“What shall we do tomorrow?”
We were in New Bern, North Carolina, visiting a friend to celebrate his birthday. As a younger man, he was an active skier, sailor, and golfer. Now, not so much. Mobility is a challenge. No 5K morning runs to shake out the cobwebs.
One of our party proposed a visit to the Carolina Museum of the Marine, a brand-new museum (open just 10 weeks when we visited) representing the legacy and service of the Marines and sailors who have served in North and South Carolina and, especially, the Camp Lejeune area.
Long story short, there’s a lot of history represented in the museum, from World War II to the present. Lots to take in.
One element stood out for me.
A looping video near the beginning of our path through the museum included a segment about then-Major Earl “Pete” Ellis who, in 1921, completed a strategy document, Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia. In it, he predicted that Japan would strike first against the United States and that it would be up to the Marine Corps to conduct amphibious assaults on Japanese-occupied islands across the Pacific, developing them into advanced bases for the Navy.
In 1921, the Marine Corps was a small-scale, reactive, defensive force primarily focused on Navy base security. Ellis envisioned a dramatic change in Marine Corps purpose and tactics. The Corps would become a mobile, amphibious landing and attack force capable of large-scale, highly detailed, synchronized assaults.
By 1927, the Corps had begun conducting amphibious landing exercises—experimenting, practicing, developing the capability.
In 1933, the Corps officially declared itself a specialized amphibious force.
Ellis’ document became a foundation for the Navy and Marines’ “island hopping” strategy in the Pacific campaign of World War II.
All of this started forty years before it was needed. FORTY YEARS.
Walking out of the museum, I kept thinking about that.
Forty years.
And then one other thought occurred to me: “Nick, you need to get your head up, dude.”
Nick Miller is President of Clarity Advantage based in Concord, MA. He assists banks and credit unions to generate more and more profitable relationships, faster, with business clients, their owners, and their employees through better sales strategies and execution. Additional articles on Clarity’s web site.