To any visitor to the Academy I just want to take a few moments to say
welcome - we live in interesting times and the number of visitors seems to rise in proportion to just how "interesting" things are becoming out there in the Colonies.

I'd like to spend a few moments explaining some of the values we seek to bring out in the training of a good Marine.

The first of these is Planning. In any military operation a detailed
understanding of what we have, what we want and how we intend to achieve it, is fundamental. Making things up as you go along may be fine for entertainers and some politicians, but has no place in modern Marine operations.

The second of which is Innovation. It is said that "Sweat saves Blood" -
but Brains save both. It is the ability to look at a problem from a
different angle, and then act on it, that makes the difference between
merely capable forces and those that have the tradition of victory. Because of this I have made changes to the curriculum to identify the
"unconventional thinkers" and focus the best and most capable 1% of the Students into the "X Team" {Pronounced "Ecchs"} with the specific aim of considering current real-world military problems and developing
unconventional, but effective, solutions to them.

The third is Drive. There comes a time in every military career where the most detailed preparation and the most innovative thinking has come to nothing and the enemy is on your doorstep. At this point all that remains is the unshakable drive to get to close quarters with the enemy and KILL THEM. Even if there appears to be no conceivable way in which you can survive, it is essential that we MAKE THEM PAY, if not for us, then instead for the massed ranks that will inevitably follow us up.

Out here in orbit around Io, we take the finest men and women that our
systems have to offer and instil into them the values of what it takes to
be a Marine in service of the Emperor. They will go on to serve in a vast variety of places, face unimaginable odds and take part in operations that strain belief. Some will emerge victorious and go on to greater things and some will fail - but there is no shame in defeat by a superior enemy - the only shame is in surrender. A Marine might conceivably be beaten, but he will never give in.

So all that remains is to offer you, as we do all visitors here, a toast -
the Marine Corps Toast:

"Long Live the Emperor; Glory to the Marine Corps,
and to everyone else 'Breathe Vacuum, Sucker!'"

Senior Colonel Thomas A Killgore MOBE EMC
Director, Earther Marine Corps Academy
Io Station, Sol System