If there is a focus in this month’s edition of the Gazette it is leadership. There are many kinds of leadership, and we explore several aspects in various articles. First and foremost is institutional leadership. In “LtCol Earl ‘Pete’ Ellis” on page 12, LtGen Richard P. Mills, the Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration, announces a new writing contest that is named in honor of Ellis, who was a true visionary. The contest, sponsored by the Marine Corps Association, will have an award of $5,000 to the author the judging board believes has the best article that proposes and argues for modification or introduction of new concepts or materiel solutions to address future operational challenges. The details are in the article. I can say that the Corps is looking for fungible ideas. Want to change the future direction of the Corps? Here is your chance to use the power of the pen to help lead the Corps into the future.
As a major and lieutenant colonel, Ellis and a few other visionaries prepared the Corps to move from being a second land Army into a new security environment that would require different operational concepts, organization, training, and equipment. No wonder the decision was made to name the award after him. We need a Pete Ellis to put pen to paper today.
Speaking of Ellis, by all accounts he had a drinking problem and a brilliant but eccentric personality. Based on the Navy Cross he earned in World War I, he was also incredibly brave and effective in combat. Take a careful look at the Ellis portrait in the article and then compare it to the photo of Ellis in the Wikipedia biographical entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Hancock_Ellis. Yes, when they had the portrait commissioned, the Corps had the cigarette painted out of Ellis’ hand. It is time to nurture the futurists among us like Ellis, and the Corps is trying to bring them and their ideas out, not remake them into politically correct icons.
On page 20 LtCol Michael D. Grice asks, “What Color Are Your Socks?” In this article he decries the chicken excrement that passes for leadership and discipline. I think he makes some great points. I wonder if anyone ever upbraided Ellis for the color of his socks. LtCol Grice is a distinguished author, and one of his recent articles, “For a Bit of Colored Ribbon” (MCG, Oct11), has elicited an article from retired Col Lee W. Freund from Manpower at Headquarters Marine Corps. His article on page 79, “Enabling Timely Combat Awards,” serves as a primer for how the awards system works. Recognizing valor is an inherent leadership responsibility.
Other articles address thoughts on how to create effective units; on leadership traits that, while not enumerated in our leadership traits and principles, are critical and characteristic of successful leaders; and finally on aviation leadership and how it relates to safety of flight.
In closing I urge you once again to write, not for the monetary award but to make the Corps better and more relevant, and to remain, as I have always maintained it is, the last best hope of Western civilization.
John Keenan
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