A troubled Marine Corps veteran, home from a combat tour in Iraq in 2003, must choose between making a better life for himself in college or staying with the self-destructive friends he served with during the war. / Master of Fine Arts

Using recently declassified material, this thesis traces the Commandant Thomas Holcomb' s role in the development of the Marine Corps Defense Battalion. It thus combines biographical and institutional history. Holcomb was an excellent strategist, manager, and publicist. The defense battalion provides a case study for examining Holcomb's leadership as well as the larger historical context. On a tactical level, planners designed these units to defend island outposts against air, sea, and amphibious assaults. In holding island bases in the western Pacific, defense battalions fit into the grand strategy of the United States Navy. The units comprised one half of the Corps's dual mission: amphibious assault and base defense. Defense battalions also served an equally pivotal public relations function as Holcomb struggled -albeit with little success -- to secure scarce resources for the Corps. Understanding Holcomb's actions and the defense battalion's development illuminates the mentality of America's military and government before World War II. / Department of History

Thesis (M.S. in Management) Naval Postgraduate School, June 1997. / Thesis advisors, Kevin R. Gue, Tim L. Phillips. Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-48). Also available online.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The Basic School (TBS) is the first school assignment for all Marine Officers. While assigned to TBS unrestricted ground officers compete for and are assigned a Military Occupational Skill (MOS). The process of educating the Marine Officers about the different MOSs is primarily accomplished by word of mouth at MOS Mixers (social events) and one-on-one discussions. The assignment of the MOS to the Marine Officer is based on the officer's lineal standing within his/her company. Officers are ranked lineally based on a composite score of academic and leadership grades. To ensure a quality distribution of officers into MOSs, the company is divided into thirds (Top, Middle, Bottom) and the vacancies assigned to the company are divided into thirds (Top, Middle, Bottom). Officers compete for an MOS within their assigned third. The current assignment system has remained virtually unchanged over the last thirty years. It is a mostly manually process that provides little visibility of the data, and does not utilize automated information tools for report generation of statistical information. This joint thesis team has developed a Two-Tier Client/Server Information Management System for use by the lieutenants and staff officers of The Basic School and it is called MyMOS. This system was developed using current industry standards that are compliant with those of the Department of Defense. It is the first of its kind at TBS and is designed to be employed as an operational system. MyMOS was designed with an interface that would maximize acceptance and reduce total ownership cost. / Captain, United States Marine Corps / Lieutenant Colonel, United States Marine Corps

The history of the United States Marine Corps in Oregon, and of the many Oregonians who have served as Marines, is a unique story which has never been told. This thesis examines United States Marines from the state of Oregon and activities by Marines in the state. It covers the Oregon Marine experience from its start in 1841 through the Gulf War conflict of 1991 to the present. From 1838 to 1842, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, United States Navy, led a remarkable exploration and scientific expedition around the world. In 1841, Wilkes visited the Pacific Northwest, and accompanying him aboard his flagship, the ll.S.S. Vincennes, was Quartermaster Sergeant Marion A. Stearns and thirty-two other United States Marines. Steams set a sound leadership example for both his Marines and those of the future as he landed from the sea and explored inland territory ranging from Puget Sound, to the Cascades, the Columbia River, and the Willamette Valley. Stearns' Marine detachment from the 11.SS Peacock even managed to survive their shipwreck upon the Columbia River bar. Oregon had thus begun her unique military heritage with respect to the United States Marine Corps. From this event in 1841, the one hundred and fifty year history of United States Marines in Oregon continued. In 1846, on the eve of the Mexican War, a Marine officer, First Lieutenant Archibald H. Gillespie, delivered a secret presidential message from James K. Polk to explorer John C. Fremont at Klamath Lake. Later, Marines from Union warship detachments visited Astoria and Portland during the Civil War. In 1898, at the Battle of Manila Bay, Private Charles C. Schroeder of Oak Grove, fought aboard the ll.S.S. Olympia with Commodore George Dewey. World War I and World War II found Oregon contributing a diverse and dedicated group of Marines who served valiantly in combat against German and Japanese forces. During the long Cold War with the Soviet Union, the wars in Korea and Vietnam exhibited a continuation of faithful Marine service by Oregonians. And in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm of 1991, Marines from Oregon continued as their forefathers had before them to honorably serve, sacrifice, and quietly return home. Their record of courage and professionalism are an important but little known part of Oregon's rich history.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2003. / "MBA professional report"--Cover. Thesis advisor(s): R. Marshall Engelbeck, Ron B. Tudor. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-32). Also available online.

A Study of Excellence in United States Marine Corps Infantry Battalions is a study conducted to test the hypothesis that common attributes are shared by excellent battalions. Interviews were conducted with thirty-one senior infantry officers from various stateside commands, from which it was concluded that excellent battalions do possess a common set of attributes that account for their superior performance. To further develop this narrative model of excellence, and present a clearer picture of how an excellent battalion operates, interviews were subsequently conducted with staff noncommissioned officers, noncommissioned officers, and junior enlisted men from various infantry units. Attributes dealing with balanced excellence, leadership, emphasis on goals, culture and values, and the environment of excellence are discussed in detail.

Thesis (Master of Military Studies)-Marine Corps Command and Staff College, 2008. / Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on: Feb 8, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis explores the activities of the U.S. Marine defense battalions from October 1939 to December 1942. More specifically, it explains why Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) decided to continue the defense battalions as separate entities when, by mid-1943, it needed additional men to replace its combat losses and to create new divisions. In this process HQMC disbanded other special units, such as the raider battalions, parachute battalions, barrage balloon squadrons, and the glider squadrons. It retained, however, the defense battalions because of their versatility and utility as demonstrated during the various operations they conducted in Iceland and the Central and South Pacific. In these locations defense battalions performed as: (a) island garrisons, (b) antiaircraft artillery units, and (c) landing forces. Their success in carrying out these missions led to their retention as separate entities throughout World War II.

Fighting Power: Interpretive Issues The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, 1950 Hammes, Thomas Xavier Lincoln College Submitted for Doctor of Philosophy in History Trinity Term 2008 When the Korean War broke out on 25 June 1950, the Marine Corps was ordered to deploy an air-ground brigade from California in less than ten days. Due to five years of massive budget and manpower cuts, the Marine Corps did not have even a brigade immediately available. The only way to meet the sailing timeline was to organize, man and equip the force while actually embarking it. As it embarked, the brigade had to incorporate marines flown in from posts all over the western United States; draw equipment from war reserves held hundreds of miles away; reorganize many of the existing units under new tables of organization; and add an experimental helicopter detachment from the east coast of the United States. Despite these enormous handicaps and numerically superior enemy forces, the brigade won every engagement. This performance was in stark contrast to the performance of all other US forces at this stage of the war. The brigade’s brief existence (7 July to 6 Sept 1950), combined with its exceptional combat record under adverse conditions, provides the opportunity to study the impact of institutional culture, education, doctrine, organization, training and leadership on performance in combat. Research showed that a key element of the brigade’s success was the Marine Corps’ institutional culture. In particular, the culture of remembering ensured marines understood the unchanging aspects of war and provided its men with the education, training, doctrine and organization to cope with its enduring friction, fog and chance. At the same time, the culture of learning ensured the marines understood what was changing in the character and tools of war so the brigade was well adapted to the realities of modern war from its first day in combat.