Exploring the Utility of the Emerging Adulthood Theory Among Military Members and Veterans with Risky Substance Use

Emerging adult (EA; aged 18–29) military members experience major career, life, and developmental transitions. The conglomeration of these changes may influence or exacerbate anxiety or stress, produce challenges, and lead to negative coping mechanisms, such as substance use. This study sought to understand the utility of the five Emerging Adulthood Theory (EAT) dimensions among a sample of military members and veterans with risky substance use. To our knowledge, the applicability of EAT has not been explored with United States military populations. During 2019, we completed 24 semi-structured interviews. On average, participants were 24.9 years old, male, white, and in the United States Marine Corps. We asked about experiences transitioning into adulthood, military culture, and experiences of the five EAT dimensions. Three coders employed rigorous theory-driven thematic analysis procedures to piece together themes. We report EA military members’ experiences with the EAT dimensions, focusing on nuances related to the influence of military culture.

"Extra!" Using the Newsvendor Model to Optimize War Reserve Storage

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) Installation and Logistics Command requested a study for determining appropriate inventory levels of war reserve materiel to meet future operational needs under surge demands in uncertain environments. This study sought to explore a potential approach by using the common newsvendor model, but modified for a military scenario. The authors’ novel version of this core concept considers the purchase and storage costs of an item and proposes an intangible cost function to capture the consequences of a shortage. Further, they show a sample application of the model using a ubiquitous military item—the BA-5590/U battery. The output of the model provides USMC with a new tool to optimize inventory levels of a given item of interest, depending on scenario inputs.

“Extra!” Using the Newsvendor Model to Optimize War Reserve Storage

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) Installation and Logistics Command requested a study for determining appropriate inventory levels of war reserve materiel to meet future operational needs under surge demands in uncertain environments. This study sought to explore a potential approach by using the common newsvendor model, but modified for a military scenario. The authors’ novel version of this core concept considers the purchase and storage costs of an item and proposes an intangible cost function to capture the consequences of a shortage. Further, they show a sample application of the model using a ubiquitous military item—the BA-5590/U battery. The output of the model provides USMC with a new tool to optimize inventory levels of a given item of interest, depending on scenario inputs.

The Problems Facing United States Marine Corps Amphibious Assaults

There are calls by some experts to accept that an amphibious assault of coastline is simply too risky to attempt due to current threats. So, what are the challenges facing amphibious assaults? Is the amphibious assault still a viable type of military operation in the current threat environment? These questions are at the heart of the mission and role of the United States Marine Corps. This analysis delves deep into the problems facing amphibious assaults, and it serves as a primer for future discussions pertaining to improving amphibious assault capabilities.

Embedded Mental Health in the United States Marine Corps

Introduction Despite the rich history and progression of mental health assets and their utilization within the Marine Corps, the implementation of these assets has been varied and inconsistent. This article strives to take the lessons learned from the past and improve on them. The goal is to develop a consistent program focused on resiliency and retention, and propose an integrated organized structure across all the Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF). Means and Methods Review of the literature, current practices, and future recommendations. Results This article demonstrates that continuing to utilize mental health resources at the Regimental level with a focus on community mental health principles rather than the medical model allows for proximity to members and leadership of their primary command, immediate access to them as their Special Staff Officer, the ability to set the expectation of recovery, resiliency, and readiness, and the capability to implement simple principles of nonmedical recuperation and advisement. Conclusions Improving on the organizational structure of mental health in the Marine Corps by placing a mental health Special Staff Officer at the MEF level and focusing on the principles of community mental health will shift the focus back to the primary and secondary prevention care efforts across all levels of the Marine Corps and provide clinical and leadership oversight as it relates to the philosophy, role, and implementation of organic mental health Officers.

Indirect Detection of Burkholderia pseudomallei Infection in a US Marine After Training in Australia

In 2012, the United States Marine Corps began annual deployments around Australia, including highly endemic areas for Burkholderia pseudomallei. B. pseudomallei infection, or melioidosis, is difficult to diagnose, and culture remains the gold standard. Accurate and timely diagnosis is essential, however, to ensuring appropriate therapy. Ten days after returning from Australia, a Marine presented to a community hospital with massive cervical lymphadenopathy, fever, and cough. Computed tomography demonstrated scattered pulmonary infiltrates with small cavitations; lymphadenopathy involving the cervical, supraclavicular, and mediastinal nodes; and splenomegaly. Sputum and blood cultures were negative. Empiric antimicrobial therapy with ceftazidime was initiated for suspected melioidosis. Retrospectively, a prototype iSTAT cartridge modified to detect B. pseudomallei capsular polysaccharide antigen was used to test a specimen of the patient’s blood and was determined to be positive. Over the course of therapy, B. pseudomallei capsular antigen levels in blood declined as the patient improved. The leveraging of an existing point-of-care (POC) analyzer to create a rapid diagnostic assay for melioidosis provides a template for rapid POC diagnostics that could significantly improve the ability of clinicians to deliver timely and appropriate therapy for serious infections.

The United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is an expeditionary and amphibious force in readiness with a history that spans almost the entire course of US history. The first American marines served under either continental or state employ during the War for American Independence. Although the Marine Corps celebrates 10 November 1775 as its official birthday, it was not until 11 July 1798 that the Marine Corps became a permanent military branch. Marines are an interesting amalgam of military and naval. Like their British Royal Marine ancestors, U.S. Marines serve with the navy afloat but they are not sailors. They have military features and organization but are not just soldiers either. Conceptually speaking, they are best thought of as naval infantry: soldiers who serve on ships at sea, not sailors who fight ashore. During the Barbary Wars (1801–1815), the War of 1812, and the American Civil War, detachments of Marines served aboard most naval vessels as the nucleus of landing parties, and safeguards against potentially mutinous crews. After the Spanish American War (1898–1899), the navy tasked the Marines with studying advanced base seizure and defense which would eventually lead to the Marine Corps adopting amphibious landings as one of their primary missions. The Marines, along with the navy, grew in size and function as the United States increased its sphere of influence around the globe and became a great maritime power just before the Great War. From World War I to the present day, the US Marine Corps has accrued a rich history of counterinsurgency and conventional campaigns. World War II is to this date still the Corps’ largest war which saw it expand to 485,000 Marines. Since the 1952 Douglas-Mansfield Act the Corps has hovered between 170,000 and 200,000 annually. Their present Marine Air Ground Task Force organization has allowed them to remain flexible and reliable to help the navy protect American interests and serve US policy and strategic objectives abroad. Significant participation in the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, and the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of this. Having fought in every major American war, and most of its smaller ones, the US Marine Corps has attracted a robust amount of scholarly attention. What follows is a selected collection of some of the most notable and useful works. It is by no means exhaustive but should serve as a starting point for researchers.

Organizational perspectives on the maneuver warfare movement in the United States Marine Corps: insights from the work of James G. March

This article describes a key period in the institutional and organizational history of the United States Marine Corps. Using historical, archival, and interview material, we apply some of the ideas and perspectives of James G. March to understand the organizational dynamics and mechanisms that enabled the maneuver warfare movement and made the modern Marine Corps a more innovative and adaptive organization. We build on and integrate several streams of March’s research, legacies, and interests, including understanding the organizational conditions that help novelty and outlier-ness flourish, finding interest and value in apparent contradictions, and deriving implications for organizational scholarship and for the organization under study.

SOUNDS TO ESTABLISH A CORPS: THE ORIGINS OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE BAND, 1798–1804

The Jeffersonian rise to power in 1801 ushered in sweeping political changes for the United States of America. It also focused attention on the newly established United States Marine Corps, as a group of hostile Congressmen sought to audit the service, dismiss many of its officers and do away with the executive function of its commandant. But Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was also a supporter of the new capital's growing cultural life, and no organization better defined the connection between music and the federal government than the United States Marine Band. While this ensemble was not officially authorized by Congress until 1861, Commandant William Ward Burrows had already transformed his small group of sanctioned field musicians into an ensemble that could provide ceremonial and entertainment music for Washington, DC. This article traces the earliest history of the Marine Band, documents its development from eighteenth-century signalling traditions and suggests the ways in which its presence in the capital helped to stem the growing Republican tide against the Marine Corps itself.