This is Jocko podcast number 497 with Echo Charles and me Jocko Willink.

Good evening, Ico.

Good evening.

The Battle of Iwo Jima occupies a meaningful niche in the heritage of our nation and our core.

Marines have subsequent generations accustomed to limited wars and restrictive rules of engagement may find it hard to imagine the battle's sheer size and fury

The raw dimensions are staggering three marine divisions assaulting a densely fortified island from the sea

36 days of savage point-blank firing that won a great victory

But cost the five amphibious Corps nearly 28,000 casualties

The bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history

In the last and final analysis, it is the guy with the rifle and machine gun who wins and pays the penalty to preserve our liberty.

My hat is off to the Marines.

I think my feelings about them is best expressed by Major General Julian Smith.

In a letter to his wife after Tarawa he said

I never again can see United States Marine without experiencing a feeling of reverence

and that right there is the opening of an article that was written by Marine Corps Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, who was a company commander in Vietnam.

And after he retired from the Marine Corps, he became a historian, an author, a script writer.

And probably his most famous book is a book called Uttmost Savagery.

He also wrote Sea Soldiers in the Cold War and also a fellowship of valor, the history of the

United States Marine Corps.

Very prolific guy.

But this short article was taken from the Marine Corps Institute or from a Marine

Corps Institute document, which is called Leadership Credo.

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