I joined the Marines in the summer of 2000 and I must say, if you are a glutton for punishment, then I can think of no finer place to spend your summer than the balmy, quiet, and relaxing port of call that is Parris Island, South Carolina. The training philosophy is very simple: remove all traces of one's sense of self and replace it with team. It is a team environment of which you operate every step of the way. At first, you think it is an individual effort or perhaps you are concerned about not being able to make it through training or maybe you might worry about getting hurt and being "recycled" into another platoon when you heal. The thoughts race through your mind and all the while you have four rabid dogs in your face or close by, twenty-four hours a day determined to break you. This is where the training of Marines is different from all other branches. There is no mental health stress card one can pull to have a "day-off" from training like the Army has. The weekends are a little lighter on heavy training but make no mistake, it isn't pleasant.
About mid-way through the training cycle an amazing thing starts to happen. The platoon starts to pull together a work as a team. The team sees the drill instructors as an "enemy force" and we as a platoon must pull together and work together to save each other, not just ourselves. That is the difference between an occupying military force and a Marine Expeditionary Unit. Marines don't set up shop and occupy a base, they achieve victory by acquiring new ground by engaging and destroying the enemy and continue to move forward and repeat. When there is no more ground to take or the war is over, the Marines more or less go back home. They are a force of readiness and it is because of the leadership training techniques used early on by the drill instructors that make this possible. To instill in every Marine that we all may have joined for individual reasons, we stay and fight for each other and the belief that to let your brother or sister down is worse than death and that is the reason why we rely on each other to never give up which is one of the Marine Corps values. Additionally, the Marine Corps motto, 'Semper Fidelis' means 'Always Faithful' and that is to your God, your country, and to each other.
Northouse, P.G. (2013). "Leadership: Theory and Practice." Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
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