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Adherence to basics provides success on the battlefield.
When the 1st Marine Division began preparations for deployment to Kuwait for what would later be known as Operation IRAQI FREEDOM I (OIF I), our commanding general, MajGen James N. Mattis, gathered his battalion commanders and described his vision of success. Part of that vision was being "brilliant in the basics." He went on to emphasize how difficult such a seemingly simple task is to accomplish, but that mastery of the basics was all it would take to whip anybody. As I contemplated "the basics," I began to write them down into bullets. I wanted to make a document that could be easily transferred down to the newest private first class, but my primary audience was my midand higher level leaders. What follows in this article is that list I compiled and titled, "Expectations of Combat Leaders."
I cannot stress enough just how elusive the basics are to accomplish. I personally briefed them to every noncommissioned officer (NCO) and above in the battalion to ensure there was a mutual understanding of the basics, emphasizing that when it comes to the fundamentals of discipline, there is no room for interpretation. Simply talking about the basics does not suffice. We internalized these basics through training and ruthless enforcement of the standards; we made them habit. Even then we experienced letdowns. I challenge the reader to honestly assess how well his or her unit does the basics, and then ask, "Can we do better?"
The contents of the "Expectations of Combat Leaders" are nothing less than the wisdom of those who have gone before me-lessons written in blood by generations of Marines and sailors. I have never been accused of having an original thought; many of these bullets I incorporated from the wisdom of many of the Marines with whom I have served and from great historical figures, such as MajGen John A. Lejeune, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, and MG Carl von Clausewitz. This list of expectations-or basics-served us well in combat. I would not alter any of them as a result of our own experiences in Iraq. Upon our return from OIF I and again throughout our deployment to OIF II, I reviewed this list and reaffirmed that...