Check out my friend Charlie's continuing beef with Marine Corps Commandant James Conway over at Abu Muqawama:

Say again? Is the Commandant trying to tell us that the Marine Corps doesn't have a history of patrolling? Of non-kinetic activity? Of occupation? Jesus H. Christ! Then perhaps Gen. Conway can tell this blogger if he's ever read this book. You know, the little red one that Marines used to wave in the face of anyone who challenged their assertion that they were the small wars force of choice? For the record, the Marines spent the better part of a decade "occupying" Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and when they were done, they wrote a brilliant manual telling everyone else how to do it! They made use of that Small Wars Manual when they established the Combined Action Platoons in Vietnam, one of the Corps' finest hours.