Keep this man around

“I can’t spare this man-he fights.”

-A. Lincoln speaking of U.S. Grant.

JUST LOOKING at his picture in the papers makes some of us straighten up at our desks. (Where’s that Brasso and boot polish when you need it?) Ye-ye-yes, sir. Or as they say in the Marine Corps to his kind: Sir, yes, sir! For in the Corps, the first and last words out of your mouth when addressing a Marine of this man’s stature better be Sir, even if officially he’s an enlisted man.

Some of us feel our loins girding at just the thought of what it takes to become a Marine. That is, just to get through boot camp. Now think of what it takes to become The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. Not a sergeant major in the Marine Corps, but The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. That’s the full title. He’s the top enlisted man in the whole danged outfit.

The current holder of that title and honor is one Micheal Barrett. And somebody somewhere thought it would be a good idea to sit him down in front of a congressional committee last week. Specifically, he took a seat before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The best thing that might be said for his comments is that most were printable. They sure weren’t sensible.

The Sergeant Major seemed to suggest that lower pay and trimmed-down benefits would make Marines more disciplined. And by “seemed to suggest” we mean that in the way that Sergeants Major of the U.S. Marine Corps seem to suggest things: He came right out and said it:

“Marines don’t run around asking about compensation, retirement modernization. That’s not on their mind. As I talk to thousands of audiences, they want to know into whose neck do we put a boot next?”

If you find yourself standing at attention, join the club. If you find yourself thanking the heavens that Micheal Barrett is on our side, join that club, too.

Although he might have gotten a few hoo-rahs in day rooms at Marine bases around the country, surely there had to be a lot more gyrenes out there who must have thought, “What is the Sergeant Major doing?”

The budget this administration has proposed for the Pentagon in 2015 would slash the number of troops in the U.S. Army to less than 450,000-the smallest number since before Pearl Harbor was attacked. That same budget calls for downsizing the Marine Corps by several thousand. Not to mention scrapping the A-10 Warthog, decommissioning an aircraft carrier, and, oh yes, cutting back on raises for those remaining in the country’s military. Even as the Russian bear awakens once again and mainland China increases its military spending every year.

With its usual keen sense of timing,this administration proposes a budget for the military that might be summed up as: Retreat! At such a time what the grunts don’t need is one of their own telling the brass that more budget cuts are just fine.

In his comments to the committee, SMMC Barrett said it was more important for Marines to get new equipment than pay raises. (Why not both?) Besides, said the Sergeant Major, slowing down pay increases for the grunts would actually be a good thing:

“I truly believe it will raise discipline,” he said. “You’ll have better spending habits. You won’t be so wasteful.” And, he added, the Marines have never enjoyed a better quality of life: “We’ve never had it so good. If we don’t get a hold of slowing the growth, we will become an entitlement-based, a healthcare-provider-based Corps, and not a war fighting organization.”

And here some of us were so naive we thought that one reason, maybe the major one, to have a sergeant major of any of the military services was to be a voice for the grunts in high-level meetings with the brass. Instead, this one turns out to be a voice against them. With all due respect, sir-you-are-wrong-sir.

SURE, NOT many people join the Marines because of the pay, but how many have left the Marines, and not just the Marines, because the pay was better out here in what the troops call The World? Wouldn’t it be easier to retain the best if we gave them decent raises every year?

It may come as a surprise to Micheal Barrett, but many 30-somethings with young families off-base do think about how they’re going to support those young-uns. And many 40-somethings do start thinking about how in the world they’re going to afford to retire. Yes, even if they’re Marines. If the troops on the ground are going to be deprived of weapons like the A-10 in the years to come, not to mention the decommissioning of at least one aircraft carrier, and who knows what’ll be sacrificed next, then shouldn’t our military leaders at least hold the line on military pay?

Or is it possible that SMMC Barrett actually believes what he told Congress? Yes, that’s more than possible. Which is why the rest of America needs him, and his kind, in the military: super-lifers stomping around parade grounds, and battlegrounds, preparing their units for rough times ahead, toughening up the troops for the hazards and horrors of combat, washing out those who can’t cut it, and generally making the grunts more afraid of their sergeant than the enemy. That’s all fine. It’s more than fine; it’s an honored tradition and one that needs to be continued.

So give this man a battalion. But for goshsakes and the Corps’, keep him out of any congressional hearings.