The Marine Corps commandant used the Corps' annual birthday message to say that the service branch's forces continue to "prepare for uncertainty."
Thursday marks 247 years since the Marine Corps was founded in Philadelphia's Tun Tavern.
Commandant Gen. David Berger joined other Marines in speaking during a 10½-minute birthday message video.
Berger hinted at the corps' Force Design 2030 strategy, an "effort to adapt, remain relevant, and out maneuver our adversaries," according to the Marines website.
"Across the force, we continue to innovate and experiment in preparation for the future fight," Berger said near the end of the video. "Where we will fight might be uncertain, but we prepare for uncertainty. When called, we will fight, and we will win — today, tomorrow and in the future."
Berger then addressed his forces directly.
"These victories are not won because of our technology or our equipment, but because of all of you," he said, "because of everything you do, every day to remain the best trained, most professional, most ready force in the world. That, has not changed."
The video ends with Berger and Sgt. Maj. Troy Black declaring, "Semper Fidelis. Happy birthday, Marines."
Not all Marines support Force Design 2030, especially its intent to divest of weapons refined during the past 50 years.
Critics also point to the Marines having ended all three of its crisis-response deployments, which had been set up after the 2012 attack on Benghazi, Libya, Marine Corps Times reported.
"FD 2030 will turn back the clock and return the Marine Corps to a pre-World War II force incapable of conducting large-scale operations," retired Marine Col. Michael P. Marletto wrote Sunday in The National Interest.
"The Marine Corps must be able to respond to a wide range of contingencies and always succeed when tasked, if it is to continue its 247-year history of unparalleled service to the nation."
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