R 082115Z NOV 16
ALMAR 037/16
MSGID/GENADMIN/CMC WASHINGTON DC DMCS//
SUBJ/CORPS WIDE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONAL PAUSE//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1.  When I became Commandant, I promised we would have candid discussions.  I have listened to your input on how to make our Corps better, and I owe it to you to give you my honest opinions, both when we succeed, and when we need to improve.
2.  In the past year, Marines have once again upheld our legacy of operational excellence.  Wherever we have been called, we have demonstrated that our Nation’s leaders make the right choice when they “send in the Marines.”  From supporting the fight against ISIS, to providing hurricane relief in Haiti; from Embassy support in Africa, to building partner capacity in Central America; across the globe, Marines have shown themselves as worthy successors to those Marines who handed down our legacy.
3.  That said, at home, in our pre-deployment training and garrison activities, we are falling short.  We are losing too many Marines to avoidable death and injury.  We have a culture of combat excellence, but we have to guard against complacency and a lack of focus at home station.  When we lose a Marine, you are the ones who feel it most – they are your friends; they are your roommates in the barracks; you know their parents and loved ones.  I need your help.  The strength of our Corps is in our small unit leaders.  Problems get solved by NCOs, SNCOs, and Company Grade Officers.
4.  I want to be clear that the great majority of our Marines and units are doing an outstanding job.  We are taking care of each other and conducting ourselves in the right way, from how we train and operate to how we join new Marines to our units and make them valued members of the team from day one.  This message is meant to reinforce all the great things you are doing.  But as I have said to you when I visited you at Bases and Stations around our Corps, the best professional teams are proactive in ensuring they get better.  They pause, reflect, discuss, learn, and get better before they have problems that are beyond their control.  Champions are always their own harshest critics.
5.  Semper Fidelis, Robert B. Neller, General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps.//