by Tom Clancy
Despite all these problems, Gunny Hazzard and his team do "win" their share. The week before our visit, they had enlisted three female QMAs, a real prize for any recruiting office. The following week, their office would swear in four more male recruits. Gunny Hazzard was quite candid when he told me that not every month went so well. Like salesmen, each month Marine recruiters start at zero and are judged on current, not past, performance.
When a candidate has been qualified, and all the paperwork is complete, the next step is to schedule a time to report for processing and transportation to one of the two Marine Corps Recruit Depots (MCRDs). MCRD San Diego, near Point Loma in the harbor district of San Diego, California, provides Recruit Training for all male recruits west of the Mississippi River, including Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific (Guam, Samoa, etc.). Folks in the Corps like to call the recruits trained there "Hollywood Marines" because of its proximity to that entertainment capital. The other MCRD, at Parris Island, South Carolina, handles Recruit Training for male recruits east of the Mississippi, as well as all of the Corps' female recruits.
The wait for a reservation at Recruit Training is short these days — unless you are a female recruit, as there is only one female recruit battalion at Parris Island, with a limited number of openings each year. When the time comes for the new recruit to report for training, he or she is transported to a Military Enlistment Processing Station (MEPS), and then to the MCRD. In the mid-Atlantic region, the MEPS is located in Baltimore, and recruits are accompanied by the recruiter. After an entry physical, they are sworn in and driven to the airport for the flight to Charleston, South Carolina. From there, they are bused to their new home for the next three months or so, the MCRD at Parris Island. Let's visit this gateway to the Corps, and see what makes it such a special place in the hearts of Marines.
The Island: Parris Island and Recruit Training
Deep in the palmetto groves and scrub pines of tidewater South Carolina you can still find a land that looks little changed from the 1800s. When you arrive, you might swear that you have seen this place before, and you would be right. This is the home of the novels of Pat Conroy; and in fact The Great Santini and The Big Chill were filmed in the nearby town of Beaufort. The place is Port Royal Sound, the finest natural harbor between Virginia and Florida and home to several Marine Corps bases. Up the sound, Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort is home to Marine Air Group Thirty One (MAG-31), flying F/A-18 Hornet fighter bombers. Across from Hilton Head, with its beautiful golf courses and resorts, is our destination, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.
Parris Island was fought over by French, Spanish, and English forces even before the Revolutionary War. Later, during our own Civil War, it was one of the first bits of Confederate territory taken by the Union, in 1861. Throughout the Civil War, the sound's superb natural harbor was a base for Union amphibious and blockade operations along the Southeastern coast. Later, during the Spanish-American War, the sound served as a naval base and staging area. The old stone dry dock near the commanding general's quarters is mute testimony to past naval activity. Parris Island became an MCRD during the run-up to World War II, when it supported the vast expansion of the Corps. Warm year-round weather makes it ideal for training, though it does get pretty steamy and tropical during the summer. One of the consequences of the climate is the profuse and voracious insect life, which must be seen (and felt!) to be believed. All the same, its close proximity to Charleston to the north and lack of encroachment by civilian development mean that it will probably be training Marines long after southern California real estate development has crowded MCRD San Diego out of existence.
Facilities at MCRD Parris Island are a mix of new and old, with modern mess halls and shooting-simulation galleries right beside old landing strips for World War II-era bombers. Even in these days of tight budgets, modernization and new construction of barracks continue. Parris Island is unique among East Coast Marine bases, having virtually no active Fleet Marine Force units. First, last, and always, Parris Island is dedicated to just one mission: taking raw, civilian recruits and making them into Marines. The core of this process is the Recruit Training Regiment (RTR), commanded in late 1995 by Colonel D.O. Hendricks. His senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) was Sergeant Major P.J. Holding, a veteran of over twenty years in the Corps. The RTR includes a support battalion and four training battalions — three for male recruits, with the fourth reserved for female recruits. At any one time, Parris Island is home to over seven thousand training and support personnel, and some 4,800 recruits. It is a busy place, and you can feel the energy as you enter the base.
The new recruit's first impression of Parris Island comes during the last stage of the bus ride down from Charleston. The MCRD is extremely isolated, connected to the rest of the world by a single two-lane causeway. Except for that, the entire depot is surrounded by salt marshes, swamps, and the sound. This makes security relatively simple, and "going UA" (Unauthorized Absence, the current term for AWOL) virtually impossible. Though the leadership of the Corps only smiles when you mention it, new recruits always seem to arrive in the middle of the night, around 2:00 AM. This intensifies the new recruits' sense of being cut off from their past and the outside world and focuses them on what is to come in the next few months. The buses roll up in front of the "receiving" building. There recruits are dumped onto a stretch of road marked by a line of yellow-painted footsteps. Each recruit stands on a set of the painted prints and takes part in his or her first formation on the way to becoming a Marine. It is a moving, memorable moment. Throughout the next few months of Recruit Training, the recruits will probably never again see this spot. Only afterwards do they always seem to find their way back to where their individual journeys into the Marine Corps began. From the yellow footsteps, they are marched inside the receiving building for a short orientation.
They spend the rest of the night with paperwork, haircuts, and gear issue, before they move on to a holding barracks for some rest. All personal belongings (civilian clothing, CD/cassette players, even combs) are taken from the recruits and placed into storage, to be returned upon completing or leaving Recruit Training. This has a further effect of cutting recruits off still further from their past lives, and makes any attempt by a rogue recruit to leave the island more difficult. Then there is "the moment of truth," where each new recruit is asked, for the last time, whether he or she really wants to be there, and if there is anything in their background which would keep them from serving as a Marine. This is important, for any lies detected after this point can result in immediate dismissal from the Marines. Admission of a past infraction means that if the problem can be worked out, the Corps will do so without damage to the recruit's career. The next few days are spent in further testing, physical examinations, an initial strength test, and appointments with various counselors. These activities are designed to alert the RTR training staff to any physical or psychological problems that might cause trouble with a new recruit. In the case of a physical injury or shortcoming, the RTR staff retains the recruit and tries to place him or her back into the training cycle later.
The other examinations can take a darker turn. Many young people in our society come from abusive families or destructive situations; and such people may choose the military as a way out of these situations. Although the Corps views its role as "making Marines and winning wars," as it accomplishes that it tries to provide a safe, positive place where qualified young men and women can get a clean start on life. Thus, when the RTR personnel find a young recruit with a problem, they work to help the person overcome it, rather than throwing that person back into society's reject bin. Throughout Recruit Training, you find examples of such interventions by RTR staff members. At times they have to physically place themselves between the recruits and dangerous situations. At other times they have to give a young recruit an "assist" or "push" when they hit the "wall" that all recruits seem to hit somewhere in training. Like runners in a marathon, recruits often reach the poin
t where suddenly the end goal seems unattainable; but with a little help and support it comes into focus and sight. Other interventions can be more hazardous, like having to drag a recruit clear of a mishandled grenade on the training range. A lost recruit hurts, and the RTR staff work hard to make sure as many as possible make it through. On another plane, the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps looks after the spiritual well-being of the recruits, as well as that of the staff and their families. Through a program of lay readers, chaplains manage to cover virtually every religious tradition and denomination. They are a vital link back to the rest of the world for the recruits, also providing a liaison to the Red Cross in the event of a family emergency.
Marine recruits on the Parris Island confidence course. This series of obstacles is designed to promote physical fitness and mental toughness in traversing assorted obstacles.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
Following the orientation period, recruits are assigned to one of the four training battalions. They are assigned to platoons of about seventy to eighty personnel. Three or four platoons make up a "Series," which is the basic organizational unit within the battalion. Two Series make up a Company, with four companies per battalion. Each series is commanded by a 1st Lieutenant or Captain, with a Gunnery Sergeant as the senior NCO. Within each platoon, a team of four Drill Instructors is assigned to watch over the training and well-being of the recruits. The legendary Marine Drill Instructor (DI) is as revered by the Corps as he is misunderstood by the public. DIs come in two flavors, Senior DIs with their distinctive black patent-leather belts, and Junior DIs with green web belts. The Senior DIs are supervisors, taking charge of each platoon and the other sergeants.
Despite the popular notion that Recruit Training is a program of sadistic torture, and the DIs demented bullies, the truth is surprisingly different. Series commanders and DIs are selected volunteers whose mission is to get as many recruits as possible through Recruit Training successfully and safely. Now, this has not always been the practice of the Corps, and the 1956 incident at Ribbon Creek at Parris Island is always on the minds of DIs. They take care of their recruits the way a mother hawk watches over her young. This does not mean that Marine Recruit Training is easy or enjoyable. It is specifically designed to be neither. It is a tailored curriculum of physical, mental, academic, and skills training, designed to take recruits to their own personal limits, and keep them there for a long period of time.
During this training, the DIs work hard to keep the pressure on without losing any recruit who is capable of meeting the challenge of becoming a Marine. It is a very tough job. From the moment new recruits are assigned to a training platoon, there will be a DI overseeing every moment of their lives. This means that the Drill Instructors are running a twenty-four-hour-a-day watch schedule every day of Recruit Training. On average, the DI's day runs about eighteen hours long, with constant vigilance being the minimum requirement. Burnout is a common problem among the DIs and Series Commanders, and a program of rotation to non-training posts within the RTR helps keep them focused during their two year tours in the job.
The term "positive control" is used to describe the way DIs watch over each recruit. Designed to keep recruits safe and obedient, positive control is exercised through a combination of physical presence and what the Marines call the "command voice." The physical presence is a function of appearance, so DIs will wear an immaculate uniform topped by the famous Marine campaign cover (also known as a "Smokey Bear"). But the command voice is what really does it. Like the famous "rebel yell" of the Civil War, it is impossible to describe, but you know it when you hear it. Every DI and Series Commander has one; and some say it makes any order, comment, or statement presented to the new recruit sound like the voice of God himself. The DIs need the command voice, because the days of physical hazing and verbal abuse towards recruits is over. DIs use words the way a surgeon uses a scalpel to cut out a tumor. To an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old recruit, it is like being torn apart emotionally. One of my guides, public affairs officer Captain Whitney Mason, had just completed a tour as a series commander at Parris Island, and she confessed to having such a "voice" for those occasions when she needed it. Now, looking at this slender and slight lady, you might find it hard to believe, but she indeed does. The lessons delivered through the "command voice" last a lifetime. More than one Marine I've spoken with has told me that in the heat of combat, when he was so scared he was pissing in his pants, lessons delivered from a particular DI years before came through loud and clear through the terror, and saved his life.
Back to the new recruits. Much has been happening during their testing and transition period. During their early days at Parris Island, they rapidly lose the identity they knew in civilian life. Along with the mandatory "buzz cut" haircut for male recruits (female recruits enjoy a little latitude in permitted hairstyles), uniforms and other gear are issued. And just before they are assigned to their training platoon, recruits acquire the most important tool of the Marine rifleman, an M 16A2 rifle. They will carry it throughout Recruit Training, and will learn to use it better than any other basically trained warrior in the world.
When the time comes to meet their Dis, this is done in a unique ceremony called a "Pickup Briefing." The new recruits march to their new platoon barracks (called a squad bay) and stow their gear. This done, the seventy or so recruits sit cross-legged on the floor and await the appearance of their DIs. Starting with the Company Commander, then the Senior DI with the distinctive black belt, the recruits are introduced to the Marines who will hold their lives in their hands for the next few months. The speeches are compelling, almost intimidating in their presentation. But if you look over the recruits then, you'll see that they are not just intimidated, they are actually frightened, as well they should be. The first time you experience a DI in full regalia and command voice is something you never forget. The DIs talk for a short time about what will be expected of the recruits and how things will run in the platoon, with special emphasis on safety and looking out for each other. Then things begin to happen. The recruits are lined up in front of high double bunks, and the DIs begin to drill them. At first they are ordered to dig into their duffel bags and footlockers and quickly find particular pieces of equipment or articles of clothing. Later, they begin to drill with their M 16s. The idea is to get them to rapidly respond to the orders of the DIs and build the trust that will be required to make Recruit Training effective. In this way, more difficult and dangerous training tasks, particularly those involving firearms, can be safely accomplished.
Marine Recruit Training is accomplished in phases, spanning about three months (for female recruits, a few days more). It starts with the Forming Phase that we have been looking at. Lasting three to four days, it is designed to teach the recruits the basics of squad bay life and "getting green," as some of the recruits call it. During this time, the DIs take the time to interview each recruit, to get to know them better, and to establish what will be needed to lead a particular recruit through Recruit Training. It also is a final check to see if any personal problems need to be referred to professional counselors or medical personnel. The four Dis then split up the job of watching over the platoon; and one DI remains on duty in the squad bay at night during what is called the "fire watch." Recruits are enlisted to help with the fire watch, which further serves to indoctrinate them into the twenty-four-hour-a-day nature of military life. Though this experience is vital, for combat often requires going without sleep for extended periods, efforts are nevertheless made to ensure that recruits get adequate rest. It's usually lights out by 9:00 P.M., and up at 5:00 A.M. every day.
Following the Forming Phase is Phase I, which lasts approximately three weeks. This is mainly an orientation phase, where the recruits are given a daily regime of intensive physical training (PT), close-order drill, introductory classes in general military academic subjects, and their first experience with the obstacle course, which is a confidence-builder composed of assorted barriers to climb over, jum
p across, or crawl under. Recruits run the course repeatedly during Recruit Training, and by the time that they are done, they will know how to run it literally with their eyes closed. The daily PT is also vital, because the Corps requires a certain minimum level of physical fitness just to perform basic tasks. While many of the recruits are in good shape, PT makes them better, and it helps instill a desire for a daily regime of such exercise later. It's always easier to get in the exercise groove early in life. Take it from one who has discovered this too late, and is paying the price.
A Marine recruit armed with an M16A2 combat rifle maneuvers on the Parris Island combat assault course. The instructor in the background is monitoring the safety and perfomance of the recruit.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
Recruits also study various academic subjects. The public perception may be that the Corps is not a collection of intellectual heavyweights, but officers of other services who serve on joint staffs will tell you that some of the top military thinkers today are Marines. Subjects range from basic tactics to Marine Corps history. The Corps believes that smart recruits make good Marines. The stereotype of the ignorant "jarhead" is simply no longer accurate. The vast array of tasks and equipment required of even a basically trained Marine would make your head spin. As a nation, we ask a lot of our Marines, and they have to be properly trained if they are to deliver.