There is also the option of transferring to other duties, which can give an enlisted Marine's career some balance and variety. While the concept of "career enhancing" or "joint" billets has yet to take hold in the enlisted ranks of the USMC, the Corps tries to provide Marines a chance to try different things and broaden their horizons. This might include serving as an embassy guard or on a General officer's staff. It may also mean going back to school, an activity that the Corps encourages all of its members to try. A surprising number of enlisted Marines even study for a college degree. The Marines have several ways to facilitate higher education for enlisted ranks: Some are paid to attend a university. And some few who choose to seek a commission as an officer are admitted to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. In fact, the USMC recruits a larger percentage of its officer corps from the enlisted ranks than any other U.S. military service. Promoting from within (the "Grow Our Own" program) is a key feature of the Corps, and such avenues for advancement contribute a lot to the morale of enlisted Marines.
The Road to Gunny...and Beyond
There comes a point in the life of a Marine where he or she begins to think of the Corps as more than just a job and a paycheck; it becomes a career. This is when a Marine begins the drive to the magic rank of Gunnery Sergeant (E-7), or just "Gunny." It takes a Corporal about four to six years in grade to make it to Sergeant (E-5). When you make it, the level of responsibility rises quickly, and so does the workload. But the move up to Staff Sergeant (E-6), about four to six years later, is an even bigger step in a Marine's life, for it means that you have committed yourself to becoming part of the institutional "glue" that holds the Corps together. It also means a lot of hard work and patience, and a certain level of tolerance for the actions and views of those less experienced than yourself. As a Staff Sergeant, you will probably be assigned that most dreaded of duties, a new 2nd Lieutenant to watch over and hopefully make into a useful officer. You also will become a kind of parental figure to younger Marines assigned to your care. A Staff NCO never commands (that is the responsibility of officers), but a good Staff NCO is priceless as an advisor and partner to the officers who make up the leadership of the Corps. Good officers seek this kind of help as a matter of instinct.
At this point, a Marine is considered a middle manager and leader, with oversight over rifle squads, tanks and other vehicles, and aircraft. Finally, there is the drive to Gunny. Like making Staff Sergeant, it takes four to six years; and making it puts you in a different category within the Corps. Along with the almost mythic title that it carries, being a Gunny earns the respect of officers of any rank, and something like awe from younger Marines. You become one of the keepers of the "tribal knowledge" that keeps the Marine tradition alive from generation to generation. It also means more practically that you can look forward to a twenty-year-plus career, with retirement benefits and a pension. Trust me when I say that every Gunny I have known has earned the title. As an insight, consider that most of the Marine officers I have spoken with have told me more than once that Gunny is the best job in the Corps, with the widest ranges of responsibilities and duties.
When Marines make it to E-7, if they wish to continue their career in the USMC, they get to make a choice. The next step is Master Sergeant (E-8). And from there they can choose to take the route to Master Gunnery Sergeant (E-9), a career track which leads to greater opportunity and responsibility within technical fields. The other option is the command side of the NCO ranks, which leads to 1st Sergeant (also E-8). A First Sergeant is typically the senior NCO of a Company or similar unit. Beyond First Sergeant is the exalted rank of Sergeant Major (E-9). These extremely rare birds are the right hands of officers commanding MEUs, regiments, divisions, and the Corps itself. At the very summit of the Staff NCO pyramid stands the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, a post currently held by Sergeant Major Lewis Lee, a veteran with over thirty years of service. Sergeant Major Lee sits in an office near to that of General Krulak; and the Commandant would tell you that he is the voice of the enlisted personnel in the Corps. Lastly, there is also the possibility of a direct commission to Warrant Officer (and the slang title of "Gunner") for enlisted personnel with specialized skills, though this is extremely rare in the USMC.
The Mettle to Lead Marines: Officers
Though there are some subtle differences, the career paths of the small cadre of commissioned officers who constitute the leadership of this more-than-220-year-old institution are generally similar to those of the Army ranks described in _Armored Cav and the Air Force ranks described in Fighter Wing. However, unlike the other services, the Marines don't get most of their officers from the service academy of their parent service. The USMC receives only a few of its new 2nd Lieutenants (0-1s) from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. (A much larger percentage of Army and Air Force 2nd Lieutenants come from West Point and the Air Force Academy.) Every year, a portion of the Annapolis graduating class chooses a career in the Marines and is directly commissioned into the Corps. But this small group (no more than 175) fills only a fraction of the Corps' demand--it needs over 1,500 new officers per year. Most of the other officers the Corps develops are recruited from colleges around the country.
Whether they are Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) graduates or join directly out of college, they all go to the institutional home of Marine officers, the USMC Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Quantico, Virginia. A few dozen miles south of Washington, D.C. along the lower Potomac River, Quantico is where the Corps makes the majority of its officers. Interestingly, some leaders at Quantico wish the Corps would require Academy graduates to go through OCS as well, so that all Marine officers would share a common initial training experience. The ten-week OCS is similar to the Recruit Training course at Parris Island. Though there is a greater emphasis on leadership training and basic command and control skills like radio procedures, land navigation, and calling in artillery and air strikes, the training is just as physically demanding, the hours just as long, and the tests just as challenging as those enlisted Marines must meet. To prove it, just watch the officer candidates (the officer equivalent of a recruit) go through a particularly demented Combat Obstacle Course nicknamed the "Quigly." It starts with a slime- and ooze-filled ditch that flows into a small creek. The course continues through dense woods, followed by climbs and descents on a steep hill. Other obstacles follow, ending with a crawl over ground under fire from a light machine gun (don't worry, the staff uses blanks!). The sight of a slime-covered group of officer candidates moving down a bone-chilling creek is bad enough. But when you see the instructors moving a few yards/meters ahead of them, to clear out poisonous water snakes that linger in the area, you get some idea of how much these young officer candidates want to lead Marines. They quickly come to understand that they are being entrusted with the most valuable asset the USMC possesses, its young men and women. Supervising them throughout OCS are the ubiquitous Gunnies.
Following OCS, officers go through another training course at Quantico called the Basic School. Here they learn the skills needed to run a rifle platoon. This training includes not only weapons and tactical instruction, but lessons in the inevitable supervisory and paperwork skills necessary to keep any bureaucracy running. Infantry officers must complete Camp Lejeune's twenty-six-week School of Infantry as well. From there, they head out into the Corps to their MOS schools and their first assignments. Like the enlisted Marines they will lead, there is one common thread: Whatever their primary specialty (pilot, logistics officer, etc.), they are all riflemen first. They are all capable of fighting on the ground. This makes the USMC different from any other U.S. military service. It is also why the national leadership trusts Marines above any other military force to get a tough job done. You can trust Marines!
A pair of Marine officer candidates transit the "Quigly" stream at Quantico, VA. This course is designed to train Marine officers how to transit water obstacles silently and still keep their weapons dry and ready to fire.
Taking young men and women and turning them into Marines is hard work, and General Krulak would tell you that the Corps only entrusts such work to its best members. From the recruiters like Gunny Hazzard at the Fairfax Station, to Series Commanders like Captain Whitney Mason at Parris Island, to the instructors at the Basic Warrior School, the process of building new Marines is the toughest job you can imagine. It goes on and on, and the process cannot be allowed to end, lest the very survival of the Corps be put into jeopardy. It remains in good hands.
When I was visiting the Fairfax recruiting office, Gunny Hazzard showed me a special corner. On a crowded bulletin board were dozens of letters, snapshots, and postcards from some of the young Marines he and the other recruiters had sent to Parris Island. Every letter I saw was a message of deep, personal gratitude from the new Marine, thanking the recruiter for showing the path to a new life. This is the payoff for a recruiter who has had too many rejections and not enough commitments. Or, as Gunny Hazzard likes to point out, this is what the Corps is all about--finding young people and showing them a path to a life of service and honor.
Small Arms
THIS IS MY RIFLE. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life.
My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than any enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will....
My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit....
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as
a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories,
its sights, and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as
I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will....
Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but Peace.
-My Rifle: The Creed of a United States Marine, by Major General William H. Rupertus, USMC
The ethos of the Marine Corps is not found in the technology of its weapons, but in the character and morale of the individual Marine with a rifle in the presence of an enemy. Back in the 1970s, when the Marines were still short on the new anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), there was a Marine officer training a class on anti-armor tactics. When the instructor was asked what weapon was best against heavy enemy armored vehicles, he showed a slide of the Marine Corps emblem, saying, "Gentlemen, this is your best weapon." Just being Marines was their best weapon. Themselves.
While better equipped than a quarter century ago, today's Marine Corps is still taking young men and women and making each one into a lethal fighter. Marines are also taught that they are likely to find themselves thinking and acting on their own in situations requiring great responsibility-operating alone, making decisions, and taking actions that represent American policy. A recent recruiting poster showed a Marine sniper and his rifle in full camouflage, with the words "Smart Weapon."
The Corps ideal. A Marine on exercise at Camp Lejeune, holding a position with his M 16A2 combat rifle. The USMC still values the individual Marine with their personal weapons as their basic building block.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
Tribal Elders: The USMC Weapons Training Battalion
We're going to spend some time telling you about the weapons that Marines carry into battle. We'll visit an outfit dedicated to the idea that, even in a world full of laser-guided bombs and missiles, there is still a need for one well-aimed shot from a weapon held by human hands. The place is the Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Virginia, and the unit is the Marine Corps Weapons Training Battalion. On the Quantico reservation, inland from Interstate 95, stands a small cluster of buildings, mostly of World War II vintage. This is the home of the Weapons Training Battalion, the U.S. Marine Corps' premier shooting unit. Established in 1952 after the nightmare of the Korean War proved how much the Marine Corps needed to hone its shooting skills, the battalion operates sixteen different shooting ranges, classroom facilities, an ammunition loading and packing plant, and a complete gunsmithing and machine shop. Here the Corps trains the best shooters in the U.S. military, while maintaining a capability to build and maintain customized firearms. If you are a gun enthusiast like me, this is Firearms Heaven.
Colonel Mick Nance commands the Weapons Battalion. He will tell you that he has one of the best jobs in the Corps. Backing him up is Sergeant Major F.W. Fenwick, command NCO for the battalion. The unit is the Corps' repository of corporate knowledge on the subject of shooting all kinds of portable weapons and using explosives as breaching tools. Preserving and improving the shooting skills of the Corps is no small job, and Colonel Nance's Marines work hard. Some of their missions include the following. They:* Write and maintain all the training courses for marksmanship and small-arms training in the USMC.
* Run the Marine Marksmanship Training Program and supervise the Common Skills Qualification Data Base across the Corps.
* Train every Marine officer candidate from the officer's school (on the other side of the Quantico base) in marksmanship. Both men and women come to the Weapons Training Battalion in mixed companies to master weapons skills.
* Train and qualify Marine personnel in several Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) codes related to marksmanship and small arms.
* Participate in operational testing and evaluation of all new small arms, ammunition, and breaching and demolition systems fielded by the Corps.
* Assist in training and arming Marine Corps rifle and pistol competition shooting teams.
* Run an ammunition load and pack facility. Every year, this facility loads over 100,000 rounds of ammunition for the Marine shooting teams.
* Develop specialized weapons, demolition, and breaching tools for unique Marine applications.
* Manufacture, modify, issue, and maintain a variety of Marine Corps firearms, including the M1911 .45-caliber MEU (SOC) pistol.
* Conduct the "High Risk Personnel" anti-terrorism course for diplomats and other personnel assigned to overseas posts.
* Maintain weapons and ammunition storage for the FBI, CIA, DEA, and other agencies that utilize the Quantico range complex.
The Weapons Training Battalion has an impressive cadre of trained and experienced personnel. Like the elders of a tribe, the men and women of the battalion have a broad and deep base of practical knowledge, whether acquired in the classroom, at the workbench, or on the battlefield.
Consider the training of rifle marksmanship for new officers at Quantico. The course looks like this:
Marine instructors on the "High Risk" training course at Quantico, VA. This course is designed to teach diplomats and other high-risk personnel defensive field techniques.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
Phase I-- Familiarization: Officer candidates are introduced to the M 16A2 combat rifle, with particular emphasis on cleaning, maintenance, and aligning the sights (called "zeroing" the sights). The classroom basics of shooting are taught, as well as some practice in shooting house simulators, which use modified weapons firing compressed gas.
Phase II-- Known Range Firing: This is actual range training and qualification at known ranges in a variety of postures, with fixed (stationary) targets. During this phase, the proper grips on the weapon, use of the sights, and compensation for crosswind, elevation, and weather are taught and certified.
Phase III-- Unknown Range Firing ("Ironman") Training: This is the really hard part of the training, with firing against moving targets at unknown ranges. The officer candidate must rapidly assess the range and crossing rate of a pop-up target. Each candidate is given two magazines, wi
th a total of thirty-five rounds, and twenty-nine targets to hit. A score of twenty-five out of thirty-five is considered good; sixteen is poor.
By teaching basic concepts, mixing in a dash of simulated skills training (Phase I), building upon these with actual dynamic training (Phase II), and then testing in a real-world context (Phase III), the Marines produce a rifle combatant who can take and hold a position, and make an enemy think twice about trying to take it back.
The Marines of the battalion pass along the hard-earned knowledge that goes with their trade to the new generations on the way up in the Corps. Some of the courses (designated by MOS numbers) that they run include:
A Marine with an instructor on the Quantico rifle range. This new range uses computer-controlled targets to teach combat shooting skills.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
* MOS 8531--Rifle Range Coach/Instructor: This course qualifies an enlisted Marine to safely run a firearms range and to teach the current doctrine and skills to recruits or officer candidates.
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