Marines Corps Times
March 6, 2000

Making Marines

Is Boot Camp Smarter -- Or Softer?

By Gordon Lubold

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- By the end of the second week of boot
camp,
when most recruits have adjusted to the regimented discipline
and
physical conditioning, Recruit Ronnie McGregor kept struggling.

He didn't want to do the drills. He balked at cleaning his
rifle. He
hated running and PT. Instead, he was throwing his canteen
against
the wall in fits of anger. He was becoming a poison pill.

Not so very long ago, the Corps would have tossed McGregor's
butt out
of boot camp in a DI minute. But not anymore.

A tougher recruiting market and what some call good
old-fashioned
common sense -- and others consider a shift to a softer Marine
Corps
-- are driving the biggest sea change in recruit training since
Gen.
Charles C. Krulak introduced the Crucible in 1996.

These days, drill instructors are expected to save malcontent
recruits like McGregor.

Says Staff Sgt. Michael Dickerson, a senior DI at Parris Island:
"It's a whole different style of leadership now."

A new way to make Marines

For Recruit McGregor, a 20-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y., that
means
no easy ticket home. For Dickerson, it means doling out a little
"tough love."

Dickerson assigned McGregor to a skullery unit, supervising 10
other
recruits, so he'd gain some appreciation for discipline and
responsibility. Along the way, Dickerson counseled the youngster
and
encouraged him, telling McGregor why the recruit would be a good
Marine. And, forsaking his own boot camp experience, Dickerson
even
let McGregor make a few phone calls home.

"I did everything I could to allow him to stay," said Dickerson,
who
graduated from Parris Island in 1989.

And it just might pay off.

Now, 10 weeks later, McGregor is nearing graduation and has
begun to
motivate the very recruits who used to resent him.

The numbers war

With fewer young adults interested in the military than ever,
Parris
Island leaders decided they needed to do a better job with those
men
and
women who did sign up. Instead of losing recruits -- to injuries
or
emotional breakdowns, for example -- the aim now is to do what's
necessary to help them graduate.

For years, boot camp attrition was someone else's problem, even
a
point of pride. Now DIs are being told it's their problem -- to
fix,
that is.

"Somebody has to be responsible for the kids who don't make it
here,"
said Brig. Gen. Stephen Cheney, commanding general of Parris
Island
and the Eastern Recruiting Region.

In this war of attrition, Parris Island gets its victories in
the
small battles DIs fight each day.

And those victories are adding up. Boot camp attrition is down
at
both Parris Island and the San Diego Recruit Depot, according to
statistics
from the Center for Naval Analyses, an independent organization
that
tracks attrition for the Corps.

At Parris Island, overall attrition dropped from about 20
percent in
1998 to about 15 percent last year. And for the first few months
of
this
fiscal year, the rate is down to about 13 percent.

Not everyone deserves to graduate, Cheney said. An attrition
rate of
"20 percent is too high; zero percent is too low."

The trick is finding the right middle ground. He thinks he's
there
with male recruits, about 11 percent of whom flunk out now. But
he'd
like to see the 17 percent attrition rate for women come down a
bit
further.

Giving recruits every chance

To Parris Island officials, battling attrition means training
"smarter" by cutting down on injuries, offering remedial
training to
kids who need
it and creating incentives to help break up the 12 weeks of
recruit training.

"The onus is on us to rise to their expectations," said Cheney,
who
took command in summer, 1999 and has been guiding the recruit
depot
in this direction ever since.

Attrition is now the responsibility of the training battalions.
DIs
are not held to attrition quotas, but the responsibility for
graduating recruits is falling more on their shoulders than ever
before, Parris Island officials said.

"The mentality of the drill instructor is 'I'm going to give
this kid
every opportunity to become a United States Marine,' " said Col.
Michael
A. Malachowsky, commanding officer of the recruit training
regiment.

"The biggest thing is the attitude of the DI. It's just a return
to
common sense."

Attitude adjustments aside, there are more than a dozen tangible
changes at Parris Island that are also improving recruits'
chances of
completing the Crucible and earning their eagle, globe and
anchor.

Shoe swaps

Probably the biggest and most controversial change can be found
on
recruits' feet. After Cheney took command last summer, he
ordered that
running shoes and combat boots be worn alternately for the first
month of recruit training.

Before that, training was done in one of the two pairs of combat
boots issued to recruits their first night here. But recruits
suffered numerous
injuries -- such as fractures, sprains and muscle strains --
from
training in the boots.

Those injuries were forcing some recruits into the medical
rehabilitation unit, where they were taken off the "training
clock"
and given time to heal. There, they sometimes foundered until
they
were ultimately sent home. Others were sent home after 60 days.

Not anymore. Now Parris Island officials are considering
leniency and
letting recruits stay longer as long as they are still
improving.

To get those attrition numbers down, Parris Island now has
recruits
marching to class and working out in New Balance running shoes
every
other day. Not until they complete their first month do recruits
start wearing combat boots every day.

Another preventive measure: more physical conditioning is done
on
softer dirt tracks rather than on hard pavement.

But is boot camp going soft?

But while these changes may be good for attrition, old-line
Parris
Island graduates lament that boot camp is becoming too soft.

Once in the fleet, Marines have to run in boots. So why not
start
during recruit training?

"I kind of liked it the other way," said Staff Sgt. Millicent
Lawton,
a drill instructor.

Greater use of sneakers in boot camp could make recruit training
too
easy, she said, and just puts off the inevitable.

"We can only do so much," she said. "We're always going to be
battling the injury side of the house."

But senior Parris Island leaders argue that too many recruits
just
aren't physically ready for boot camp's rigors, and the running
shoes
give kids a chance to work up to running in the harder-soled
boots.

Old-timers cringe at the thought of Marine recruits having it
easier
than others. Army and Navy recruits wear tennis shoes for
physical
conditioning only, said spokesmen for both services. But it's
still
hard to compare Marine boot camp to training in other services.

Still, this isn't a question of loosening Marine Corps
standards,
said Sgt. Maj. Ford Kinsley Jr., command sergeant major at
Parris
Island and a 1971 boot camp graduate. Today's standards are
higher
than ever, he said.

These days, it's a question of training smarter to allow the
youth of
today to thrive.

"People say boot camp has literally gone soft, but kids today
don't
wear hard-sole shoes," he said.

No easy way out

A host of other changes implemented over the past 18 months also
have
helped Parris Island officials bring down male recruit attrition
rates:

* The schedule for physical training was altered to allow each
recruit to heal between training events.

In the close combat program, for example, the training events
are now
held seven days apart to take into account the "second impact
syndrome," which contributed to several injuries and a death
here a
few years ago.

"There's a certain period of time when you want to wait before
you
take a second blow," said Capt. Ricardo Miagany, commanding
officer
of instructional training company.

"We got smarter about our program."

Ditto for other training events, too, like running and the
confidence
course -- a task that requires more upper body strength than
other
training events. Forcing recruits to go through these events
several
times in one week helps them to build up to the task and cuts
down on
injuries.

* The focus of swim training was changed to give those with
little or
no aquatic skills a chance to catch up.

Changing the focus from sink or swim to helping those recruits
who
needed it helped get more recruits qualified faster and reduced
the
number who had to be "recycled" into subsequent training
companies.

Now non-swimmers go to the pool for up to five days before the
swim
test, giving them a better shot at passing with the rest of
their
platoon.

Those recruits who must meet a higher swimming requirement
because of
their military occupational specialty can jump to the next
company
coming through the pool, and that keeps them moving through
basic
training instead of taking a detour into the special training
battalion.

* Parris Island officials also have implemented a host of
changes on
the medical side to cut down on the "attrits" who leave boot
camp for
medical reasons.

The SMART clinic -- that's for Sports Medicine and
Rehabilitation
Therapy -- was introduced last year. The clinic's corpsmen can
refer
recruits to the proper specialist right away. That helps injured
recruits keep their spirits up.

"They don't have time to sit around and get hurt and feel sorry
for
themselves," he said.

Medical attrition is down significantly, said Cmdr. Scott Flinn,
service medical officer and director of the SMART clinic.

Looking at the numbers

Overall attrition fell from 2,676 recruits in 1998 to 1,859 in
1999.

Losses due to injury were virtually cut in half, from 115 in
fiscal
1998 to 62 in 1999.

More significant still: the number of recruits identified as
"failing
to adapt." In fiscal 1998, 889 male and female recruits left
basic
training
because they couldn't make the adjustment to the Marine Corps
way.
This year, that's dropped by more than 50 percent to 426
dropouts.

Now DIs, executive officers and commanding officers are all
focused
on the attrition problem, and psychologists in the mental health
unit
are better trained to address those recruits' problems.

Helping one recruit adjust can help a whole platoon accept boot
camp,
Flinn said. "If one guy said he could get out of here, the next
thing
you know, you have the whole company on your doorstep."

Now, with the help of DIs like Dickerson, the number of recruits
having trouble adapting has been cut by more than half.

"It's a different way of doing things," Flinn said.

And for Recruit Ronnie McGregor, at least, it's working.

McGregor cried at the pregraduation ceremony when he got his
eagle,
globe and anchor after completing the 52-hour Crucible. He had
overcome his fears and his loneliness.

"I joined the Marine Corps because I wanted to accomplish
something
that was tough," he said. And at that moment, he knew he had
succeeded.

Marine Corps Times
March 6, 2000

Female Recruits: Same Goals, Different Needs

Changes In Diets, Equipment Are Helping More Women Graduate

By Gordon Lubold

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- Women are different.

No huge secret there, but when it comes to basic training, women
have
distinctive needs. They generally need more time on the weight
training machines. They need different equipment, like sports
bras.
And, many believe, women have a harder time losing weight during
training.

"In today's recruiting climate, where it's more and more
competitive
to recruit, we have to give everyone who shows up every
opportunity
to succeed," said Lt. Col. Adrienne Fraser Darling, commander of
the
women's 4th Battalion and a plain-talker from suburban New York.

Seven times more men than women go through boot camp at Parris
Island, the only recruit depot in the Corps where women can
train.
Cutting down on the number of women who don't make it through,
then,
is a major priority, Fraser Darling said.

For more than 10 years, female recruit attrition has been a big
problem. Historically, one in four women failed to receive her
eagle,
globe and anchor. Though attrition is falling -- it's now about
17
percent -- Brig. Gen. Stephen Cheney, commanding general of
Parris
Island, said he would like to see it come down even more. In
comparison, the men's attrition rate is at 11 percent.

Enter Fraser Darling, who battles attrition from the kitchen to
the
training field.

While the controversy brews over boots vs. sneakers for all
recruits,
the biggest change for the women is calorie-counting.

Women, Fraser Darling said, have more trouble losing weight than
men
do during basic training, and between 10 to 15 percent of the
women
at Parris Island are on a special diet.

"Portion control was demotivating them," Fraser Darling said, so
she
worked with meal planners to revamp the women's meals.

Now, women eat turkey bacon instead of pork and lunch on
sprouts,
beans and low-fat sour cream. Ground turkey replaces ground
beef,
with about 65 percent less fat. The average meal is about 2,400
calories -- down from as many as 3,800 calories -- and far fewer
women are on weight control programs.

The results are dramatic. Before the new dietary plan, six to
eight
female recruits were being held back because they didn't meet
Corps
weight requirements. Under the new low-fat plan, only two women
have
not made weight since last May.

"What we're trying to do is create success," Fraser Darling
said.

DIs like the diet change, too.

Staff Sgt. Millicent Lawton, 36, said many recruits don't have
the
discipline to shed the pounds.

"The diet trays are good, and I think they are healthy. They get
enough that they're not starving."

Lawton said recruits who lack discipline can be "sneaky,"
occasionally hiding peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches and other
high-fat foods under their low-fat plates. But access to the
diet
food -- some dishes are considered tasty -- gives the women a
chance
to eat right.

"We will give you every opportunity to reduce that weight,"
Lawton said.

Another attrition buster: training in better tennis shoes. The
4th
Battalion lost or "recycled" 262 female recruits between October
1998
and
October 1999 that were attributable to lower limb injuries.
Better
shoes and other improvements -- running on dirt instead of
pavement
and using shoe inserts -- are making the difference.

Since July, there has been a 30 percent reduction in the number
of
leg injuries.

Fraser Darling said she also is seeing women having problems in
boot
camp because of the weight of the pack they must carry during
the
Crucible, the three-day end-of-recruit-training event. The 4th
Battalion is undergoing an experiment under which female
recruits are
carrying a lighter load.

The 54- to 57-pound pack-weight used during basic training --
depending on whether it is cold or hot outside -- is used to
resemble
a typical
"combat load."

For a 150-pound man, that pack is roughly 33 percent of his body
weight. But, Fraser Darling said, for a 105-pound woman, that
pack is
nearly 50 percent of her weight.

"I am breaking more women in training then men," she said.

Fraser Darling is now conducting a three-month experiment with
women
carrying lighter packs that represent about one-third of their
body
weight.

Some female DIs don't like the idea of lightening female
recruit's
load. While men and women are different, Staff Sgt. Brenda White
Bull
said training standards between the two genders should be as
close as
possible.

"We can only let go of so many things," said White Bull, a DI
with a
decade of Corps experience. Fraser Darling said that by
preventing
injuries during the three months of boot camp, she is producing
a
stronger, healthier Marine. Bone mass, she said, takes four
months to
increase -- a month longer than the 12 weeks of basic training.

"If I keep them strong now, they're good for their follow-on
training. If I break them here, they stay broken."

Besides, those DIs, she said, didn't have to go through the
Crucible
during boot camp.

Fraser Darling said new thinking is necessary to combat
attrition and
create successful female Marines. Since she took over the
command in
June 1998, she has worked to create a healthier, better training
environment that more resembles training for women.

The different approach has unearthed interesting discoveries in
the
male-dominated Corps.

The most striking example emerged when Fraser Darling was
reviewing
her budget to find money for extra workout equipment

"I was flushing $16,000 down the toilet," she said, because
women use
more toilet paper than men.

She pointed out the disparity to her superiors, and got the
extra
money to put towards LifeCycles, StairMasters and other workout
equipment to help the women get in shape.

"Just basic things," she said. "Because of the smaller female
numbers, we were kind of being overlooked. We didn't necessarily
have
a strong voice."

When I began to read this story, I thought, "His DI's should have gouged out his eyeballs and skullfu**ed him!". As I read on, I realized it is better to try to motivate than to write the man off. I was almost courtmarshalled for being tough on a young Marine who eventually went UA due to my putting so much fear into him. Had I tried a different tactic, he might have gone on to do great things and with honor. It just goes to show ya...

Damn Mikky, did you and i serve together. I was court-marshalled in jan.76. None of which was true for this
platoon, anyway. But, for the ones before this one, my
address should still be Ft. Levenwoth, Ks. But, I'm still
have mixed feelings. But i do have many regrets of some of
the things that i did while a drill instructor with H co.
3rd bn 1st RTR, MCRD PISC. 30yrs later, still love the
Corps.

SEMPER FI

IT HAS LONG BEEN MY SUSPICION THAT DURING THE SIX MONTHS THAT I WAS IN SWA WITH THE 1ST MARDIV MPCO THAT THE MOTHERS OF AMAERICA TOOK FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE LACK OF OLD SALT IN THE STATE SIDE CORPS AND REALLY GREASED THE WAY FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR BELOVED CORPS. MAYBE WE CAN CONVINCE CLINT EASTWOOD TO REMAKE HEARTBREAK RIDGE OR MAYBE GYSGT HARTMAN WOULD LIKE TO BECOME A BALLET DANCER.
GENTALMAN I AM A RATIONAL INDIVIDUAL AS WE ALL SHOULD BE BUT IF YOU THINK FOR ONE STINKIN MOMENT THAT BY CATERING TO AND PLAYING PITTY PARTY WITH A BUNCH OF SNOTNOSED,WHINNING,WIMPERING,SCUMSUCKING,BOTTOM FEEDING,****FURBRAINS RECRUIT IS MAKING A "BETTER AND SMARTER" MARINE IT MUST BE TRUE THAT DOPE IS BAD ON THE BRAIN.
NOW MY LITTLE 6 YEARS AND 100 HRS WAR JUST DOES NOT SEEM TO COMPARE WITH THE LIKES OF PREDECESORS THE FACT OF IT IS THAT I KNOW AND HAVE THE TRUE "SPIRIT OF THE BAOYNET". THIS WAS INSTILLED WITHIN ME AT PARIS ISLAND.
REGRETFULLY I SEE THAT MY BELOVED CORPS HAS FALLEN FROM GRACE. YOU SEE WHEN THE COMMAND "FIX BAYONETS" IS SOUNDED TODAYS MARINES THINK OF OH THAT IS THE KNIFE THAT THOSE GUYS ON THE DRILL TEAM STICK ON THE END OF THEIR GUNS AND TWRILL AROUND, NEAT MAN.

FROM HQ IN DC ALL THE WAY DOWN TO YOUR LOCAL RECRUITER THE MESSAGE NEEDS TO BE CLEAR QUALITY NOT QUANTITY. THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU OUGHT TO BE QUARTERED FOR THE PRISSY ASSED WAY YOU ARE RAISING "KIDS": OFF SPRING OF FOUR LEGGED CREATURE OF DOUBIOUS CHARACTER.

OUR MILITARY INFRASTRUCTURE IS SO WASTED THAT IS CLEAR THAT OUR WAR FIGHTING ABILITY IS SERIOUSLY DEGRADED TO THE POINT OF INEFFECTIVENESS. JUST LOOK AT SECDEF ON UP FOR THE "EXAMPLE".

Brother, you said a mouthful, and I agree..

Bomber
old Corps

I said, NM!
NM=No Message!

Are you sure you didn't copy this from a letter that I wrote in 49? If so, it's OK because I copied most of my letter from one that Uncle Ed had written shortly after his discharge from the Corps in 45 and even Ed couldn't very well claim originality because he had copied his from one that my dad had written back in 1939. Come to think of it, when I retired in 69, I rewrote and resubmitted my 53 letter.

Boot Camp is the initial phase of training. It is the high pressure forge in which we make new Marines. Maybe it isn't as hot today as it was in your day, the old corps whenever that was. (Usually, the old corps ended the day before you stood on the yellow footprints - or so the salty dogs believe) The plain fact is that society is different and the Marines are different, no better, no worse. They are not a finished product coming out of boot camp. I have been an enlisted Marine and an officer of Marines. I have had new joins from the old school and from the crucible. They all need the additional leadership that the NCO corps provides once they hit the fleet. There, they are fully transformed into the killers that they need to be. Steel rusts if it isn't properly cared for. We still train to kill prople and break things. The lost spirit of the bayonet that you lament is still alive and well in the Marine Corps. It just needs small unit leaders to bring it out.

What ever happened to this slogan. Is that all it is, just a slogan or is it supposed to mean something. I had a very brief 4 1/2 career in the Marine Corps, but I was very lucky. My last 2 yrs were spent at MCRD Parris Island as a Drill Instructor with 1st Bn B Co. During that time I helped put through 8 platoons, the last 3 as the "Heavy A" (a term I don't think they use anymore). But, the platoon that meant the most to me was my last one as "Third Hat". We started with 75 recruits and by the time we reached out post we had 45 originals, no pick-ups! Quality over quanity!! That's what our Marine Corps is all about. The Few, The Proud.
There's a saying that you get what you pay for. I hope the Marine Corps does not have to pay for some of the people they're bending over backwards to keep in. I'm here to tell you that in 1985 (and probably any other time except for now) recruit Mcgregor would not have made past forming.
SEMPER FI
Steve Campbell
Cpl Pr. Geo. Co. PD (Md)
Former Sgt USMC

In June 1944 I entered boot as a 123 pound scrawny scared kid. I left eight weeks later a 145 pound Marine who knew he could take it.

I agree. The Corps is being put to SHAME due to the Whining crybaby moms that whine because their son(s) or daughter(s) are writing home and crying. They knew from the begining the they were joining the most roughest toughest Branch of the Military. If you cant hack it get the **** out. I was in from 88-92 so Im a Desert Vet.... I always heard my Drill Instructors complaing because of the Mothers of America are crying because they think we "The Recruits" were being mis treated.. GOD help us if we go to WAR and get captured and then become tourchard.... Oh God please help us... I feel for the mothers, dont get me wrong. I can understand how Moms must feel because My younger Brother and I Both had to deliver the news that we had to go to War with Iraq at the same time. But that still does not give them the right to say.. Mr President .. Tell them mean O drill Instructors not to say bad words to our sons n daughters and tell them not to hit them any more or we will protest and you wont be President any more... Yeah well.. SO BE IT. The Marines are the BEST of the REST and I think we should make a stand to let the MOA know we are not out to kill recruits but to make them Physically and Mentally STRONG.

Tend to your own business and let the AWESOME DRILL INSTRUCTORS do their jobs. Thats why we are the ELITE FORCE..

Thats all I have to say.

Douglas Stidham

I've seen the Old Corps Parris Island, Platoon 377, 1956; my son's platoon in 1986 and more recent trips down there to write about what's going on.
It's not so much that the Corps has gotten soft as it is that society has gotten soft.
In '56, we got no quarter but we were pretty tough, anyway. Kids these days are so soft I'm not sure if America will even survive them (the Marines can't temper enough bodies and wills).
The D.I.s are smarter, D.I. training is more and more on the money and they still stick with the most important element--history and tradition.
Marines today still say the prayer, "Lord, don't let me be the one to **** up the legend."
Instead of senseless ass kicking, it's done according to plan today.