General Reminds Marines, Leaders of Values

James Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps, is visiting bases around the world to remind soldiers and their leaders of the hallmark values of the Corps amid concerns of its public image following troubling conduct by some Marines in Afghanistan, USA Today reported.

General James Amos and the top enlisted Marine, Sgt. Maj. Micheal Barrett, are urging Marine leaders to get "back on true north" and focus on accountability and discipline. They are delivering the message after incidents of a circulated video showing Marines urinating on dead Taliban soldier and an online photograph of Marine snipers posing next to a flag that resembled the Nazi SS symbol.

General Amos is concerned that the conduct shows a lack of discipline and accountability by the Marines and its leadership and that the Corps is allowing its standards to slip.

The incidents involved only a handful of Marines, a small fraction of those who have served in the Middle East in the two wars and military analysts say the level of misconduct is actually lower than previous years. But the incidents have been criticized at home and by the Afghanistan government, which said such images give the Taliban a tool to recruit more terrorists, according to USA Today.

"If the American public and Congress ever lose faith in us then we will cease to exist," General Amos told leaders, according to USA Today. "We're not in that kind of position. As the keeper of the flame I don't ever want to even get close.”