The U.S. Marine Corps is a group of tight-knit, highly-trained, elite professionals committed to their mission and one another. This commitment, however, goes well beyond the field of duty. That's where the Marine Corps Association (MCA) comes in. Founded in 1913, MCA is a private organization that provides the men and women of the Marine Corps with information about military arts and sciences, opportunities for professional development, and helps to uphold Marine Corp traditions and core values.

MCA is probably best known as the publishers of Leatherneck magazine and Marine Corps Gazette, two magazines that deal with Marine life. Marine Corps Gazette is a monthly periodical dedicated to exchanging ideas about topics that pertain to the Marine experience, written by and for Marines. Leatherneck magazine focuses on feature articles about individual Marines and units, their training, where they serve, and the battles they have engaged in. The MCA also supports the Marine Corps through its fund-raising arm, the Marine Corps Association Foundation, which awards the achievements of Marines and oversees other events and programs that benefit the Corps.

For their new site, the MCA needed a practical way for site administrators to manage content for their main site, which includes both magazines, as well as the Foundation site, which lives at a different domain. The open source content management platform Drupal and its multi-site capabilities were a natural fit. While each section of the main site and the Foundation site each has a distinct original look and feel, the back-end of both sites are the same, making it easier for administrators to wrangle content and manage their workflow.

Palantir used the Organic Groups module to give each magazine a unique identity while at the same time tying them in with the overall branding of the MCA site. It also allowed for each magazine to have a unique set of user permissions, making it possible to assign editors to moderate each magazine and streamline content proliferation. Palantir also created a custom module that allows separate splash pages to be created for both Leatherneck and Gazette, which helps establish the character of each magazine within the framework of the MCA site.

Like the Marines themselves, the MCA wanted a site that was agile and could adapt to any situation. Drupal's Panels module was used to create several pages throughout the site, giving the MCA a flexible site layout. Taking advantage of this flexibility, Palantir created custom date-based Panels handling for Leatherneck magazine, giving them the ability to present unique homepage layouts for their weekend and holiday editions. MCA also has the ability to specify other date-based-layouts at their discretion.

The Marine Corps Association continues to be such a valuable resource for all Marines because of the members that support it. MCA member accounts are managed through an external membership service called ISSI. The MCA wanted the ability to maintain ISSI, while providing their members with access to exclusive "members-only" content published on the MCA site. Palantir created a custom module that checks member credentials and then assigns them a user role on the new site, providing seamless integration into the MCA's new site.

Every Marine needs a good looking uniform. MCA's new site is no different. Palantir's user experience team extended MCA's existing branding to create a sturdy, sustainable design system that establishes a consistent visual voice throughout the site. Each section of the site features bold header images that help establish branding. Palantir created a custom module that pulls in Google ads to be displayed in pre-assigned advertising blocks. Finally, Palantir converted the site from a three column layout to the Zen theme and a modern 960 pixel grid.

Marines are a group of individuals known to meet any challenge. Now the Marine Corps Association has a website that can do the same.