Letters to the editor

Oliver wrong about Marines' purpose Arnold Oliver's recent column misses a fundamental truth that every Marine learns in the first week of boot camp: the U.S. military's purpose is not social experimentation, but warfighting. As a Marine who served from 1952–58, I find his critique of our military's adherence to international law not only misguided but factually flawed. Oliver cites international statutes, which we are not a party to, while ignoring the reality of the DoD Law of War Manual and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). We aren't a lawless force; we are a disciplined one. While he frets over "International Law," that we are not a party to, he ignores that the Marine Corps has maintained its recruitment standards and lethality by refusing to trade its "warfighter" identity for the "wokeness" that had crippled other branches. The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan — the "great skedaddle" — was the natural result of leadership at the highest level that prioritizes optics over outcomes. We don't need "soldiers" by Oliver's definition — we need warfighters who keep the wolf away from the door. Thank God, we still have them, despite the best efforts of ivory-tower, unknowledgable "emeritus" professor critics like Oliver. Perhaps Eleanor Roosevelt said it best in 1945 during WWII: "The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!" Karl Gingrich Findlay