Gen. to Marines: Cheer Up--That’s an Order!

U.S. Marine Commandant Gen. Alfred M. Gray told his men today to dig in for a long stay in the Saudi desert and to stop asking when they would be going home.

He also reminded them that if they are attacked, “the best defense is a good offense.”

Gray delivered a 45-minute pep talk to Marines at a combat support detachment not far from the Persian Gulf and the north-south highways the corps is straddling to protect vital Saudi oil installations.

He told the men he hoped to be able to stick to the policy of limiting major deployments to six months. But Gray, known for his bluntness, said the tense standoff and logistic problems might prevent normal rotations--and that he did not expect any whining.

“I don’t want to hear about any more questions about how long you’re going to be here,” he told about 200 Marines gathered around him at the camp, named in honor of Joe Foss, a World War II Marine flying ace.

“How long are we going to be here?” he asked rhetorically through a bullhorn. “Well, we’re going to be here as long as it takes to get done what has to be done.

“There will be no morale problems . . . because I say there will be morale. There will also be no boredom.”

He described the Marines’ mission as defensive but said that the U.S.-led multinational forces deployed after Iraq invaded Kuwait are gaining power every day and “have everything we need to do whatever needs to be done.”

“You and the rest of your warrior friends, you’re really on the point. You’re the tip of the spear,” he said.

Gray solemnly reminded his troops that “Marines are always in this part of the world the No. 1 target of terrorist attacks.”

More than 240 Marines were killed by a suicide truck bomber who blew up their barracks in Beirut in October, 1983.

He told the men not to underestimate Iraq’s large army, saying: “We face the potential of a pretty good firefight.”

Gray also said he believed the swift U.S. response to the invasion of Kuwait had prevented the Iraqis from moving into Saudi Arabia.

“You’ve won a big one already and you haven’t had to fire a shot,” he said. “And nobody’s had to get patched up.”