The Corps’ raison d'être pretty much since the Spanish-American War has been to be a service of the “kick down the door and lay waste to all we see” variety. Not that Marines haven’t performed well in COIN (witness the CAP program in Vietnam). Yet, while the “Small Wars Manual” has gotten a lot of attention as of late, it was written based on the experience in very different era of the United State’s overseas force projection (the use of Marines in the “Banana Wars” was seen as an alternative to the cost of deploying and sustaining “heavy” Army units on what was essentially “colonial” duty).

The Corps often touts the “lean mean fighting machine” image and inculcates in Marines an offensive esprit de corps that is not always conducive to the more subtle application of force required by COIN.