Question for Marines past and present

[Dannyboy]

I was just watching a documentary on the Military Channel about Iwo Jima.  That's a battle that will live forever in Marine lore.  My question is about something more recent, though.  Will the battle of Fallujah be considered one of those defining battles in Marine Corps history?  Something along the lines of Iwo Jima or Khe Sanh or the Chosin Reservoir.  I was Army and I fully believe in the inter-service rivalry but I also know that, being less of a mechanized force than the Army, the Marine Corps has been in some of the worst poopstorms a grunt could ever dream of.

[TarpleyG]

Doubt it.  The Fallujah thing was more of a skirmish IIRC and few casualties were suffered.  Iwo Jima was different.

Greg

[Jason]

For those who serve/served in Iraq, it will be the big battle, due to the diffuculty, and the tenacity of the defenders.  However, I just don't see it going down as comparable to Iwo, the Frozen Chosin nor Khe Sahn, where the odds were stacked against the Marines who perservered.  In Fallujah, I think the odds were stacked against the insurgents.

[doczinn]

NOTHING will ever be the same as Iwo. Or Normandy, or any of the other really big battles in history, because that's not how we fight anymore. Partly because there are better ways, and partly because we don't have the will anymore to throw thousands of good men into a meat-grinder for an objective. (Not sure that's a bad thing.)

[Moondoggie]

As a Marine who retired in '99, I agree that Fallujah will be just another entry in the journal of Marine Corps History kinda like Grenada....

"We went in there and in X number of days our guys cleared-out the city while killing/wounding/capturing X number of bad guys while sustaining X number of casualties.  Lessons learned validated our MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) doctrine and training.  Our tactics/training/equipment were superior to the enemy's."

My Dad served in the Marines in WWII (including a year in China 45-46 with 1st MarDiv) AND Korea including the Chosin Reservior.  "Keep sending guys up the middle until the BG's run out of ammo, corpsman UP!"  was the only thing they had that would work in those days.  Even the concept of bypassing islands and starving the enemy into submission was a revolutionary concept in those days.  Some of the Generals didn't grasp the concept, MacArthur in particular.  Hopefully, we will never see a situation like WWII again although I often wonder about China..........but they'll probably take us over via the banks.

Fortunately, technology and tactics have dramatically improved.  Armed UAV's is a prime example...what took 'em so long to figure that one out???

[Sean Smith]

Even the concept of bypassing islands and starving the enemy into submission was a revolutionary concept in those days.  Some of the Generals didn't grasp the concept, MacArthur in particular.

MacArthur was an ass, but the leapfrog was one of his favorite operational gambits.  Of course, he was an Army ass.  

It is true that the Marines have evolved from tactically simplistic shock troops to arguably the most tactically/operationally/strategically savvy service of the bunch.