First To Fight begins with Krulak engaged in a conversation with a gunnery sergeant who was asked how the Marine Corps got the reputation of having one of the largest fighting in the world. The GySgt replies “Well Lieutenant, they started telling everyone how good they were and soon they started believing it.” The story goes on to talk about how there was almost no Marine Corps. It begins with Marine Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith on the deck of the command ship Mt. Olympus, off Iwo Jima, on the morning of February 23, 1945 with Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal stating that raising our flag atop at Mount Suribachi means there will be a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years. Smith commented, "When the war is over and money is scarce, they will hunt the Marines again," and a dozen Iwo Jimas would make no difference. The steadfast general was giving voice to the frustrations of many generations of Marines before him who had learned through hard experience that fighting for the right to fight often presented greater challenges than fighting their country's enemies. The Marines' struggles for survival during their first century and a half were mere skirmishes compared to what would begin after World War II. Although America was still trying to see through the smoke of Pearl Harbor, much more serious problems were visible. A carefully designed plan that, if implemented, would destroy the Marine Corps as a fighting force. According to Krulak the scene was set by three events. In early October 1942 Krulak was a member of a team of four Marine officers assigned to the Army's 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, to conduct divisive instruction...... half of document.. .... states there are three powerful external factors clouding the Marines' horizon. The first is the oppressive influence of the threat. This threat is rooted in the attitudes or aspirations of the Army, Navy, or various CEOs. Its nature is varied: it threatens the reputation of the Corps, its right to fight, its very survival. Second, the recurring military affliction called austerity. At worst, they remain on active duty and pose a danger to everyone around them. The third is the dead hand of bureaucracy that weighs on the entire military establishment. While larger services may be able to handle the pressures of bureaucracy, the Marine Corps has neither the instinct nor the time to do so. The Marines are a collection of warriors, nothing more. Paper massaging and cyber competitions do not kill the enemy, which is what the Marines are supposed to do.