…And Do Nothing That Would Tarnish the Good Name of the Corps
In 1996 while working on a documentary about Women Marines, I had a discussion with my good friend and former SgtMaj of the Marine Corps, Gary Lee. During our talk he told me about a new recruit training program that the Marine Corps was planning to unveil in December of that year. Values based training would be introduced and would include a final culminating event that would forge all of the mental, moral, and physical traits into a new mold that would be a Marine. This new event was called The Crucible.
It was originally “ designed to significantly challenge the mental, moral, and physical character of recruits working together during this stress-related activity.” stated General Charles Krulak. While there have been some tweaks to some elements of The Crucible, its completion remains a graduation requirement.
Upon learning of the planned new training event, I set out to read all of the literature I could find on the reasons, goals and expectations of an event intended for Marine Corps Boot Camp about values and character development. I studied every article written by General Krulak about this subject. In his “Making Marines” article in Leatherneck Magazine in October 1996 he stated, “ The Marines who will serve in this uncertain future will come from a society where fathers, mothers, families, schools and churches are working day and night to instill in their children character and values-those ideals that are, and have been, the bedrock of our nation. They have been doing a great job, but it is a struggle-a struggle the Marine Corps will join, just as we have joined other battles when America has called. We want to take the values that these young men and women have been given by their families and build upon them.”
Realizing that the changes to Marine Corps recruit training would be vast and immediate, our company, Good-To-Go Video, put a plan together to produce a documentary that would detail all elements of The Crucible. We shot footage at both recruit training bases…..Parris Island and San Diego. Our documentary is titled The Crucible: The New, The Proud (Making Marines for the 21st Century). The new documentary would be used as a training tool for the Marine Corps. A copy was sent to every General Officer of the Marine Corps as well as every Recruiting Station. We were quite proud of this documentary. We were helping to effect the change. Every word of the script was written to be informative but mostly my words were intended to be message from a retired Marine to those entering the Corps. That message was to “preserve our traditions and do nothing that could tarnish the good name of the Corps.”
It was a 1995 international incident occurring on Okinawa, Japan involving U.S. Servicemen, two Marines, that was the catalyst for a values and character infused overhaul of Marine Corps recruit training. The incident brought shame and humiliation to every honorable Marine who was serving on active duty and to all those who had ever worn the uniform. Many in Congress were demanding action, an overhaul, a reboot. Some people were questioning why we even needed a Marine Corps. This question comes up frequently. For now, the Marine Corps still enjoys the support of a grateful nation and works every day to ensure that that image of Marines serving with Honor, Courage, and Commitment is not tarnished.
Now, twenty-five years later, we find our nation experiencing that same “Character Crisis”. Just as the Marine Corps rewired recruit training to include a values based curriculum, it seems that our nation could benefit from a reboot as well. President Ronald Reagan warned us all many years ago that we could soon find ourselves as a nation without values, a sense of patriotism, and a history forgotten (or erased). He emphasized that we re-institutionalize America though informed patriotism….. (click for video). We are better than what we’re seeing right now.
Let’s start from the beginning. Allow teachers to teach….Tell the story of America….warts and all, but don’t erase it.
Let’s wake up America. Stand Up, Man Up, Speak Up…… before it’s too late.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
