Michael Duncan Wyly (born c. 1939) is a retired

U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

. In 1979, Colonel Wyly was head of tactics at the

Amphibious Warfare School Marine Corps University is a professional military education university system of the United States Marine Corps. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Master's Degrees. H ...

(AWS) where he, with John Boyd, introduced

maneuver warfare Maneuver warfare, or manoeuvre warfare, is a military strategy which seeks to shatter the enemy's overall cohesion and will to fight. Background Maneuver warfare, the use of initiative, originality and the unexpected, combined with a rut ...

Military service

Wyly enlisted as a Marine private in 1957. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, in 1958 and graduated in 1962 as Second Lieutenant of Marines. He served as

Jim Webb James Henry Webb Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is an American politician and author. He has served as a United States senator from Virginia, Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Counsel for the United States ...

's company commander in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. He co-wrote the ''Maneuver Warfare Handbook'' for the Marine Corps with William Lind.

Ballet

He was Executive Director of Bossov Ballet Theatre, a non-profit ballet company in

Pittsfield, Maine Pittsfield is a town in Somerset County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,908 at the 2020 census. Pittsfield is home to the Maine Central Institute, a semi-private boarding school, and the annual Central Maine Egg Festival. History ...

until the end of 2013. Wyly's role as director of a

Ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

school is seen as unusual for a former Marine and has been the subject of articles in the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, and the

Christian Science Monitor Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...

Criticism

Wyly's views were criticized in a July 1997 '' Atlantic Monthly'' article "The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society" by Thomas E. Ricks. "It is one matter to acknowledge that much in American society today is deserving of contempt. It is another matter to propose that the role of the U.S. military -- especially an all-volunteer professional military oriented toward conservative Republicanism -- is to fix those problems. Yet that is what some are doing." Ricks then quotes Wyly from the March, 1995, issue of the Marine Corps Gazette. "It is no longer enough for Marines to 'reflect' the society they defend, They must lead it, not politically but culturally. For it is the culture we are defending."The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society by Thomas E. Ricks
/ref> Ricks goes on to quote Wyly "We must be willing to realize that our real enemy is as likely to appear within our own borders as without." He (Wyly) then took swipes at the two fundamental principles of U.S. military professionalism: unwavering subordination to civilian control and nonparticipation in politics. Ricks then quotes Wyly from a later article: "If our laws and self-image of our role as military professionals do not allow for he recognition that the real enemy may be withinwe need to change them." Ricks writes " Wyly raised the possibility that the Marines would refuse to enforce certain laws. Specifically, if Congress were to restrict gun ownership, then Marines would need to understand that "enforcing such a restriction could quickly make us the enemy of constitutional freedom."

References

External links

Thinking like MarinesRaising Kaine, Jim Webb's Company Commander
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyly, Michael Living people 1930s births United States Naval Academy alumni United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War