First to Fight - Lieutenant General Krulak

I believe this book was written very well and with a lot of heart by a man who was an integral leader and supporter of the corps that he loved. It gives you the full information about the history of our Corps as well as why and how we are who we are today. Lieutenant General Krulak also tells stories about how different equipment came into the Corps and how when we first got it, it wasn't perfect but we refined it and made it what it is today. This book also shows how the different leadership styles made everything we do happen. We wouldn't be anywhere without outstanding leaders to lead the way and it took a lot of dedication and determination to continue to fight for there to be a Marine Corps and its mission. The book as a whole expresses how important the Marine Corps is to our nation and why, through preparation and training, we have become who we are today and why we remain the finest fighting force on and of the battlefield.

The book begins with Lieutenant General Krulak having a conversation with a Gunnery Sergeant who was asked how did the Marine Corps got the reputation of having one of the world's greatest fighting formations. The Gunney replies "Well lieutenant they started telling everybody how great they were and pretty soon they started believing it. They have been proving it ever since". The story continues next to talk about how there nearly wasn't a Marine Corps and due to politics how it almost ended after it was started.

The first part starts out with Marine Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith on the command ship Mt. Olympus, off Iwo Jima on the morning of 23 February 1945 with Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal who said that the raising of our flag atop Mt. Suribachi means there will be an Marine Corps for the next five hundred years. Lieutenant General Smith commented "When the war is over and money is short they will be after the Marines again", and a dozen wars as great as Iwo Jima would never make a difference. Lieutenant General Smith voiced his frustrations with the many generations of Marines before him who had learned through hard times and experiences that fighting to keep the marine corps alive often presented greater challenges than fighting wars for their country's freedom. The Marines survived struggles during the first century and a half of being started that were minor issues compared with what was to follow the Second World War. Even as America was still trying to see through the smoke of Pearl Harbor, there were seeds which were sown that were far more serious. A carefully designed plan which, if implemented, would destroy the Marine Corps as a fighting force. According to Lieutenant General Krulak it started by three events. In October 1942 Lieutenant General Krulak was a member of a team of four Marine officers who were assigned to the Army's 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii to create plans for the division in an amphibious training exercise on the island. The teaching of the training exercise task was complete in late November. Getting