The proud

de Barney Cohen

The Marines. There is no outfit in the armed forces of the world that enjoys a comparable mystique; no fraternity that confers the same set of expectations; no ancient order still surviving that compels the same loyalty, the same high standards of bravery and strength. Today, there are just under two hundred thousand U.S. Marines on active duty around the world. There are three million Marine Corps veterans. These numbers are paltry in comparison to the millions on. Active duty in the Navy, the Army, or the Air Force. And yet, never before has the Marine Corps mission been more clouded. In an era of computer-guided weaponry, what is the importance of the Corps' famous marksmanship training? In an era of high-tech weapons systems, what value is there in hand-to-hand combat, the virtues of superb physical conditioning? Most damning of all, in an era of electronic sensors and automatic weapons, why do we need a fighting force that is. Specifically trained for the amphibious attack? Bernard Cohen spent a year traveling with the men of the Marine Corps, searching for the answers to these questions and others. The result is a fascinating story of an organization that has taken on a personality and reputation as distinct as the strong individuals that compose its history. The Proud is the story of the Corps and corpsmen in their own words, from a boatswain navigating a brambled North Carolina swamp in his. Rigid Raider, to a haggard recruiter beating the dusty trains of liberal New England, to a commandant trying to scare up money and elan for a storied and beleaguered Corps. This, then, is where the Marine Corps is today, how the tradition is being upheld, and whether the Corps will be able to find and maintain a mission in the very different world of the next millennium.