Colonel Grant Newsham
speaker
276 appearances
4 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2025
last heard 2d ago
Colonel Grant Newsham’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 1.
Appearances
My pleasure.
Thank you for having me.
There are not many institutions in the history of mankind that have lasted for 250 years, sir. Well, it's an institution that has really been designed to do one thing, and that is, if necessary, die defending America. There's not too many institutions that have that as their basic premise, and it's never had any shortage attracting people. It's had high standards, and when it's kept them, it's done very well. And this is ultimately what the Marines are about.
This is the ultimate in self-sacrifice. And every Marine that you ever see has had to pass a pretty difficult test just to be called a Marine. So it's a fairly exclusive club to get to be part of it.
that anyone has ever fought in. What's the transformation process? How do you take the raw material of an average American kid and turn them into a United States Marine? That's one of the most astonishing things you'll ever come across, that they've been so successful at it for so long, and you've obviously got to expose them to an awful lot of pressure and stress, and then show them how to deal with it. And not everyone can.
But most people will be surprised exactly what they can handle. But there's no easy way around it. And the easier it is,
in a training environment, the less likely it is you're going to succeed in a place like Fallujah or Najaf. And you saw the results of it and the interview with Scott Cuomo. This is as if you got to talk to somebody who was at Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, took on the Japanese and finished them off. It's the same raw material they take and they turn it into something
That does America's bidding for it and just slays our enemies. And it is ultimately a crucible. You are testing people to see what they can handle. And as I said, generally speaking, they can do it. Not everyone can. And with officers, it has to be even harder because you don't want these Marines led by people who can't handle the stress. So the harder it is, the better it is. Of course, it's gratuitous.
Gratuitous bullying, that doesn't really get you very far, but it is a pretty successful model that the Marines have for stressing people, showing what they can handle, and you instill the self-confidence in them, and that ultimately is really what it's about with the Marines, plus this absolute dedication and devotion to the nation.
to the idea of freedom. You'll notice that after they do go out and fight and win, that the first thing they want to do is go home. They don't want to keep territory, stick around and enslave people. They just want to go back to their peacetime lives. And it's amazing that they keep getting this raw material and producing the kind of Marines they have. And to my way of thinking, this has always meant that at the senior most level in the Marine Corps, the senior officers, that there's an
immense responsibility to get this right, to make sure that you don't squander this resource, don't squander these lives. And that is a constant challenge, and sometimes they do better at it than others. But the young officers, the staff NCOs, the NCOs, the junior Marines, they always perform superbly. It's just a question of how well they're led.
Well, yeah, you're imbued with this idea that you're part of something much bigger than yourself. And it is an organization that regards itself as the finest fighting force ever. There's a pretty good case to be made for that. But you do feel you're part of the Marine Corps. And when you see a crowd of former Marines, say, celebrating,
The marine birthday and these are people it is a cross section of American society and every one of them has that common bond and it never leaves them and it does have an effect on you this sort of. Training and if you figure that say what happens on the battlefield half of its psychological at least that you can get this psychological strength.
wherever it comes from, and does come from being part of an organization where everybody has met a standard and is ultimately willing to die for you, that that is immensely powerful. And it is something you really can't overstate, the psychological aspect of being a Marine.
And they do a pretty good job of getting that across. And the Marines that have come before us, everybody is aware of that. And that goes back all the way to 1775. And it really does make a difference. And today's Marines, you know, they are as good as they've ever been. The leadership, of course, I think that's always a challenge at the top levels. But the raw material, the young Marines, that is as good as it's ever been.
Well, you'll find When China Attacks on Amazon.com. That's the easiest. And everything I write is at grantnewsham.com or grantnewsham at Center for Security Policy. And the X is at Newsham Grant. Colonel, thank you so much for joining us today. 250th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Thank you, sir. Sure. Glad to be here. Thank you.
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