'most inspiring four star speech'

the passing of a Commandant

At the risk of ignoring those who can cite other comparable leaders, I want to spend a couple of sentences commenting on the respect I am hearing following news of the passing of General Al Gray, Commandant of the Marine Corps between 1987 and 1991. I confes

s I never met him. I noted to my husband this morning that I am yet to read a harsh or even negative word about him from the many nay-sayers I read on a variety of daily topics. That in and of itself is a goal each of us harbours but almost never achieves.

My husband, who served with Marines but not as a Marine, paused briefly. He then told me of hearing Gray, the 20th Commandant, speak at the Naval War College in the waning years of the Cold War. My husband is a tough, tough evaluator as he held himself and those he worked with to high standards in light of what they did as professionals for the nation. When he issues criticism, it is eloquent but often whithering. He is the last person to pass out praise the way we so often pass out commendations these days, apparently because we fear not doing so will ‘hurt feelings’ as an Army faculty member explained painfully at National fifteen years ago.

‘Al Gray gave the best speech I ever heard a four star give’, my husband stated unequivocably.

Whoa. No caveats. Simple, direct positive evaluation of a speech. It was simply inspiring and clear.

Gray, born in Rahway, New Jersey in 1928, joined as a private before earning a commission as an officer in the late 1950s. He earned a Silver Star in Vietnam before assuming general’s starts in the 1980s. His career could have ended in 1983 when the Marines in his command suffered such horrible loss in Beirut on 23 October but Gray was not responsible for the decision to deploy in such a vulnerable position; internal strife between Ronald Reagan’s Secretaries of State and Defense led to that debacle. But 241 people, many Marines, died that day.

What I read most often about Gray was his personality as a ‘Marine’s marine’ whether it was attending a charity golf tournement, with five Sargeants Major of the Corps by his side, until he was 93 years old, or his gruff and direct manner of speaking. I suspect that was a man who did not hide behind the mounds of superfluous paper on a desk in the Pentagon but someone who got out to hear what Corporals, Lieutenant Colonels, and everyone else in the Corps wanted to discuss. He probably heard about the disagreements regarding the implications of Goldwater-Nichols creating a ‘joint force’ the year before he became The Commandant. He likely listened to those who married so young worrying about the stress on their families as the financial and psychic tensions ebbed and flowed during their tours. He encouraged Marines to value professional military education, which in my experience the Corps overwhelmingly embraced more than any other service.

One fellow in a chat room where I belong praised Gray’s acumen for raising the Marine Corps focus from tactical to strategic concerns a generation after Vietnam finally ended. Gray will be the man most credited or blamed for his support for the Osprey, a plane still drawing much controversy. He took it all in stride, seemingly unapologetically from what I read.

As an outsider, I have to wonder if part of the respect for Gray is also because his successor thirty plus years later, General David Berger, incited such approbrium for introducing unwelcome reform to the Corps. The disagreements on his moves were profoundly painful as people splintered on whether he was a deep thinker with a needed vision versus a man setting the Corps on a path to obliteration under the pressures of a ‘woke’ administration. Gray was certainly decisive but he also served in an era where Americans unquestionably saw themselves as victorious in the greatest challenge in the second half of the twentieth century. I do not envy the current Commandant, Eric Smith, whose own tenure has not only the same questions about the future but the additional burden of his heart attack so early in his tour. Context and assumptions matter—and actions create consequences.

Americans love leaders who convince us of our own strength, wisdom, ad ability to defeat adversaries in the future. General Gray also had that human persona we crave when recalling we are all mortals with strengths and weaknesses. The respect he garnered was remarkable in this era of disdain.

What leaders do you see in your field? Why specifically do you respect those you do? I am genuinely curious on this as we need uniting personalities rather than dividing ones to move us forward as a world.

My photograph below is a personal accomplishment as I sought to satisfy one of my husband’s favourite foods. Luckily, both he and Harry Truman (yes, the cat) are devouring the mandelbread. I was concerned but I am glad I didn’t toss it halfway through when I thought I had screwed it up. Whew.

Be well and be safe. FIN

Drew Lawrence, ‘Marines Fly Flags at Half-Mast after Revered Former Commandant Al Gray Dies at 95’, military.com, 20 March 2024, retrieved at https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/03/20/marines-marine-29th-marine-commandant-al-gray-who-wrote-warfighting-doctrine-dies-95.html