Originally posted by gunnysgt
Marines are different: distinct not only from ordinary U.S. citizens but from the ranks of the army, navy, and air force as well. The difference begins with boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, where the history and future of the United States Marine Corps intersect in the training of every new recruit. In Making the Corps, Ricks follows a platoon of young men through 11 grueling weeks of boot camp as their drill instructors indoctrinate them into the culture of the Few and the Proud. Many arrive at Parris Island undisciplined and apathetic; they leave as marines.
With the end of the cold war, the role of the American military has shifted in emphasis from making war to keeping peace. "The best way to see where the U.S. military is going is to look at the marines today," says Ricks, as the other armed forces have begun to emulate the marine model. To understand Parris Island--a central experience in the life of every marine--is to understand the ethos of the Marine Corps. Ricks examines the recent changes in the Standard Operating Procedures for Recruit Training (the bible of Parris Island), which indicate how the corps is dealing with critical social and political issues like race relations, gender equality, and sexual orientation. Making the Corps pierces the USMC's "sis-boom-bah" mythology to help outsiders understand this most esoteric and eccentric of U.S. armed forces. --Tim Hogan
I don't know that Marines are much different in their soldiering skills as those of other services, but I can say one thing about the Marines that impresses me everytime I meet one: Their pride in the Corps. Its absolutely amazing how much pride they take in their chosen service. I don't know exactly what they do to recruits, but the Army, Airforce, and Navy could learn a thing or two from the Marines in that respect. I have been the the Army over 8 years and would love the soldiers to take as much pride in the Army as the Marines do in the Corps.
I'd like to second the notion that in basic, the yelling, put downs and strict discipline doesn't so much mold you as a person as it does point out the ones that can't handle the stress. War is a very, very stressful environment, and those that can't handle the stress would not make it and would put their team mates at risk.
The military (the Army anyway) doesn't give you psychological training on how to deal with killing enemy soldiers, they don't tell you this is what you will feel, this is how to react, they dont' do that, what they do is they find, through selective training, those with the moral convictions and strength of character that it takes to do the job and come home in one piece. Then they give you the skills with which to do that.
For those of you that are "suspicious" of military personnel, perhaps you should do a little self evaluation. They are not robots...they are people, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, christians. They do have minds of their own, and believe it or not...a conscience. Soldiers are not people to be looked down on, but to be looked up to, as they are the ones that make it possible for our way of life here to continue as it does. In a perfect world the military could step down and say "I am not gonna kill because its wrong"...but unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't feel that way. So this is the way it has to be.