of 23:16.383 --> 23:18.550 future based military fiction that was 23:18.550 --> 23:20.661 so intriguing to you to get into it . 23:20.661 --> 23:22.828 And then secondly , uh what was , what 23:22.828 --> 23:24.772 is it that you think that military 23:24.772 --> 23:24.750 practitioners such as these in this 23:24.760 --> 23:27.180 room uh are able to get out of reading 23:27.189 --> 23:30.930 this kind of fiction genre ? Sure . Um 23:32.040 --> 23:34.040 I , you know , in my remarks , as I 23:34.040 --> 23:36.262 alluded to , I , you know , I forced my 23:36.262 --> 23:38.373 entire first platoon to read Starship 23:38.373 --> 23:38.030 troopers and they still tease me about 23:38.040 --> 23:39.929 it . Um , so I think it is , I've 23:39.929 --> 23:42.819 always felt that it's important , um , 23:42.890 --> 23:45.619 as a war fighter to , uh , you know , 23:45.630 --> 23:47.741 you gotta work out and say physically 23:47.741 --> 23:49.963 fit , but you have to stay , you know , 23:49.963 --> 23:52.130 mentally acute . Um And my time in the 23:52.130 --> 23:54.500 Marine Corps was , you know , was spent 23:54.510 --> 23:56.895 thinking a lot about my adversaries , 23:56.905 --> 23:59.016 you know , who are these people going 23:59.016 --> 24:00.961 up against , you know , who are we 24:00.961 --> 24:02.572 fighting against in Iraq and 24:02.572 --> 24:04.738 Afghanistan ? And in the early days of 24:04.738 --> 24:03.785 those wars , that was actually a big 24:03.795 --> 24:05.906 question . We know that people didn't 24:05.906 --> 24:07.962 understand the difference between Al 24:07.962 --> 24:10.128 Qaeda and Iraq and the Mahdi army that 24:10.128 --> 24:12.462 Al Sadr had . So nobody understood this . 24:12.462 --> 24:14.573 We were playing catch up . So I think 24:14.573 --> 24:17.564 as a marine , it's unc on us to spend a 24:17.574 --> 24:19.675 good chunk of our time trying to 24:21.160 --> 24:23.890 understand the mindset of our aar , we 24:23.900 --> 24:26.011 need to agree with them . You need to 24:26.011 --> 24:28.178 understand where they're coming from . 24:28.178 --> 24:27.140 You're gonna be , you'll be much more 24:27.150 --> 24:29.317 effective at your job if you do . So , 24:29.317 --> 24:31.428 I had always had that inclination and 24:31.428 --> 24:33.539 then , you know , transitioned out to 24:33.539 --> 24:35.761 become a writer , which by definition , 24:35.761 --> 24:35.020 when you're writing fiction , you're 24:35.030 --> 24:37.141 writing books where you are trying to 24:37.141 --> 24:39.252 inhabit the minds of other people and 24:39.252 --> 24:41.474 understand these made up people . Um So 24:41.474 --> 24:43.530 that came very naturally to me . And 24:43.530 --> 24:45.989 then the way 2034 came about is Arius 24:46.000 --> 24:49.010 and I um actually knew each other in a 24:49.020 --> 24:51.630 separate context . Um We both graduated 24:51.640 --> 24:54.040 from the same uh school and he wanted 24:54.050 --> 24:56.328 to be the dean of that school since we , 24:56.328 --> 24:58.383 how I got to know him . And , and by 24:58.383 --> 24:58.219 coincidence , we had a shared book 24:58.229 --> 25:00.396 editor . And so our shared book editor 25:00.396 --> 25:02.340 is actually the one who said , hey 25:02.340 --> 25:01.930 Elliott , I work with his author . He's 25:01.939 --> 25:04.050 this Admiral guy who you've heard . I 25:04.050 --> 25:06.272 like , oh yeah , we're friends . And uh 25:06.272 --> 25:08.495 he said , well , he's like , idea is to 25:08.495 --> 25:08.209 try to write a book that imagines what 25:08.219 --> 25:10.386 it would look like if the US and China 25:10.386 --> 25:13.540 went to war in the year 2034 . Um and , 25:13.550 --> 25:15.883 you know , he hasn't written novels and , 25:15.883 --> 25:17.994 you know , you guys could pair up and 25:17.994 --> 25:20.217 do a good job . And so that sort of led 25:20.217 --> 25:22.328 us down this pathway of imagining out 25:22.328 --> 25:24.328 this trilogy of books where 2034 is 25:24.328 --> 25:26.383 about war with China . 2054 is about 25:26.383 --> 25:28.550 domestic conflict in the US . And it's 25:28.550 --> 25:30.717 about a I and the last will be about a 25:30.717 --> 25:32.828 war that deals with the environment . 25:32.828 --> 25:35.530 So , um but the spirit behind all of 25:35.540 --> 25:39.099 these books is to imagine these events . 25:39.319 --> 25:41.430 So hopefully we can take the types of 25:41.430 --> 25:44.130 actions as a nation so they never occur . 25:44.260 --> 25:46.800 Um or if they do occur so that we are , 25:46.810 --> 25:48.959 you know , that we are prepared . Um 25:49.449 --> 25:51.616 And it's , you know , and this is also 25:51.616 --> 25:53.838 my experience as a marine , like I went 25:53.838 --> 25:56.150 through four hour was in a firefight . 25:56.260 --> 25:58.540 I had , went through years of training . 25:58.660 --> 26:00.993 Uh , I , I was telling you getting like , 26:00.993 --> 26:03.104 or , you know , O CS is just down the 26:03.104 --> 26:05.327 road . I've got a lot of very traumatic 26:05.327 --> 26:07.549 memories there . Uh , so , you know , I 26:07.549 --> 26:07.489 spend a lot of time and I can tell you 26:07.530 --> 26:09.752 the first fire , I was nothing like any 26:09.752 --> 26:11.752 of the train . You know , it wasn't 26:11.752 --> 26:13.919 like fire team rushes . I'm not , it's 26:13.919 --> 26:16.252 not what it was like , it was different . 26:16.252 --> 26:18.530 But because I've done all the training , 26:18.530 --> 26:20.419 I was , you know , I was flexible 26:20.419 --> 26:20.339 enough in the environment . The marines 26:20.349 --> 26:22.405 I worked with , we were all flexible 26:22.405 --> 26:24.405 enough to immediately adapt . And I 26:24.405 --> 26:26.127 think if you're intellectually 26:26.127 --> 26:25.819 stimulating yourself and you're 26:25.829 --> 26:27.385 thinking about these issues 26:27.385 --> 26:29.440 continuously and you're reading your 26:29.440 --> 26:31.551 class books , you're reading novels , 26:31.551 --> 26:33.662 whatever you come up against , you're 26:33.662 --> 26:35.829 gonna have a context to , to deal with 26:35.829 --> 26:38.051 the actual problem . And I think that's 26:38.051 --> 26:37.579 why it's really important to , to read 26:37.589 --> 26:39.367 widely . Yeah . And I , I would 26:39.367 --> 26:41.478 certainly agree . I , I've definitely 26:41.478 --> 26:43.609 advocated for uh people to read works 26:43.619 --> 26:45.563 of fiction , especially around the 26:45.563 --> 26:47.675 military context because sometimes we 26:47.675 --> 26:47.660 get wrapped up in history and that is 26:47.670 --> 26:49.892 great . And there's a lot of lessons to 26:49.892 --> 26:51.948 learn because we can see people have 26:51.948 --> 26:51.800 actually lived through these 26:51.810 --> 26:53.921 experiences , we can pinpoint , hey , 26:53.921 --> 26:56.088 this is the decisions they made , this 26:56.088 --> 26:58.143 is what led them through . Uh But in 26:58.143 --> 27:00.310 the , it , it does spark imagination , 27:00.310 --> 27:02.421 right ? And this subgenre of military 27:02.421 --> 27:02.209 fiction kind of future focus is it , 27:02.219 --> 27:04.330 it's really nothing new , right ? And 27:04.330 --> 27:06.330 for some of the audience , audience 27:06.330 --> 27:08.386 members , you might be familiar with 27:08.386 --> 27:07.949 Tom Clancy and some of Tom Clancy's 27:07.959 --> 27:10.181 original works . Right . We have , uh , 27:10.181 --> 27:12.292 I think it's Red Storm rising in , in 27:12.292 --> 27:14.459 the mid 19 eighties where Tom Clancy's 27:14.459 --> 27:16.515 kind of flushing out what does a war 27:16.515 --> 27:18.681 look like between the Soviet Union and 27:18.681 --> 27:20.626 the UCR and America at that time ? 27:20.626 --> 27:22.737 Really , right before the collapse of 27:22.737 --> 27:24.959 the Soviet Union and same kind of thing 27:24.959 --> 27:28.010 with G Suite , you know , uh 2034 2454 27:28.020 --> 27:29.853 like you said , is more about uh 27:29.853 --> 27:32.076 tensions within the United States , but 27:32.076 --> 27:34.242 still , there's , uh there's something 27:34.242 --> 27:36.353 to extract from that as well . Um And 27:36.353 --> 27:38.131 with regards to that , you said 27:38.131 --> 27:40.298 imagination , right ? Uh You said that 27:40.298 --> 27:42.409 a couple of times in there and that's 27:42.409 --> 27:44.409 really the , the big picture that I 27:44.409 --> 27:46.409 gave you was and this , this really 27:46.409 --> 27:48.464 applies to PM E specifically , but I 27:48.464 --> 27:50.298 think it more broadly applies to 27:50.298 --> 27:52.409 leadership in a military organization 27:52.409 --> 27:54.742 regardless , right ? If you're a leader , 27:54.742 --> 27:54.699 uh your job to in , in essence is to 27:54.709 --> 27:56.820 spark imaginative , creative thinking 27:56.820 --> 27:58.987 within your marines of people that you 27:58.987 --> 28:01.153 read , uh because ultimately , that is 28:01.153 --> 28:03.265 what we need moving forward , right ? 28:03.265 --> 28:05.796 Um And so with regards to that , uh a 28:05.806 --> 28:07.750 lot of people in this room will be 28:07.750 --> 28:09.750 familiar with , uh something called 28:09.750 --> 28:11.639 maneuver warfare theory , right ? 28:11.639 --> 28:13.584 Maneuver warfare theory is the war 28:13.584 --> 28:15.806 fighting philosophy of the Marine Corps 28:15.806 --> 28:18.028 and it has been since the 19 eighties , 28:18.028 --> 28:20.416 right ? 1989 FMFM One is released in 28:20.426 --> 28:22.645 1996 . It's revised to become M CD P 28:22.656 --> 28:24.735 one . And in that General Gray , the 28:24.745 --> 28:26.856 29th comrade of the Marine Corps . Uh 28:26.856 --> 28:29.023 He states that medieval warfare theory 28:29.023 --> 28:31.189 will be the war fighting philosophy of 28:31.189 --> 28:33.412 the Marine Corps , right ? And medieval 28:33.412 --> 28:35.467 warfare is really just this umbrella 28:35.467 --> 28:37.467 term . And under medieval warfare , 28:37.467 --> 28:39.578 there is a lot of different tenants , 28:39.578 --> 28:39.062 right ? And these tenants kind of feed 28:39.072 --> 28:40.961 in and they make up what medieval 28:40.961 --> 28:43.072 warfare is . Uh I want to pick on one 28:43.072 --> 28:45.405 of those tenants for this next question . 28:45.405 --> 28:47.516 Uh And that is the tenant of surfaces 28:47.516 --> 28:49.461 and gaps . And you can think about 28:49.461 --> 28:51.683 surfaces and gaps like uh strong points 28:51.683 --> 28:54.016 and weak points or armor , in the armor , 28:54.016 --> 28:55.961 um centers of gravity and critical 28:55.961 --> 28:58.072 vulnerabilities , right ? Uh And this 28:58.072 --> 29:00.239 can be physical things , it can be how 29:00.239 --> 29:02.405 you position your troops and where you 29:02.405 --> 29:04.572 have the the faults in your lines , it 29:04.572 --> 29:06.794 can be spatial temporal , it can be all 29:06.794 --> 29:08.961 kinds of different things , right ? Um 29:08.961 --> 29:11.016 But in writing a book like 2034 2054 29:11.016 --> 29:13.183 2084 you're , you're looking at things 29:13.183 --> 29:15.350 that either are in existence right now 29:15.350 --> 29:17.516 or maybe like technologies that are in 29:17.516 --> 29:19.461 their infancy right now and you're 29:19.461 --> 29:19.310 extrapolating out into the future . 29:19.319 --> 29:21.486 What could this possibly look like and 29:21.486 --> 29:23.708 how could this fundamentally change how 29:23.708 --> 29:25.819 we are going to interact with warfare 29:25.819 --> 29:27.930 with geopolitics , things like that . 29:27.930 --> 29:30.152 Um , in the Marine Corps specifically , 29:30.152 --> 29:32.430 we like to look at war from two lenses . 29:32.430 --> 29:34.597 Really ? Right . We have the nature of 29:34.597 --> 29:34.094 war and that is gonna be everything 29:34.104 --> 29:36.326 that is ever present in warfare all the 29:36.326 --> 29:38.548 way back through your time . It doesn't 29:38.548 --> 29:38.094 matter if you're marching with 29:38.104 --> 29:40.271 Alexander the Great or if you're going 29:40.271 --> 29:42.271 into the Helm , Helmand province of 29:42.271 --> 29:44.215 Afghanistan , the nature of war is 29:44.215 --> 29:46.215 friction , fluidity , uncertainty , 29:46.215 --> 29:48.326 complexity , the human , uh the human 29:48.326 --> 29:50.548 element , the human dimension , right ? 29:50.548 --> 29:50.074 Those things are a constant throughout 29:50.084 --> 29:53.140 time . Everybody faces them . The 29:53.150 --> 29:55.206 character of war . The other ones in 29:55.206 --> 29:57.150 which we look at uh warfare in the 29:57.150 --> 29:59.094 Marine Corps is everything that is 29:59.094 --> 30:01.420 constantly changing , right ? Is the 30:01.430 --> 30:03.689 technology . It's the weapon marine and 30:03.699 --> 30:05.660 it's how these tactics and , and 30:05.670 --> 30:07.614 equipment , how they fundamentally 30:07.614 --> 30:09.948 change the way that we will fight a war , 30:09.948 --> 30:13.719 right ? You look at an example um of 30:13.729 --> 30:16.109 countries that have not been 30:16.119 --> 30:18.560 imaginative and that haven't identified 30:18.569 --> 30:20.920 these changes happening and they suffer 30:20.930 --> 30:22.986 greatly , right ? Uh You can look at 30:22.986 --> 30:24.874 China in the 18 hundreds , a land 30:24.874 --> 30:26.597 empire that wasn't imagined of 30:26.597 --> 30:28.708 imaginative enough to think about why 30:28.708 --> 30:30.874 they might need a robust navy and they 30:30.874 --> 30:32.930 suffer greatly for that . Probably a 30:32.930 --> 30:32.760 more pro example that that might 30:32.770 --> 30:34.937 resonate with more people . Post World 30:34.937 --> 30:37.159 war one , pre world War Two were in the 30:37.159 --> 30:39.381 19 thirties and we can see the writings 30:39.381 --> 30:41.603 on the wall that , uh , that Germany is 30:41.603 --> 30:43.548 gonna be coming back and they're , 30:43.548 --> 30:45.603 they're gonna be a real threat and , 30:45.603 --> 30:45.079 and countries like France that share a 30:45.089 --> 30:47.189 border with Germany , they can truly 30:47.199 --> 30:49.366 see this , right ? So what does France 30:49.366 --> 30:51.421 do they build the Maginot line ? The 30:51.421 --> 30:53.588 Magi Line is the most intricate , uh , 30:53.588 --> 30:55.810 trench and bunker system ever comprised 30:55.810 --> 30:57.699 by men ? And what does that get ? 30:57.699 --> 30:59.755 France ? It gets some six weeks when 30:59.755 --> 31:01.699 Germany invades because France was 31:01.699 --> 31:03.699 preparing for the first world War , 31:03.699 --> 31:05.755 that trench warfare , right ? Static 31:05.755 --> 31:07.755 warfare kind of thing . Germany had 31:07.755 --> 31:07.670 adapted , they had instituted this 31:07.680 --> 31:09.736 thing called woods creed , right ? A 31:09.736 --> 31:11.791 different way of fighting . They had 31:11.791 --> 31:14.013 bypassed all of that . So really , when 31:14.013 --> 31:16.236 you're trying to imagine this new world 31:16.236 --> 31:18.458 and you're writing about this , what is 31:18.458 --> 31:18.449 it that maybe you've learned about in 31:18.459 --> 31:20.515 this process that has really come to 31:20.515 --> 31:22.737 your mind and you look at it and you're 31:22.737 --> 31:24.903 like , hey , that's , that's a surface 31:24.903 --> 31:24.000 or a gap , right ? That's something 31:24.010 --> 31:26.010 that's fundamentally possibly gonna 31:26.010 --> 31:28.232 change how warfare or geopolitics plays 31:28.232 --> 31:30.232 out in the future . And as military 31:30.232 --> 31:32.566 practitioners , people invested in this , 31:32.566 --> 31:34.677 you should probably pay due attention 31:34.677 --> 31:36.899 and you , you , you neglect to do so at 31:36.899 --> 31:39.689 your own peril . I think , you know , 31:40.380 --> 31:42.436 for those of you who are going out , 31:42.436 --> 31:44.739 you know , to back to the fleet as NCO 31:44.750 --> 31:46.694 si think one of the things that is 31:46.694 --> 31:49.599 important is to understand too like the 31:49.969 --> 31:52.080 and to be able to explain them as the 31:52.080 --> 31:54.302 context in which they're serving , what 31:54.302 --> 31:54.099 they're being asked to do . And I think 31:54.109 --> 31:56.165 there's something really important , 31:56.165 --> 31:58.331 profound that's going on in the record 31:58.331 --> 31:57.959 right now , when I watch it from 31:57.969 --> 32:01.199 outside , which is , uh you know , the 32:01.209 --> 32:03.349 Marine Corps is being called upon to 32:03.359 --> 32:05.415 really , you know , we all know that 32:05.415 --> 32:07.637 saying , you know , the Marines are the 32:07.637 --> 32:07.260 most ready when the nation is released , 32:07.880 --> 32:10.640 we are being called right now to be 32:10.650 --> 32:12.930 ready in certain areas where it's very 32:12.939 --> 32:14.995 clear that the nation is the least . 32:14.995 --> 32:17.106 And what I mean by that is the Marine 32:17.106 --> 32:19.272 Corps is being asked to innovate right 32:19.272 --> 32:21.383 now at a pace that the other services 32:21.383 --> 32:23.439 are not quite innovating and to take 32:23.439 --> 32:25.717 some risks to take institutional risks , 32:25.717 --> 32:27.939 um , uh , with , um , things like force 32:27.939 --> 32:30.755 design 2030 all the changes that I'm 32:30.765 --> 32:32.987 sure you all are seeing in your units , 32:32.987 --> 32:34.987 you know , the Marine Corps . And I 32:34.987 --> 32:37.209 mean , I haven't been up that one in 10 32:37.209 --> 32:39.376 years or so , but like , it's a vastly 32:39.376 --> 32:39.074 different organization than it was when 32:39.084 --> 32:42.125 I was in . Um , and you're living that , 32:42.175 --> 32:46.040 you know , and , um , and so when we 32:46.050 --> 32:48.272 talk about reading and our intellectual 32:48.272 --> 32:50.494 development and you mentioned , uh , Al 32:50.494 --> 32:52.494 Rey in the 19 eighties and maneuver 32:52.494 --> 32:54.729 warfare , um , so we all know that 32:54.739 --> 32:56.795 doctrinal Tennant , you know , the , 32:56.795 --> 32:59.017 the Holy grail of the Marine Corps is M 32:59.017 --> 33:01.050 CD P one war fight , right ? Does 33:01.060 --> 33:03.319 anybody know why ? It's warfighting ? 33:03.329 --> 33:04.140 All one word 33:07.239 --> 33:09.640 MC . It's not M CD P . One . War space 33:09.650 --> 33:11.706 fighting . It's M CD P one , all one 33:11.709 --> 33:14.560 word war fighter . Yes . 33:16.109 --> 33:19.930 No , it's a nod to the Germans . So if 33:19.939 --> 33:21.828 you actually look at the ideas of 33:21.828 --> 33:24.449 maneuver warfare mission , tactics , um , 33:24.459 --> 33:28.430 commanders in 10 , that was a style of 33:28.439 --> 33:31.209 warfare that the Germans pioneered . 33:31.219 --> 33:33.599 Really after the first world war that 33:33.609 --> 33:35.665 led to the bliss fried in the second 33:35.665 --> 33:37.442 World War . The Maginot Line is 33:37.442 --> 33:39.665 actually in , it was an innovation that 33:39.665 --> 33:41.665 came uh during the storm during the 33:41.670 --> 33:43.837 storm troop raids that the Germans did 33:43.837 --> 33:46.003 at the beer end of the first World War 33:46.003 --> 33:48.170 where they figured out if we had these 33:48.170 --> 33:50.170 heavily armed stormtrooper units so 33:50.170 --> 33:52.337 heavily armed and armored , they could 33:52.337 --> 33:54.281 puncture the trenches of the first 33:54.281 --> 33:56.226 World War , create a gap and flood 33:56.229 --> 33:58.285 troops in through the gap . And they 33:58.285 --> 34:00.451 did that in 1918 when the Marines were 34:00.451 --> 34:02.618 fighting the spring offensive in Bella 34:02.618 --> 34:04.673 Wood , they were up against Jordan's 34:04.673 --> 34:06.562 German storm troopers . They were 34:06.562 --> 34:06.410 trying to hold back these attacks . The 34:06.420 --> 34:09.489 problems the Germans had in 1918 was 34:09.499 --> 34:11.698 they would launch these suicidal 34:11.708 --> 34:13.878 attacks and grenades , bomb people and 34:13.888 --> 34:15.999 they make the puncture . And then all 34:15.999 --> 34:18.110 these other Germans had to go through 34:18.110 --> 34:20.277 the gap , but they couldn't really get 34:20.277 --> 34:20.089 anywhere . They were all foot mogul , 34:20.099 --> 34:22.099 you know , ok , we're gonna march 4 34:22.099 --> 34:24.210 miles and then we're all smoked and , 34:24.210 --> 34:26.321 you know , we don't need food and the 34:26.321 --> 34:28.432 war is over . So that idea started in 34:28.432 --> 34:30.655 19 in the first World War by the second 34:30.655 --> 34:32.821 World War . What do you have ? You can 34:32.821 --> 34:34.932 create the gap and now you got tank , 34:34.932 --> 34:37.099 you punch the gap and you rush these , 34:37.099 --> 34:39.266 they would rush these panzer divisions 34:39.266 --> 34:38.500 through the gap . But the problem that 34:38.510 --> 34:40.843 you would have is you can't , it's very , 34:40.843 --> 34:42.954 very tough to communicate back then . 34:42.954 --> 34:45.232 You know , you go with 30 miles inland , 34:45.232 --> 34:45.060 you don't have a radio . So you needed 34:45.070 --> 34:47.292 commanders who could use the initiative 34:47.292 --> 34:49.348 commanders in 10 mission tactics . A 34:49.348 --> 34:51.659 lot of pushing responsibility down to 34:51.669 --> 34:54.399 subordinate units . And so I only bring 34:54.439 --> 34:56.661 this up because it's sort of , it's a , 34:56.661 --> 34:59.280 it's actually important to understand 34:59.449 --> 35:02.080 where , what we're doing fits into a 35:02.090 --> 35:04.479 larger intellectual framework . For 35:04.489 --> 35:06.545 instance , if you look at the Second 35:06.545 --> 35:08.656 World War , the Soviets , the Soviets 35:08.656 --> 35:10.600 are not about that framework . The 35:10.600 --> 35:12.933 Soviets have and they still have a very , 35:12.933 --> 35:14.711 very top down philosophy of war 35:14.711 --> 35:16.656 fighting in the second World War . 35:16.656 --> 35:18.878 There were two variants of the original 35:18.878 --> 35:20.822 Soviet tanks . There was a command 35:20.822 --> 35:22.822 variant that had a radio that could 35:22.822 --> 35:25.045 receive and transmit the other variants 35:25.045 --> 35:25.020 literally had a radio that only 35:25.030 --> 35:27.330 received . So , you know , they , they 35:27.340 --> 35:29.284 didn't want to hear what the lower 35:29.284 --> 35:31.451 tanker got and , and they suffered for 35:31.451 --> 35:33.507 it greatly . So , you know , if they 35:33.507 --> 35:33.350 got out of L A , like that's like all 35:33.360 --> 35:36.209 ancient history , it's not look at what 35:36.219 --> 35:38.330 just happened in Ukraine and I worked 35:38.330 --> 35:40.275 as a journalist and , you know , I 35:40.275 --> 35:40.149 spent quite a bit of time in Ukraine 35:40.159 --> 35:42.381 since , if you look at what happened to 35:42.381 --> 35:44.492 the Russian army in the early days of 35:44.492 --> 35:44.439 that war , it was the same thing . It 35:44.449 --> 35:46.560 was that top down approach . It's why 35:46.560 --> 35:48.449 you had more Russian colonels and 35:48.449 --> 35:50.505 generals killed in this war than any 35:50.505 --> 35:52.393 other wars because they had to go 35:52.393 --> 35:52.100 forward to the line and nobody's 35:52.110 --> 35:54.221 allowed to make a decision except for 35:54.221 --> 35:56.332 the colonel or the general . So these 35:56.332 --> 35:58.443 guys are all the way forward to , you 35:58.443 --> 35:57.840 know , move units around . It's a 35:57.850 --> 36:00.072 direct , that is a direct reflection of 36:00.072 --> 36:02.239 their war fighting philosophy . Like , 36:02.239 --> 36:04.350 you know , that would never happen as 36:04.350 --> 36:06.461 marines because NC Os and Staff NTA S 36:06.461 --> 36:08.628 would just be making the decisions and 36:08.628 --> 36:10.794 they'd be making the decisions because 36:10.794 --> 36:10.370 they understand commander's intent , 36:10.379 --> 36:12.601 they understand mission tactics where , 36:12.601 --> 36:14.601 you know , you know , you guys know 36:14.601 --> 36:16.823 mission statement , right ? It's always 36:16.823 --> 36:19.046 the same way first squad will attack to 36:19.046 --> 36:20.990 destroy . In order to , that's the 36:20.990 --> 36:23.101 another statement that in order to is 36:23.101 --> 36:25.323 your missing statement that in order to 36:25.323 --> 36:27.546 statement in the bier order , it goes , 36:27.546 --> 36:29.712 you can trace that all the way back to 36:29.712 --> 36:31.823 the trenches of the western truck and 36:31.823 --> 36:33.935 you guys are gonna have to figure out 36:33.935 --> 36:36.268 how to project that all the way forward . 36:36.268 --> 36:38.379 So the reason war fighting is all one 36:38.379 --> 36:40.870 word , it's because when you know , not 36:40.879 --> 36:43.046 any of the ideologies like the Germans 36:43.046 --> 36:45.157 were pretty good fighters . Uh , they 36:45.157 --> 36:47.268 did a good job of fighting . So a lot 36:47.268 --> 36:49.490 of those ideas we took and we basically 36:49.490 --> 36:49.290 appropriated them as marines and they 36:49.300 --> 36:51.399 become fundamental to us . But , you 36:51.409 --> 36:54.669 know , you guys are at the intersection 36:55.439 --> 36:58.469 of , you know , higher level decision 36:58.479 --> 37:00.479 makers and then , you know , making 37:00.479 --> 37:02.312 sure the young ones are gonna be 37:02.312 --> 37:04.646 motivated to do what they gotta do , uh , 37:04.646 --> 37:06.701 you know , particularly , you know , 37:06.701 --> 37:08.868 when , you know , when it , you know , 37:08.868 --> 37:11.090 when it comes down to , uh to , to , to 37:11.090 --> 37:12.979 actual combat . Um And so I think 37:12.979 --> 37:14.646 that's why it's , it's , it's 37:14.646 --> 37:16.646 critically important to have a mind 37:16.646 --> 37:18.868 that is , that is studying these things 37:18.868 --> 37:20.979 and understands these things and then 37:20.979 --> 37:22.868 can understand when the situation 37:22.868 --> 37:25.090 changes , how to adapt . Um And , and , 37:25.090 --> 37:27.201 and we're , I think in a moment right 37:27.201 --> 37:31.024 now of rapid adaption , uh rapid change 37:31.034 --> 37:33.435 in how the US military is set up . I'm 37:33.445 --> 37:35.723 happy to talk about that too and we're , 37:35.723 --> 37:37.834 we're obviously seeing a lot of these 37:37.834 --> 37:40.056 things taking place , live time . We're 37:40.056 --> 37:39.854 just experimenting to see how they're 37:39.864 --> 37:42.031 gonna flush out things like artificial 37:42.031 --> 37:44.197 intelligence four years ago , if , for 37:44.197 --> 37:46.308 having this discussion probably won't 37:46.308 --> 37:45.610 even come up . Right . But now it's , 37:45.620 --> 37:47.731 it's a very real thing . We're trying 37:47.731 --> 37:49.898 to figure that out . Uh at this time , 37:49.898 --> 37:49.590 if there's anybody in the audience that 37:49.600 --> 37:51.767 would like to ask a question , I'd ask 37:51.767 --> 37:53.933 you to make your way down to the uh to 37:53.933 --> 37:55.933 the microphones . Uh and , and feel 37:55.933 --> 37:57.822 free to ask a question that's not 37:57.822 --> 37:59.878 necessarily probably a , a realistic 37:59.878 --> 38:01.933 vision of victory , but is less than 38:01.933 --> 38:03.989 that , something that can be sold to 38:03.989 --> 38:05.933 many of the Ukrainian people . And 38:05.933 --> 38:08.100 you're seeing the same thing in Israel 38:08.100 --> 38:07.580 right now too . What's the definition 38:07.590 --> 38:09.590 of victory , the destruction of all 38:09.590 --> 38:11.590 Hamas ? And is that victory ? And I 38:11.590 --> 38:13.812 think in our own , my own experience in 38:13.812 --> 38:15.979 Iraq and Afghanistan , what , what was 38:15.979 --> 38:17.923 victory ? And it was never clearly 38:17.923 --> 38:17.899 articulated . So if , if at the 38:17.909 --> 38:20.300 political level , there is no clear 38:20.310 --> 38:22.629 vision of what victory is going to be . 38:22.639 --> 38:24.695 It makes it very , very difficult to 38:24.695 --> 38:26.939 enact that vision . And I think when we 38:26.949 --> 38:30.479 talk about um , that the role of 38:30.489 --> 38:33.399 imagination and how key it is , 38:34.060 --> 38:36.600 it's the , the ability of a nation to 38:36.610 --> 38:38.800 see what's going on and to see how the 38:38.810 --> 38:40.866 world is moving and then to have the 38:40.866 --> 38:43.199 national will to shift accordingly . So 38:43.209 --> 38:45.153 again , I'm just gonna use another 38:45.153 --> 38:47.209 Ukraine example and the Marine Corps 38:47.209 --> 38:49.209 we're sitting here , you know , the 38:49.209 --> 38:48.840 Marine Corps has in recent years really 38:48.850 --> 38:52.120 debated FD 2030 . It's divesting itself 38:52.129 --> 38:55.389 from many long term platforms , from 38:55.399 --> 38:57.439 armor to artillery to , you know , 38:57.449 --> 38:59.505 dagger to my own heart , snipers . I 38:59.505 --> 39:03.199 mean , but it's doing that in service 39:03.209 --> 39:05.376 of a vision that hasn't occurred yet . 39:05.376 --> 39:07.542 When we look at Ukraine , I don't know 39:07.542 --> 39:09.653 how many of you are aware of this one 39:09.653 --> 39:12.540 half of Russian black Sea fleet has 39:12.550 --> 39:15.300 either been sunk or so heavily damaged . 39:15.310 --> 39:18.439 It's had to go into dry dock that is 39:18.449 --> 39:20.389 against Ukraine , a nation that 39:20.399 --> 39:22.919 basically has no navy . So a nation 39:22.929 --> 39:25.040 with a significant navy has basically 39:25.040 --> 39:27.262 lost half of its fleet to a nation with 39:27.262 --> 39:29.540 no navy . We are a nation , you know , 39:29.550 --> 39:31.828 we think about fighting in the Pacific , 39:31.828 --> 39:33.994 you know , that is heavily invested in 39:33.994 --> 39:35.828 large platforms , billion dollar 39:35.828 --> 39:38.000 aircraft carriers , you know , and 39:38.010 --> 39:40.288 we're seeing in Ukraine right now that , 39:40.288 --> 39:42.343 you know , that , that , that , that 39:42.343 --> 39:44.399 surface missiles and drones can sink 39:45.149 --> 39:48.770 very heavy platforms . So as marines , 39:48.780 --> 39:51.250 we're kind of being called upon to 39:51.260 --> 39:54.129 imagine what a war would look like . Um 39:54.139 --> 39:56.939 If , you know , if you know , a four 39:57.090 --> 39:59.257 class aircraft period is no longer the 39:59.257 --> 40:01.669 coin of the realm . And in the second 40:01.679 --> 40:03.790 world war , another court view before 40:03.790 --> 40:05.957 the second world war , the coin of the 40:05.957 --> 40:05.250 realm in naval combat was the 40:05.260 --> 40:07.371 battleship . And then , you know , we 40:07.371 --> 40:09.538 suddenly realized , no , it's actually 40:09.538 --> 40:09.129 the aircraft here . We had to make that 40:09.139 --> 40:11.939 twist very quickly . I would imagine 40:11.949 --> 40:14.171 we're gonna have to make similar mental 40:14.171 --> 40:17.649 leaps and our legacy as marines is that 40:17.659 --> 40:19.992 is what we've always done . That is why , 40:19.992 --> 40:22.103 you know , when we say we're the most 40:22.103 --> 40:24.270 ready when the nation is the least . I 40:24.270 --> 40:23.889 mean , yes , it means that our rifles 40:23.899 --> 40:26.066 are clean and , you know , our pack is 40:26.066 --> 40:28.288 ready to go , but it really means we've 40:28.288 --> 40:30.455 done the intellectual work and to come 40:30.455 --> 40:32.566 back to like the Pacific , you know , 40:32.566 --> 40:31.929 the other thing we do is bring that 40:31.939 --> 40:34.161 we're great at , we're great at telling 40:34.161 --> 40:36.050 our story . And the story is when 40:36.050 --> 40:38.383 people say the Pacific War , they think , 40:38.383 --> 40:40.606 well , the marines as they should . But 40:40.606 --> 40:42.717 when you look at the numbers like you 40:42.717 --> 40:44.772 did in World War Two , like the army 40:44.772 --> 40:46.883 was there a lot and you know , and we 40:46.883 --> 40:48.995 did a good job and took all , we took 40:48.995 --> 40:51.106 all the credit . But now , yeah , and 40:51.106 --> 40:53.272 when you look at D day , which we just 40:53.272 --> 40:55.272 celebrated the massive and the most 40:55.272 --> 40:57.550 celebrated fas operation in us history , 40:57.550 --> 40:59.717 right ? But who made all that possible 40:59.717 --> 41:01.772 in the 19 thirties where , yeah , it 41:01.772 --> 41:03.899 was here and literally here was where 41:03.909 --> 41:05.687 we figured out how to launch in 41:05.770 --> 41:07.770 operation . So you guys are looking 41:07.770 --> 41:09.881 there right now . The Marine Corps is 41:09.881 --> 41:12.159 doing that right now and um and , and 41:12.169 --> 41:14.447 taking a back , you know , that , that , 41:14.447 --> 41:16.502 that this vision of war would be the 41:16.502 --> 41:18.725 right one . It's the background for the 41:18.725 --> 41:20.836 noy landing , it's the background for 41:20.836 --> 41:20.425 the , the campaign , all of that , 41:20.435 --> 41:22.491 right ? Uh And , and just to kind of 41:22.491 --> 41:24.657 hit on what they brought up about . Uh 41:24.657 --> 41:26.879 does the good guy always have to win in 41:26.879 --> 41:26.544 shaping narrative ? Because I , I too 41:26.554 --> 41:28.498 believe narrative is , is great in 41:28.498 --> 41:30.443 getting these things out there and 41:30.443 --> 41:32.498 getting those visions . Uh The , the 41:32.498 --> 41:32.215 good guy doesn't always have to win . I 41:32.225 --> 41:34.392 think your book 2034 is probably a big 41:34.392 --> 41:36.614 example without giving away any of it . 41:36.614 --> 41:38.614 The good guy doesn't win with you , 41:38.614 --> 41:40.669 does the bad guy , right ? Uh And so 41:40.669 --> 41:39.774 you have to , you have to read the book 41:39.784 --> 41:42.389 to figure that out . But we got , I 41:42.510 --> 41:44.510 think that everybody here can agree 41:44.510 --> 41:46.939 that we should try our best to avoid 41:46.949 --> 41:49.060 World War II . What are some steps Do 41:49.060 --> 41:50.893 you think that could be taken to 41:50.893 --> 41:53.116 mitigate that ? Understanding the rules 41:53.116 --> 41:55.171 of the game that you're in ? So when 41:55.171 --> 41:57.116 you get caught into these cycles , 41:57.116 --> 41:59.116 escalatory cycle and in 2034 that's 41:59.116 --> 42:01.171 actually what we try to imagine it . 42:01.171 --> 42:03.393 Like it has to feel sort of the guns of 42:03.393 --> 42:05.505 August like the first World War where 42:05.505 --> 42:07.560 everyone's marching into this insane 42:07.560 --> 42:09.616 lockstep of sending the entire world 42:09.616 --> 42:11.782 into a world war . And I think today , 42:11.782 --> 42:14.005 you know , we need who can , you know , 42:14.005 --> 42:16.649 similarly , you know , as we're going 42:16.659 --> 42:18.770 down the escalatory path and they see 42:18.770 --> 42:20.992 the off ramp , they take the off ramp . 42:20.992 --> 42:23.103 I would say that the other thing that 42:23.103 --> 42:25.219 we can do is to be ready , weak , 42:25.229 --> 42:27.959 weakness is a provocation . Uh as much 42:27.969 --> 42:30.191 as strength is a provocation . So , you 42:30.199 --> 42:32.500 know , what history teaches me is that 42:32.510 --> 42:34.621 in certain situations , sort of the , 42:34.729 --> 42:36.896 you know , the placating the adversary 42:36.896 --> 42:39.062 is actually an escalatory act and that 42:39.062 --> 42:41.300 the way you deescalated is through 42:41.310 --> 42:43.477 strength , but it's tough , you know , 42:43.477 --> 42:45.643 it's tough . You have , you know , our 42:45.643 --> 42:47.754 leaders have to know the difference . 42:47.754 --> 42:49.866 We need wise leaders sound leadership 42:49.866 --> 42:51.866 to understand , you know , the time 42:51.866 --> 42:53.810 when projecting strength is the de 42:53.810 --> 42:55.921 escalatory action and the time when , 42:55.921 --> 42:55.510 you know , looking for avenues for 42:55.520 --> 42:57.850 reconciliation is , is de escalatory . 42:57.860 --> 43:00.082 Um but we should all be concerned about 43:00.082 --> 43:02.193 it right now . I mean , we are living 43:02.193 --> 43:04.138 in a world that is a tinderbox who 43:04.138 --> 43:06.193 deserve to be . Hey , good morning , 43:06.193 --> 43:08.416 sir . My name is uh Sergeant Doyle . Um 43:08.416 --> 43:08.399 I've been a squad leader for the better 43:08.409 --> 43:10.780 part of four years now . Um I'm an 43:10.790 --> 43:12.979 aspiring platoon commander , um 43:12.989 --> 43:15.156 submitting my MISA package currently . 43:15.219 --> 43:17.300 Um Obviously , they're both leaders 43:17.310 --> 43:19.366 within uh an infantry platoon of the 43:19.366 --> 43:21.590 dynamic is still very different . Um I 43:21.600 --> 43:23.433 was just wondering from your own 43:23.433 --> 43:25.656 perspective , what would you say is the 43:25.656 --> 43:27.878 best quality or something that I should 43:27.878 --> 43:30.370 strive to um do if I do become a 43:30.379 --> 43:32.323 platoon commander , what's the one 43:32.323 --> 43:34.435 quality or thing that I should strive 43:34.435 --> 43:36.546 to accomplish ? And then on the other 43:36.546 --> 43:38.657 side of the coin , what's something I 43:38.657 --> 43:40.546 should try to stay away from in a 43:40.546 --> 43:40.409 platoon in a rifle platoon ? There's 43:40.419 --> 43:43.310 only one of you . Um And you have a 43:43.320 --> 43:46.969 specific role . Um And II , I have seen 43:46.979 --> 43:49.129 platoon commanders sometimes make the 43:49.139 --> 43:52.270 mistake of , you know , 43:53.520 --> 43:55.687 sort of playing we're old squad leader 43:55.687 --> 43:57.687 or , you know , not kind of staying 43:57.687 --> 43:59.242 generally in their lane and 43:59.242 --> 44:01.242 understanding which buttons to push 44:01.242 --> 44:03.464 like let me give you an example . Um So 44:03.464 --> 44:03.199 like , let's say I'm walking across the 44:03.239 --> 44:05.209 Italian area and like , you know , 44:05.219 --> 44:07.399 schmuck Tali is , you know , doing 44:07.409 --> 44:09.550 something stupid and I can see him 44:09.560 --> 44:11.616 doing it out of the corner of my eye 44:11.616 --> 44:13.838 and like , so I can even like , go over 44:13.838 --> 44:15.893 there and like , you know , life him 44:15.893 --> 44:17.727 out and , you know , do all that 44:17.727 --> 44:19.949 business , embrace him of a parade rest 44:19.949 --> 44:22.060 and , you know , and then go about my 44:22.060 --> 44:24.282 business . Like I would never do that . 44:24.282 --> 44:26.449 Not in many years . What I would do is 44:26.449 --> 44:28.889 I go walk around and I either I or I 44:28.899 --> 44:31.899 find like a my swat leader and I like a 44:32.790 --> 44:34.846 man the hell in my , you know , they 44:34.846 --> 44:37.290 got a negative for it and then after , 44:37.870 --> 44:40.092 it gets like life out and his crush and 44:40.092 --> 44:42.203 he has been shown the air of his ways 44:42.550 --> 44:44.717 and , you know , they're so they my ha 44:44.717 --> 44:46.883 so I never start to . So , and so it's 44:46.883 --> 44:48.883 really hard . You're all right . We 44:48.883 --> 44:51.106 love you . And then , you know , and he 44:51.106 --> 44:50.560 would never know the whole reason he 44:50.570 --> 44:52.570 got like that was because of me . I 44:52.570 --> 44:54.737 don't have to be deceptive . It's more 44:54.737 --> 44:56.792 like it's your job . And I felt this 44:56.792 --> 44:58.792 with people I work for , there were 44:58.792 --> 45:00.792 times when I had bosses where , you 45:00.792 --> 45:02.903 know , we were doing things that were 45:02.903 --> 45:05.790 hard and it sucked and , and I thought 45:05.800 --> 45:07.967 a crazy and I couldn't even understand 45:07.967 --> 45:09.967 sometimes but if my boss was always 45:09.967 --> 45:13.100 like , he's sane and a good dude , I 45:13.110 --> 45:15.332 felt OK doing and it comes back to this 45:15.332 --> 45:17.499 idea of trust . Um So I think you need 45:17.499 --> 45:19.554 to know like being a squad leader is 45:19.554 --> 45:19.129 different than being a platoon 45:19.139 --> 45:21.083 commander . Being a team leader is 45:21.083 --> 45:23.195 different than being a squad leader . 45:23.195 --> 45:25.361 You know , everyone , if everyone kind 45:25.361 --> 45:24.860 of plays , platoon is the dirk of the 45:24.870 --> 45:27.040 best where everyone is playing their 45:27.050 --> 45:29.217 position . It's like , I mean , it's , 45:29.217 --> 45:31.550 it's an old , it's like a football team , 45:31.550 --> 45:31.389 you know , you don't want your wide 45:31.399 --> 45:33.510 receiver trying to be the quarterback 45:33.510 --> 45:35.510 and vice versa . Um So as a platoon 45:35.510 --> 45:37.843 commander , I would tell you , you know , 45:37.843 --> 45:39.677 understand your job as a platoon 45:39.677 --> 45:41.788 commander and , and do your damnedest 45:41.788 --> 45:41.320 and it doesn't mean you can't ever , 45:41.330 --> 45:43.330 you know , smug and tell he is like 45:43.330 --> 45:45.441 about to , you know , spray the whole 45:45.441 --> 45:45.070 platoon with his saw . Maybe you feel 45:45.080 --> 45:47.302 like , you know , smack in the face but 45:47.302 --> 45:49.080 try to avoid that and play your 45:49.080 --> 45:51.247 position . Thank you very much , sir . 45:51.247 --> 45:53.469 Thank you . We'll go over this side and 45:53.469 --> 45:55.580 then we'll , we'll talk over it . How 45:55.580 --> 45:57.913 would you say that we prepare for those , 45:57.913 --> 45:59.969 not those international threats with 45:59.969 --> 46:01.969 those domestic threats and what are 46:01.969 --> 46:04.136 ways that as a country we can come and 46:04.136 --> 46:06.358 try to mitigate the risk of an internal 46:06.358 --> 46:08.413 civil war . You know , we're , we're 46:08.413 --> 46:10.358 living in and I think extremely uh 46:10.360 --> 46:13.689 challenging and uh politically fraught 46:13.699 --> 46:17.659 times , I think the , the one thing as 46:17.669 --> 46:19.725 service members , I think all of you 46:19.725 --> 46:22.169 can do is you are part of one of the 46:22.179 --> 46:24.500 last institutions that Americans trust . 46:24.510 --> 46:26.399 And I think that there's a direct 46:26.399 --> 46:28.454 correlation with that because the US 46:28.454 --> 46:27.909 military seems a place that is 46:27.919 --> 46:30.830 generally apo um doesn't mean everyone 46:30.840 --> 46:32.729 here doesn't have their political 46:32.729 --> 46:34.896 beliefs , but it means we kind of , we 46:34.896 --> 46:36.951 leave it at the door in service of a 46:36.951 --> 46:36.209 larger mission with which is our 46:36.219 --> 46:39.050 country . Um And I think that is a very 46:39.060 --> 46:41.310 important example uh for the nation to 46:41.320 --> 46:43.376 have . And if we ever lose that , we 46:43.376 --> 46:45.520 are in a lot of trouble . So I would 46:45.530 --> 46:47.530 say , you know , what can we do ? I 46:47.530 --> 46:49.530 think you guys are what we can do , 46:49.530 --> 46:51.752 which is to keep setting that example . 46:51.752 --> 46:53.974 But , you know , I wish I could get you 46:53.974 --> 46:56.197 guys set up here and tell you in a 32nd 46:56.197 --> 46:55.610 answer exactly what we need to do to 46:55.620 --> 46:57.770 fix our country . I don't have that 46:57.780 --> 47:00.002 answer . Um , but I would just tell the 47:00.002 --> 47:02.058 GGO what I try to do is just sort of 47:02.058 --> 47:04.280 live the best that I can as a citizen . 47:04.280 --> 47:06.502 Set a good example for my , my Children 47:06.502 --> 47:08.280 if you have them . Um , because 47:08.280 --> 47:10.502 hopefully they're gonna , they're gonna 47:10.502 --> 47:12.836 kind of be part of the solution as well . 47:12.836 --> 47:14.891 Morning , my name is uh Sergeant Nar 47:14.891 --> 47:17.058 and , um , I'm very interested in , um 47:17.058 --> 47:19.280 A I in the battle space and I wanted to 47:19.280 --> 47:21.447 hear what your opinions were in A I in 47:21.447 --> 47:23.669 the battle space and the future of that 47:23.669 --> 47:25.669 and what that would look like , the 47:25.669 --> 47:27.891 rate of change on the battlefield right 47:27.891 --> 47:29.947 now is occurring at a , at speed . I 47:29.947 --> 47:31.891 have never seen there's a cycle of 47:31.891 --> 47:33.891 innovation . Um And if you guys are 47:33.891 --> 47:36.002 familiar with this idea of the loop , 47:36.002 --> 47:38.058 you guys heard of that ? Ok . So you 47:38.058 --> 47:40.058 know the loop , right , John Boyd . 47:40.058 --> 47:42.169 Yeah , the loop on the battlefield is 47:42.169 --> 47:44.391 ex extremely quick and a lot of that is 47:44.391 --> 47:46.613 coming from , from A I . Um and so much 47:46.613 --> 47:48.724 as , you know , for instance , drones 47:48.724 --> 47:50.947 like drones showed up , you know , in a 47:50.947 --> 47:49.896 really meaningful way on the 47:49.906 --> 47:52.073 battlefield . And , you know , the war 47:52.073 --> 47:54.239 in Ukraine starts in sort of the , the 47:54.239 --> 47:56.128 big news is , you know , the over 47:56.128 --> 47:58.239 performance of , you know , Js and in 47:58.239 --> 48:00.350 laws against Russian armor . And then 48:00.350 --> 48:02.406 it kind of migrates into a much more 48:02.406 --> 48:04.406 artillery centric war . And now you 48:04.406 --> 48:07.257 have an artillery centric war combined 48:07.267 --> 48:09.517 with , um , you know , pretty amazing 48:09.527 --> 48:11.694 drone technology when I was there last 48:11.694 --> 48:14.243 uh head up shows a Ukrainian Marine 36 48:14.253 --> 48:16.563 brigade was showing me video of how 48:16.573 --> 48:18.517 they clear trenches and they clear 48:18.517 --> 48:20.983 trenches with drones . So they hop into 48:20.993 --> 48:22.826 the , they hop into the trench , 48:22.826 --> 48:24.882 they're going down the trench and in 48:24.882 --> 48:24.753 front of them are , you know , five or 48:24.763 --> 48:27.434 six armed drones , they're going down 48:27.444 --> 48:29.611 the trench and they had to rush , they 48:29.611 --> 48:31.722 blow up and then next drone goes in . 48:31.722 --> 48:34.055 So you talk about a I , well , you know , 48:34.055 --> 48:35.944 they're doing it now , you know , 48:35.944 --> 48:38.166 mostly manually , but it's very easy to 48:38.166 --> 48:40.388 imagine . Drone swarms that are powered 48:40.388 --> 48:43.210 by A I . Uh And you know , so the swarm 48:43.220 --> 48:45.109 goes out , you don't need someone 48:45.109 --> 48:47.053 controlling the swarm just goes to 48:47.053 --> 48:49.220 target . Um , so that I think is we're 48:49.220 --> 48:51.276 seeing is a huge impact of A I . And 48:51.276 --> 48:51.091 what is that ? What is , you know , 48:51.101 --> 48:53.930 what is a US carrier or a US freight do 48:53.940 --> 48:55.829 if it's confronted with 100 armed 48:55.829 --> 48:57.940 drones that's got to try to sweat out 48:57.940 --> 48:59.829 of the sky . And then A I is also 48:59.829 --> 49:01.940 factored into targeting right now . I 49:01.940 --> 49:01.551 mean , you're seeing it in Israel , the 49:01.561 --> 49:03.394 way they're selecting targets is 49:03.394 --> 49:05.283 through A I analysis of satellite 49:05.283 --> 49:07.339 imagery and sometimes that works and 49:07.339 --> 49:09.617 sometimes that doesn't work , you know , 49:09.617 --> 49:11.505 when you go even further into the 49:11.505 --> 49:13.561 future , you know , you get to these 49:13.561 --> 49:15.783 ideas of um you know , weapons that are 49:15.783 --> 49:17.394 wholly powered by artificial 49:17.394 --> 49:19.505 intelligence and then the morality of 49:19.505 --> 49:21.617 whether or not they are allowed to be 49:21.617 --> 49:23.728 lethal without a human decision maker 49:23.728 --> 49:26.389 behind them . And current US policy is 49:26.399 --> 49:30.399 that all A I targeting somewhere 49:30.409 --> 49:32.520 in the kill chamber has to be a human 49:32.520 --> 49:34.979 being saying , all right , execute . Um 49:35.379 --> 49:36.990 But you can imagine that our 49:36.990 --> 49:39.157 adversaries might not have any quantum 49:39.157 --> 49:41.435 saying no , no human in the kill chain , 49:41.435 --> 49:43.601 you know , because that will speed the 49:43.601 --> 49:45.850 cycle . So , you know , that is , those 49:45.860 --> 49:47.749 are questions that we're hurtling 49:47.749 --> 49:50.820 towards . Um , and , you know , you all , 49:51.530 --> 49:53.363 you know , might live it in your 49:53.363 --> 49:55.697 careers and have to figure out what the , 49:55.697 --> 49:58.030 what the response is . So , um , it's a , 49:58.030 --> 50:00.141 it's a dangerous and exciting time to 50:00.141 --> 50:02.129 be in uniform and I'll , I'll 50:02.139 --> 50:04.361 absolutely say that that's one of the , 50:04.361 --> 50:06.250 uh , scenarios I brought up to my 50:06.250 --> 50:08.361 students as I taught them about me of 50:08.361 --> 50:10.472 warfare and , and how fundamentally a 50:10.472 --> 50:09.739 character war is changing . Right ? 50:09.750 --> 50:12.028 Again , that same exact scenario where , 50:12.028 --> 50:14.083 you know , time now we have to worry 50:14.083 --> 50:16.083 about artificial intelligence being 50:16.083 --> 50:18.028 integrated with things like drones 50:18.028 --> 50:20.250 where they can simply say this is the , 50:20.250 --> 50:22.417 the targeting signature , this is what 50:22.417 --> 50:22.385 AJ OTD looks like . This is what a an 50:22.475 --> 50:24.915 aircraft looks like . You don't need 50:24.925 --> 50:26.981 authorization from a human to target 50:26.981 --> 50:29.258 that , right ? And again , like I said , 50:29.258 --> 50:31.314 us policy right now , we don't allow 50:31.314 --> 50:33.369 that . But who's to say that uh that 50:33.369 --> 50:35.425 bad actors or , or adversaries would 50:35.425 --> 50:37.425 not go to that step ? You know , we 50:37.425 --> 50:36.764 could probably imagine that they would , 50:36.774 --> 50:38.830 right ? And , and a shameless plug , 50:38.830 --> 50:40.885 you know , there's uh some copies of 50:40.885 --> 50:42.885 this book there , four volumes over 50:42.885 --> 50:45.052 there . And you're welcome to take any 50:45.052 --> 50:44.610 of them to create . Uh it's called 50:44.620 --> 50:46.898 Destination Unknown . And in that book , 50:46.898 --> 50:48.953 it's , it's a graphic novel style of 50:48.953 --> 50:50.787 Future of Warfare , right ? Very 50:50.787 --> 50:52.979 similar to 2034 and ghostly , these 50:52.989 --> 50:55.156 other books we talked about same thing 50:55.156 --> 50:57.045 but published by the Marine Corps 50:57.045 --> 50:59.045 written by Marines , right ? And in 50:59.045 --> 51:01.156 chapter 14 , that the copy I gave you 51:01.156 --> 51:03.045 this morning , uh the drones warm 51:03.045 --> 51:05.267 attacks , adversary vessels in the same 51:05.267 --> 51:07.433 exact manner , right ? Uh So feel free 51:07.433 --> 51:06.520 to take those and at the end of each 51:06.530 --> 51:08.495 one of those short hackers uh is 51:08.504 --> 51:10.560 questions that you can actually have 51:10.560 --> 51:12.671 discussions with your marines about . 51:12.671 --> 51:14.893 So I encourage , I want , you know , to 51:14.893 --> 51:17.115 take copy , but I'll turn forward . You 51:17.115 --> 51:19.337 are . But when you see the evolution of 51:19.337 --> 51:21.635 the institution to where we have a gun 51:21.784 --> 51:23.895 sergeant of marines , sitting up here 51:23.895 --> 51:26.173 with a former commission officer . Now , 51:26.173 --> 51:28.254 best selling author , leading a 51:28.264 --> 51:30.264 conversation lead a discussion 51:30.274 --> 51:32.441 enhancing the intellectual edge of war 51:32.441 --> 51:36.179 fighters is impressive . I wish I 51:36.189 --> 51:38.989 wish I had conversations like this as I 51:39.000 --> 51:41.056 was coming up as a young sergeant of 51:41.056 --> 51:43.649 Marines . I , I wish I had leaders like 51:43.659 --> 51:45.437 you all that were interested in 51:45.437 --> 51:48.520 discussing books . I , I wish I had 51:48.530 --> 51:50.752 leaders who were asking conversation in 51:50.752 --> 51:52.974 a very articulate way without using the 51:52.974 --> 51:55.100 curse words and expressing themselves 51:55.110 --> 51:57.610 in a very articulate , comprehensive 51:57.620 --> 51:59.979 manner . I , I wish I had that when I 51:59.989 --> 52:01.878 was growing up , I would be a lot 52:01.878 --> 52:03.933 better than where I was , where I am 52:03.933 --> 52:06.045 today . And if I can give you without 52:06.045 --> 52:07.822 having those things that you're 52:07.822 --> 52:10.045 fortunate to have , what does that mean 52:10.045 --> 52:12.322 to you ? You can be way better than me . 52:13.120 --> 52:15.231 You're way more set up for success to 52:15.231 --> 52:17.398 be a better leader of marines . You're 52:17.398 --> 52:19.564 way more set up for success than being 52:19.564 --> 52:21.787 a better citizen , right ? You , you're 52:21.787 --> 52:23.953 way better set up for success to be an 52:23.953 --> 52:25.953 example of what life looks like and 52:25.953 --> 52:28.009 what I have ever been in my career . 52:28.009 --> 52:30.409 It's impressive just because we're here 52:30.419 --> 52:32.586 on an academic university on the mccoy 52:32.586 --> 52:34.870 University doesn't mean that you , as 52:34.879 --> 52:36.879 far as the Marines can't go back to 52:36.879 --> 52:39.046 your units and do the same exact thing 52:39.120 --> 52:41.389 to dedicate time to work out . The 52:41.399 --> 52:43.566 strongest weapon that you have is your 52:43.566 --> 52:45.788 mind . We spend a lot of time investing 52:45.788 --> 52:48.399 in the gym going out and doing PFTCFTS . 52:48.560 --> 52:50.616 We should spend just as much time if 52:50.616 --> 52:52.949 not more working out our brain , having 52:52.959 --> 52:55.015 conversations with people to seek to 52:55.015 --> 52:57.015 understand life is to be understood 52:57.015 --> 52:59.070 yourself again . Are we for a reason 52:59.070 --> 53:01.292 sitting here looking at you all again , 53:01.292 --> 53:03.237 remembering the legacy of Sergeant 53:03.237 --> 53:05.459 Singleton . It's impressive as to where 53:05.459 --> 53:07.790 the institution is today , Mr Akerman . 53:07.850 --> 53:10.072 I thank you for your time . I thank you 53:10.072 --> 53:12.239 for making the opportunity to come out 53:12.239 --> 53:14.461 here and speak with us . Uh This time , 53:14.461 --> 53:16.572 uh Gar will present you with a gift , 53:16.572 --> 53:16.520 actually went and touched on 401 and 53:16.530 --> 53:18.697 what the marines did in Bella Wood and 53:18.697 --> 53:20.863 Argo and places like that uh inscribed 53:20.863 --> 53:23.086 on the clock itself . It says mighty is 53:23.086 --> 53:25.308 a hand that can wield both the pens and 53:25.308 --> 53:27.474 the sword and then there's a pen right 53:27.474 --> 53:29.641 below the bayonet as well . The reason 53:29.641 --> 53:31.752 I chose this because there's a little 53:31.752 --> 53:33.863 bit of symp that I think encapsulates 53:33.863 --> 53:36.197 certain what you've done in your career , 53:36.197 --> 53:36.169 both and now in the Marine Corps . And 53:36.179 --> 53:38.600 that's because in World War one , of 53:38.610 --> 53:40.499 course , we look at World War One 53:40.499 --> 53:42.499 fundamentally in the Marine Corps , 53:42.499 --> 53:44.443 what it has done for our history , 53:44.443 --> 53:44.419 right . We look at the Marines and what 53:44.429 --> 53:46.485 they did at Bella Wood , the Argon , 53:46.485 --> 53:48.429 the the term to 100 you know , all 53:48.429 --> 53:50.540 these different things we think about 53:50.540 --> 53:50.500 World War One as fundamental , right ? 53:50.620 --> 53:52.842 But what we don't usually talk about is 53:52.842 --> 53:54.842 that World War One is important for 53:54.842 --> 53:56.953 another reason for the Marine Corps . 53:56.953 --> 53:58.953 And that's because the story of the 53:58.953 --> 54:01.176 Marines which Mr Ackerman alluded to is 54:01.176 --> 54:03.120 really told in World War One , the 54:03.120 --> 54:05.009 writers that were out there about 54:05.009 --> 54:07.231 capturing the bravery and the erodes of 54:07.231 --> 54:06.565 the marines . They wrote about it and 54:06.575 --> 54:08.464 they put it on the front pages of 54:08.464 --> 54:10.297 newspapers and magazines back in 54:10.297 --> 54:12.408 America to where the everyday citizen 54:12.408 --> 54:14.353 of America now knew the name of us 54:14.353 --> 54:16.242 marines . And it wasn't like that 54:16.242 --> 54:18.242 before . Right before World War One 54:18.242 --> 54:20.456 starts were a force of 14,000 people . 54:20.466 --> 54:22.645 14,000 marines post World War one , we 54:22.656 --> 54:24.767 never let her put off the gas when we 54:24.767 --> 54:26.712 took those reputations and we went 54:26.712 --> 54:28.823 forward obviously to a 500,000 person 54:28.823 --> 54:30.989 force in World War Two and we continue 54:30.989 --> 54:30.951 to do great things , but it's because 54:30.961 --> 54:33.128 people wrote about it and it's because 54:33.128 --> 54:35.350 of bravery on the battlefield . So this 54:35.350 --> 54:37.405 hopefully encapsulates both of those 54:37.405 --> 54:37.001 things because you have proven that you 54:37.011 --> 54:39.233 can wield the sword in your time in the 54:39.233 --> 54:41.344 Marine Corps . And you've proven that 54:41.344 --> 54:43.511 you are continuing to master the thing 54:43.511 --> 54:42.872 by telling the stories that and create 54:42.882 --> 54:45.049 the minds of the people in this room . 54:45.049 --> 54:45.652 So , thank you . You do that .