keep MARCENT in ammunition alone during the ground war. To me the Gulf War proved the accuracy of the maxim 'Amateurs study tactics, and professionals study logistics.' This is one of the great things about the MAGTF. It has its own tactical and logistical capability. You get everything with one call. Whether you order up a full MEF [a Marine Division/Aircraft Wing/FSSG], or an MEU [SOC], these units have their own logistics base that does not absorb itself as it conducts operations. They carry what they need with them, so that field operations can be sustained for a period of time [usually fifteen to thirty days] without the need for immediate resupply or reinforcement. That's the 'expeditionary' part of the Marine Corps today. We have the offshore resources on the amphibious and MPS ships to sustain forces on the land without anyone's permission to base forces ashore.
Following the war and his own homecoming, Brigadier General Krulak began a task as painful as it was important, the drawdown and restructuring of the Marine Corps in the post-Cold War world. Under the so-called Base Force concept, all of the military services were to be downsized, with excess and redundant units and capabilities eliminated. General Krulak's job was to design and supervise this effort for the Marine Corps, without actually destroying it, or its vital capabilities.
Tom Clancy: You came out of Desert Storm, and then what happened?
General Krulak: When General Mundy assumed duty as the 30th Commandant, he assigned me as the head of the Personnel Management Division at Headquarters in Washington. I no sooner took over when he held an off-site meeting with all of his three-stars [Lieutenant Generals]. Out of that meeting came the decision to put together the Force Structure Planning Group [FSPG] to actually develop the plan to take the Corps down to the mandated [Base Force] level of 159,000 personnel. Essentially, we were tasked to take our existing Corps and build a new Corps. So the study group spent the next year working that issue and then, under the direction of General Mundy and with his personal involvement, selling our plan to Congress and the rest of the military services. The key was that, as the FSPG looked at the National Military Strategy and the Marine Corps' role, we determined that we could not meet the needs of this nation at 159,000. Our work showed that the number we actually needed was 177,000, of which we got to keep 174,000 active-duty Marines — a number that was validated by the Department of Defense Bottom-Up Review.
I was then promoted to lieutenant general in October of '92 and went to Quantico to command the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. During my two years there, we as a Corps were formalizing and institutionalizing the combat development process, which was the brainchild of General Gray. From there, I moved back to Hawaii and took over my father's last command, Marine Forces Pacific.
Following in his father's footsteps and commanding the Marine Forces of the Pacific was an honor for Chuck Krulak. But more was to come for the young three-star, as we will soon hear.
Tom Clancy: When you learned that you were being considered for the post of 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps, what went through you mind?
General Krulak: My very first thought was, 'Am I up to the job?' I questioned whether I was the right man for the job because there were such great people in the running. General Mundy and Secretary [of the Navy] Dalton interviewed every three- and four-star general in the Marine Corps and all were qualified to lead the Corps. We have great generals, and Secretary Dalton made certain that everyone got his day in court. His personal efforts during this process are unmatched in the history of the Navy Secretaries. My second thought was about my wife Zandi, and the pressures that would fall on her. My third thought was that I had a great job as Commander, Marine Forces Pacific, and whatever happened I was going to continue to be challenged.
Tom Clancy: During this time, was there any thought on your part about how close your own father came to being appointed Commandant of the Marine Corps?
General Krulak: No. That was on his mind, though, because the reality is that he came a lot closer than most Marines know he did. He had, in fact, been told that he had the job, and then he didn't get it. So his concern was that history would repeat itself, and I just told him, 'Quit worrying about it, because I'm not worrying about it.' It was not an issue with me personally. I was not looking for the job. In my opinion, the last thing you want in an organization with this type of deep ethos of service is someone who actually wants or is posturing to be the Commandant. That's an ego issue and the wrong motivation. The job is so hard, so demanding, that if any service chief isn't doing it for what I call the 'right thing,' then he's going to have a real problem.
Tom Clancy: The day comes and you receive word that the President has nominated you to be the 31 st Commandant of the Marine Corps. What did it feel like?
General Krulak: It was a phenomenal experience. I found out while circling in a plane about five thousand feet above Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. General Mundy, his wife, my wife, and I were headed to Iwo to commemorate the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion of the island. A radio operator handed General Mundy a small yellow message form. He looked at it, and then pulled my wife over to look at it. She looked at it, and started to cry. He then gave it to me, and it said, 'The President of the United States has today signed and forwarded to Congress your nomination to be the 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps.' It was an unbelievable feeling. Every emotion you could possibly think of came over me. You name it: from exhilaration to, 'Oh, my God, what is happening?'…to relief…to fear.
The actual announcement was unforgettable. We were on top of Mt. Suribachi — virtually on top of some of the most glorious pages of Marine Corps history — when Secretary Dalton made the announcement to the assembled dignitaries, not least of whom were the survivors of that great battle. I was being told by the Secretary of the Navy that I was becoming Commandant at the exact same place where fifty years earlier Navy Secretary James Forrestal had looked over at General Holland M. 'Howlin' Mad' Smith and, upon seeing the flag raised at the top of Mount Suribachi, said, 'The raising of that flag…means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years.' My feelings were overpowering. There is a family connection here, because Holland M. Smith was my godfather. Now, half a century later, I'm standing where my godfather once stood and Secretary Dalton is telling the godson of that man that he would be the Commandant who would take the Marine Corps into the 21st century. It was a very emotional moment. I thought of my dad immediately. He and my mom were so excited and happy for me. I am convinced it meant more to them then it did to me.
Tom Clancy: Are you yet aware just how important this matter of your becoming Commandant was to the Marines out in the Corps?
General Krulak: No. I often say that they could have picked any of a number of officers to do the job. There were so many great generals who could have done it. I tend to believe that the commandancy makes the officer, not the other way around.
Tom Clancy: During the 1980s and 1990s, the Marine Corps seems to have been blessed with a string of truly great Commandants. Could you give us your thoughts on some of them?
General Krulak: You really need to go back into the 1970s when you talk about the string of great Commandants. That's where we began implementing policies that gave us the quality manpower to operate the equipment and conduct the operations that made us so successful in the 1980s.
General Louis H. Wilson [26th Commandant of the Marine Corps].
General Wilson inherited a Corps riddled with the personnel problems associated with the post-Vietnam era [racial tension, high desertion and discipline rates, recruiting problems, etc.] and tackled these issues with the same ferocity he demonstrated in combat. He literally turned the manpower tide for the Corps. He was determined to improve the quality of the personnel in the Corps to the point where he vowed to go down to 'just two Marines if those two are the kind that we want.' I call that the 'Wilsonian Doctrine,' and it began a revolution that is responsible for the quality of Marines we have in the Corps today.
General Robert H. Barrow [27th Commandant of the Marine Corps].
General Barrow expanded on General Wilson's manpower initiatives. He continued to tighten the quality screws; and in 1983 over ninety percent of new recruits were high school graduates. He also launched his own 'war on drugs' and issued the policy that put an end to the Corps' tolerance of problem drinkers. The percentage of substance abusers fell from 48 % in 1980 to less than 10 % by 1985, and the Corps became known as a quality institution sought out by some of the best young men and women our country had to offer.
General Paul X. Kelley [28th Commandant of the Marine Corps].
General Kelley's vision of what we were going to need for equipment and his willingness to fight tooth and nail to obtain the funds to modernize the Corps are his great legacy. While we often talk about the warfighting ethos that we took to the desert in Southwest Asia, we should never forget that he was the Commandant who gave us the means and the implements to fight and win on the battlefield. General Kelley is an unsung hero of the Corps. Ironically, some fifteen years later, one of my biggest challenges is equipment modernization, but it's the equipment
