In a wide-ranging interview with Semper Fi, the magazine of the Marine Corps League, General James F. Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps, discusses what’s next for Leathernecks as the Corps begins replacing equipment worn out from two wars, preparing for future military and humanitarian missions, and recruiting new Marines while downsizing from more than 202,000 to around 187,000.

Those last two items are the most important, General Amos told writer Otto Kreisher, because the Corps must keep faith with those who have served in it.

From a look at the future of the Corps, Semper Fi looks back to the early days of the American Civil War, when a Marine battalion fought with the Union side at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas). In reporting on the battle’s sesquicentennial, Writer Ross Simpson refutes an old accusation that the Marines ran away from the enemy.

The September-October issue also takes a look at how Combat Cargo and Logistics Marines keep the Corps ready to move at a moment’s notice, and how a new communications system may finally link up the entire battlefield.

Hammock Inc. assists the Marine Corps League in publishing its award-winning magazine, Semper Fi .