Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit

by Tom Clancy

  How does Gunny Hazard's team recruit enlisted Marines in a place like northern Virginia? Well, for starters, they have the best walking billboards in the world, themselves. As a "brand name," the Marine Corps usually enjoys a strong, positive public image. When you see a story in the media about the Marines these days, it is usually favorable. The rescue of Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady from Bosnia, the evacuation of UN peacekeeping forces from Somalia, and helping liberate Kuwait City from the Iraqis are typical Marines stories seen on the nightly network news. With that in mind, every Marine recruiter is encouraged to wear his or her dress uniform in every possible situation--out on appointments, visiting schools, or just when they are out buying groceries or picking up the dry cleaning. Often, future recruits will just walk up and ask to talk to them about what it is like to be a Marine.

  Another tool is television. While the Marines have the smallest advertising budget per capita of any of the services, they spend it wisely. Their television ads are Peabody Award winners, designed to leave a lasting and positive impression on a carefully targeted audience of high school- and college-age men and women. Each ad is designed to have a useful life of about four years, and it is run in key time slots designed to maximize its visibility. "Do you have the mettle to be a Marine?" was a classic example.

  Much of the recruiting advertising budget is spent on sports broadcasts during football season (early in the school year), and basketball playoffs (during the decision-making period before graduation). A new ad, Transformation, was first aired on October 9th, 1995, during Monday Night Football. Using sophisticated computer animation and "morphing," it symbolized the mental and physical challenges overcome in transforming a young civilian into a Marine.

  In addition to television, the Marines make careful use of magazine, billboard, and print ads, all in the hope of convincing young men and women to take the plunge and talk to someone like Gunny Hazzard. Other key tools of the Marine recruiter are school career day visits, booths at malls and military air shows and exhibitions, and even "cold calling" young people recommended by friends, parents, and school counselors.

  It is tough and sometimes discouraging work. Right after Desert Storm, the U.S. armed forces almost had to turn away applicants, so many young people wanted to be part of a winning team. But times have changed. Just five years after the victory in the Persian Gulf, all of the services are scrambling to keep up the recruit pool required to sustain our forces. And to make matters tougher, the Marines have actually raised the enlistment standards for new recruits. Thus, right now, nine out of every ten applicants fail to qualify and cannot be accepted. The reasons range from problems with the law or drugs to failure to have a high school diploma. With all of the highly technical equipment required to run a modern fighting force, a high school dropout or even a student with a GED certificate simply will not do. This means that while the average Marine Corps recruiter used to have to meet 200 prospects to find one qualified recruit, now that number is over 250 and rising. Gunny Hazzard told me that the number is something between 300 and 400.

  The process of qualifying a recruit involves lots of testing--medical, academic, and psychological. Then there is the candidate's personal situation. Life in the military may be hard, but to a potential recruit it may look like a way to escape an abusive family or a failed relationship. The recruiter must find out the potential recruit's motivation for joining the Corps, and whether the Corps really wants him or her. The Marines are surprisingly tolerant of past troubles with the law (as long as these do not exceed minor convictions, like traffic violations), or past casual use of drugs or alcohol. The recruiter becomes a coach and big brother of sorts, gathering background information to help the Corps waive any minor infractions. Some of the best Marine recruits come from such "problem situations," and thus are worth the extra effort.

  Now, it should be said that not every person who walks into a recruiting station like that in Fairfax is a troubled kid with problems at home and school. One recruiter I spoke with was quite emphatic about this, and backed it with a recent success story. He was just finishing up a miserable month, without recruiting even one QMA. As he was walking out of the station to his car in the parking lot, on his way to get chewed out by a superior for not making his monthly mission, it happened. He saw a young man approaching the door. He looked like a recruiting poster Marine: hair "high and tight," with every button in place and a hard-body physique. The recruiter, thinking he was looking at a Marine, respectfully asked which unit he was assigned to. To his surprise, the young man told him he was walking in to join the Marines; he had wanted to do that since boyhood! The recruiter thanked God for his good fortune and took the young man inside, finding him to have an excellent school record, not so much as a speeding ticket, and near-perfect scores on the qualification tests. The young man was sworn in and on the bus to Recruit Training the very next day. As might be imagined, the recruiter's superiors forgave him for missing the meeting, and the Corps had another gold nugget to forge into a warrior.

  Assume that a young person has decided to join the Marine Corps and has qualified. There is usually one more obstacle for the recruiter to overcome, and this frequently is the show-stopper. The parents. Despite the generally good image the Marines enjoy, many parents just cannot accept the idea that their son or daughter could join the Corps. Many parents from the generation of the 1960s and 1970s have a deep-seated anti-military bias rooted in the Vietnam War. Others resist the idea that their child is "giving up" on college and going into the military as an enlisted recruit. They see this as a "low class" career choice. Also in the back of every parent's mind is the fear their child may be killed or maimed in a far-away place. In a parent's mind, these are valid reasons to dissuade a child from enlisting. The recruiter thus finds himself in the role of family counselor, having to prove to a parent that the Marine Corps is not just a sump for the scum of American society. Recruiters frequently lose this round in the recruiting game.

  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 arri
ve, 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 point 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 R
ibbon 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.