Ready to Fight Tonight

 Doctrinally the Marine Corps professes that the "6 Fs" are the key components to leader development. In my upbringing in the Corps, we have spoken about the 6 Fs often.

- Fidelity: Faithfulness to core principles, actions aligning to words. "Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful"

- Fitness: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual.

- Family: For the Marine Corps to succeed families must be resilient, they are the bedrock. 

- Finance: Responsibility in this area mitigates stressors, prepares us and our families for deployments, etc

- Future: Goals and intentionality about personal progression. 

- Fighter: Tactical and Fundamental skills that enable us to win the fight. 

    Meghan and I recently had the privilege to host a couple we met at church for dinner. He happens to have just retired from a 33-year career in the Marine Corps, also happens to have 7 children, and also happens to be an elder at said church. In conversation, he mentioned that he actually wrote the 6Fs for the Marine Corps. This is the first time, and likely the only time, that I will meet the exact source behind Marine Corps Doctrine. Being the source he obviously has a depth and richness in the meaning behind the 6F's that most do not know. When asked to come up with Leader Development material he reverted back to the notes he sent to his family every day of his deployments following his morning bible reading. The 6Fs were actually a guideline he had written for his own family. He regularly discussed these ideas with his wife and children. I always find comfort when I discover writers of military doctrine who fear the Lord. 

    He went on to say that "Fighter" encompasses the other five F's. He would hound his Marines with the phrase, "Ready to fight tonight". In all other areas, they needed to be ready that night to take the fight to the enemy. That means that each day all other areas are in check, and in balance, allowing a Marine to deploy at any time and not leave wars left to be fought at home. Ready to fight tonight... We would all benefit from this mentality. Imagine husbands, before they were even husbands, ready to fight that night for their wives and marriages. Imagine fathers ready to fight before they even have children for their discipline and upbringing. Imagine Men ready to fight their temptations before they were tempted. 

So many prepare to fight only after we have been hit. Only after hearing the bugles in the night. If as a warfighting institution we understand that proactive training and diligent preparation is the only type that breeds victory in our nation's wars, how much more so in our everyday lives do we need to understand that the battles we face can only be won through preparation and a readiness to fight at any moment. After all, what is life but a struggle between opposing wills, a Zweifkampf?.

"Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. " Ephesians 6:13

I urge you to be ready to fight tonight. 

"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Matthew 24: 44