A different path
Friday, December 17, 2004
Lately I have been considering not going back into the Marine Corps. It has to do with three issues: Money, Professionalism, and Personnel Commitment. However, this is not to say that I will not join another branch or that I hate the Corps. I still love the Corps and I loved wearing the uniform. However, enough things have piled up to the point where I am sick of how the Corps is run. Reading this may make you think I'm bitching. I'm not. I'm simply listing my reasons. This is partially to get them clear in my head and partially to present this to everyone out there.
The first issue I have is with money. You see, some already know this, but when I left OCS this summer, I still hadn't gotten my final check. I was told it would be a few weeks for it to arrive. A few weeks turned into 6 to 8, which then turned into them saying I had already gotten it, which then became I wasn't owed it, which spiraled down into ever-increasing lies and half-truths. It finally took daily calls to Quantico, a complaint to my Congressman (who just happens to be on the Armed Services Sub-commitee), a complaint to the IG (Inspector General of the Marine Corps), and a threatened lawsuit to get me my check. My Gunnery Sergeant told me to my face that unless I called him every day to ask about my check, he wasn't going to give a damn about it. Even when they finally issued it to me (after four months of me haranging them about it), they refused to send it to my home. Instead, I had to drive to north Atlanta (hour and fifteen minutes one way), to pick it up. After the way I was treated (like a whining pariah), I simply cannot think of myself as going back in to the Corps.
The second issue is with Professionalism. One of the things I admire the most about the Corps is the level of commitment inherent in it. However, this level is also one of the most annoying things about it. It seems that instead of having professionals, the Corps has a type of religious fanatics. Anyone who complained about the training we received (among other candidates) was labelled a wimp and some sort of lesser man. Unless you loved the Corps 24/7, you were treated like you didn't deserve to be there or were a traitor (reminds me of the current political environment). However, this didn't apply to candidates only, it was reflected in the NCOs as well. Rather than making a commitment to be professionals and for everything to work smoothly, it seemed as if the staff allowed emotions to rule them (as an example: one of my Staff Sergeants hit a candidate with a belt). The level of commitment was emotional and religious, rather than professional.
As for the aforementioned Personnel Commitment, it breaks down into multiple areas. One of the most annoying aspects of OCS for me was the way we were treated. No, not the psychological aspects of it (I'm fine with being degraded and strictly disciplined in order to form unit cohesion), but the physical aspects of it. To begin, virtually every physical item we were issued was near the breaking point. The rusted-open snaps on my web gear couldn't possibly work. My rifle was worn to the point where the upper and lower receivers would not even fit together normally. At times they would just come apart and my rifle would fly apart. Every single poncho and poncho liner we got had rips or stains in them. But that's not all. When I had to go to sick call three times before they admitted I was sick, it was a little annoying. As S pointed out, they didn't even do a simple ten dollar Strep test. Rather, they told me I was dehydrated and to suck it up. That's partially what led to me getting a brochidial infection that took a month to clear up. This cheapness pervaded all aspects of our training. Even our barracks were cheap. They were constructed for a platoon half our size. Have you ever tried showering sixty muddly candidates in a group shower built for half that size? Or having only five toilets for that many? Basically, there was a systematic disregard for our personal well-being. I didn't expect to be treated in a civilian manner when I joined the military, but I expected a certain level of respect as an autonomous person a la Kant (I had to throw philosophy in there somewhere).
In conclusion, it was not any one of these factors that made me make my decision. Rather, it was all of them together. I cannot point to one and say that it broke the camel's back. Instead, all of them together convinced me to take a different path. As I said earlier, the above does not mean that I hate the Corps or that I will not join another branch of the military. But that's another story...
The first issue I have is with money. You see, some already know this, but when I left OCS this summer, I still hadn't gotten my final check. I was told it would be a few weeks for it to arrive. A few weeks turned into 6 to 8, which then turned into them saying I had already gotten it, which then became I wasn't owed it, which spiraled down into ever-increasing lies and half-truths. It finally took daily calls to Quantico, a complaint to my Congressman (who just happens to be on the Armed Services Sub-commitee), a complaint to the IG (Inspector General of the Marine Corps), and a threatened lawsuit to get me my check. My Gunnery Sergeant told me to my face that unless I called him every day to ask about my check, he wasn't going to give a damn about it. Even when they finally issued it to me (after four months of me haranging them about it), they refused to send it to my home. Instead, I had to drive to north Atlanta (hour and fifteen minutes one way), to pick it up. After the way I was treated (like a whining pariah), I simply cannot think of myself as going back in to the Corps.
The second issue is with Professionalism. One of the things I admire the most about the Corps is the level of commitment inherent in it. However, this level is also one of the most annoying things about it. It seems that instead of having professionals, the Corps has a type of religious fanatics. Anyone who complained about the training we received (among other candidates) was labelled a wimp and some sort of lesser man. Unless you loved the Corps 24/7, you were treated like you didn't deserve to be there or were a traitor (reminds me of the current political environment). However, this didn't apply to candidates only, it was reflected in the NCOs as well. Rather than making a commitment to be professionals and for everything to work smoothly, it seemed as if the staff allowed emotions to rule them (as an example: one of my Staff Sergeants hit a candidate with a belt). The level of commitment was emotional and religious, rather than professional.
As for the aforementioned Personnel Commitment, it breaks down into multiple areas. One of the most annoying aspects of OCS for me was the way we were treated. No, not the psychological aspects of it (I'm fine with being degraded and strictly disciplined in order to form unit cohesion), but the physical aspects of it. To begin, virtually every physical item we were issued was near the breaking point. The rusted-open snaps on my web gear couldn't possibly work. My rifle was worn to the point where the upper and lower receivers would not even fit together normally. At times they would just come apart and my rifle would fly apart. Every single poncho and poncho liner we got had rips or stains in them. But that's not all. When I had to go to sick call three times before they admitted I was sick, it was a little annoying. As S pointed out, they didn't even do a simple ten dollar Strep test. Rather, they told me I was dehydrated and to suck it up. That's partially what led to me getting a brochidial infection that took a month to clear up. This cheapness pervaded all aspects of our training. Even our barracks were cheap. They were constructed for a platoon half our size. Have you ever tried showering sixty muddly candidates in a group shower built for half that size? Or having only five toilets for that many? Basically, there was a systematic disregard for our personal well-being. I didn't expect to be treated in a civilian manner when I joined the military, but I expected a certain level of respect as an autonomous person a la Kant (I had to throw philosophy in there somewhere).
In conclusion, it was not any one of these factors that made me make my decision. Rather, it was all of them together. I cannot point to one and say that it broke the camel's back. Instead, all of them together convinced me to take a different path. As I said earlier, the above does not mean that I hate the Corps or that I will not join another branch of the military. But that's another story...
