Commandant: Some Future Marines May Skip Boot Camp Entirely

Creating a Path to Lateral Entry

“We should have an open door for exceptionally talented Americans who wish to join the Marine Corps, allowing them to laterally enter at a rank appropriate to their education, experience, and ability.” -Gen. Berger

I think this is the most contentious part of Gen. Berger’s memo. What he essentially says here is that if you are good enough at your job as a civilian, then you can skip Marine Corps boot camp – and a few ranks – and start where it takes most Marines a decade to achieve.  This is similar to the Navy’s Limited Duty Officer program where doctors, nurses and attorneys are commissioned at ranks that reflect their experience on the job. Their LDO status keeps them outside the normal chain of command on a vessel or station ashore as their command responsibilities are limited to their profession.  So if all the officers at the rank of Commander and above on an aircraft carrier were eliminated as battle casualties somehow, the Dentist in sickbay wearing silver oak leaves is not in line to take command of the ship.  This may be what the Marine Corps has in mind as well, but one wonders why the Navy doesn’t just fill in those billets for the Marines as they do with Corpsmen serving as medics in combat units?

I understand the military’s need for people with computer skills – as an example – but there are already federal positions that exist for people like this that aren’t the Marine Corps. These IT wizards could join the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the NGA, or other governmental, non-military organizations. I don’t see a specific need for a Marine to hold a billet that an outside government contractor could easily fill.  Since the pay is better with the civilian government the Marines will have their work cut out for them trying to talk a former civilian IT guy or gal into accepting a position as an E-6 under a four or six-year contract for a lot less in terms of pay and benefits.

It would seem to be a lot easier for the Marines to draw talent from the NSA and then make them a liaison to the Marine Corps? That path seems more intelligent than hiring people off the streets and promoting them above 2nd or 3rd enlistment Marines that had to come up the hard way. We Marines are a chummy bunch, and will not give much respect to an On-Paper Marine E-6 only in the corps a year who did not attend boot camp and earn their Eagle, Globe and Anchor(EGA) but wants to throw their weight around.

One main reason that I can see that would cause Marine Corps leaders to want to recruit people that could otherwise easily be defense contractors is that if they are Marines, they come under Marine Corps regulations and discipline. I’m trying to imagine a cyber guy who wants to do that instead of joining one of the intelligence agencies or the private contracting firms that they work with to augment their capabilities.

In fact, the Marine Corps already has something like this when it created the Cyber Auxiliary Division, which consists of civilian volunteers who assist the Marines with Cyber stuff. The Corps could simply pay these people to do the work as civilians with the understanding that if a major conflict were to break out they would be enlisted or commissioned as a wartime contingency.

I certainly see the need for people like this. Still, I just don’t see how you will sell this idea to the tens of thousands of Marines who have to answer to and work with people who don’t have the same historical, bonding events such as recruit training and other rugged Marine Corps courses.  It is said that “Marines are made, not born” and the place where Marines are made is boot camp.

When I think back to the things that built cohesion, camaraderie, and respect among my fellow Marines and me, I think of things like boot camps or specific schools that some of us attended. There is a ton of (mostly) friendly banter between San Diego (Hollywood) Marines and Parris Island Marines. Obviously, there shouldn’t be since the San Diego boot camp is said to be far more difficult than a flat Parris Island tour; but I digress. I just don’t see how there could even be the base level of unit cohesion if Marines don’t all start at square one. In that place where your identity as a civilian is stripped away and a new identity as a Marine is built.

As I said earlier, the title “Marine” still means something to guys like me who had to “earn” the title and the Commandant needs to balance the needs of the Corps alongside its identity as a nearly 250-year-old institution.