By Mandy Taheri and Naveed Jamali
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“You don't want to be the generation that loses the first fight, and we're not going to be,” Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz told “Unconventional” host Naveed Jamali earlier this year at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., as the service prepared to mark its 250th birthday in November.
The Marine Corps, 250 years on, remains anchored by its defining creed: “Every Marine is a rifleman,” a principle Ruiz and Commandant Eric Smith repeatedly noted while underscoring the service’s storied legacy, traditions and ethos.
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Seated in the nation's capital, Smith said the creed remains a living practice across the force, noting that all Marines—regardless of job specialty—are “qualified to handle their service rifle and prepared to defend themselves, prepared to attack an adversary,” adding “that is who we are, we’re not going to change that. We’ve never changed that."
On November 10, 1775, the U.S. Marine Corps was founded in Philadelphia as a force designed to fight on land and at sea. Today, the branch boasts around 200,000 service members, about 170,000 active-duty and 33,000 reservists.
The Commandant said that over the past two-and-a-half centuries, the qualities linking today’s Marines to their founding remain constant: “lethality, adaptability, ruthless adherence to standards, all of those permeate the Marine Corps…we are nothing if we’re not flexible.”
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The Marines are often the first deployed, first to fight, making flexibility essential to their service, as well as their ability to promptly execute, adhere to standards, and strict discipline. The Corps has appeared across the world in key battles including the battle of Belleau Wood in World War I, across the Pacific Theater in World War II, Afghanistan, and Iraq, among others.
"You have to be on scene before a crisis erupts," Smith explained, emphasizing the Marine Corps readiness and mobility.
Marines are constantly reminded of their iconic battles and fighting, with the Commandant telling Jamali, “The tradition is we don’t lose. We’re Marines. We don’t know how to lose. We don’t know how to fail. So, every generation modernizes.”
While the Corps’ ethos and traditions have endured across its history, the Commandant said “lots has changed,” pointing to shifts in technology, formations and equipment. “We’re constantly evolving. The only thing that is constant is change,” he said regarding the technical aspects of the branch, adding “we will not accomplish our mission if we don’t change.”
Even as the force evolves, some things remain fixed, the Sergeant Major explained, “We’ll never forget you and that you get to live forever in this organization.”
The Commandant noted, “You have to earn the title Marine, it’s a privilege to call yourself a U.S. Marine."
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