Commandant Vows Stiffer Training : Marine Links Need for Higher Standards to Urban War

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Alfred M. Gray Jr. delivered a blunt message Tuesday during a whirlwind trip to the Navy’s amphibious base on Coronado: Marine training is going to be tougher and more realistic.

During an hourlong discussion with the press, and an informal address to 300 officers and enlisted personnel, the 59-year-old veteran of Korea and Vietnam stressed the need for more combat training and higher standards.

“If we’re as good as we believe we are, we’re going to have to hustle to stay there,” Gray said. “We are the Free World’s only forcible entry (combat landing) capability of any magnitude.”

The Corps, he said, wants a few good street fighters.

‘Taught to Be Street Fighters’

“We must take these fine young people we have today and make sure they are taught to be street fighters and taught to play the ‘what-if’ game and taught to take care of themselves and each other in the terribly complex environments we serve in,” Gray said.

“Much of the combat, for example, in the future, and much of the crisis points today are in built-up areas, urban warfare. We’ve given them a heavy dose of that, and we’re going to do more.”

Gray said the Corps will soon return to a system where all Marines will receive advanced infantry training--even if they are not destined to be assigned to an infantry unit. He also envisions more night training, more training in mock “combat city” settings, more hand-to-hand combat, and more training in how to cooperate with other branches of the military.

The move to require all Marines to undergo infantry training will mean added numbers at both Camp Pendleton in Oceanside and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Guards’ Training Increased

Training for Marines stationed as embassy guards has also been increased, and psychological screening reevaluated, in the wake of a scandal at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. As a result of that scandal, Marine Sgt. Clayton J. Lonetree was convicted of espionage for passing secrets to the Soviet Union.

Gray declined to discuss the severity of the security leak or discuss Lonetree’s legal case, but he displayed no sympathy for the explanation that Lonetree’s loneliness in a foreign post may have left him vulnerable to a female spy.

“The sense of responsibility rests with the individual Marine,” Gray said. “He knows what’s right and wrong. He is expected to use common sense.

“This business about it being lonely in Moscow or lonely in Zaire, it was lonely at Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, Korea, and a lot of other places. They need to understand that, and if they can’t handle that, they can’t be in this Marine Corps.”

Talking to the officers and enlisted personnel, Gray, a stocky, restless figure in camouflage gear and jump boots, received his best response when he said he is going to insist that the Army adopt some Marine training tactics.

“We’re going to Marine-ize them a little bit,” he said.

Gray, who was made commandant July 1, has just returned from a tour of Marine bases in the Far East and Western Pacific. At Coronado, he also spoke to a group of Marine recruiters, and today he is scheduled to give an address at Camp Pendleton.