Interviewing a Career Marine, Part I of III

Most of you who read my blog know that I’m a Marine Corps Veteran.  I proudly served six years, participating in Operation Earnest Will, and Desert Shield/Desert Storm.  Not too long ago, I was fortunate enough to get in touch with the man who was my Senior Drill Instructor when I was in boot camp.  Recently, he kindly agreed to be interviewed to discuss his career in the Marine Corps.  Like many of my other interviews, it’s relatively in-depth and lengthy, so I am going to break the full interview down into three parts.

When and how did you decide that you wanted to become a Marine?

I decided I wanted to be a Marine after I graduated from High School.  It was 1976, the bicentennial of our country and I felt a need to serve.  My father had been drafted in the Army and I was born on an Army base.

When and how did you decide to make the USMC your career?

At first I wanted to just complete my enlistment and go back to Seattle where I grew up, but things always turn out different than you plan.  I made it through screening to go on Embassy Duty and was married in Manila back in 1982, and there were no jobs in the civilian sector, so my choice was to stay in the Marines.

How did you meet your wife?

One of the local Philippine Embassy guards introduced us and we decided to meet to see a movie.   We really hit it off and you couldn't keep us apart after we met.

How long did you serve?

I served in the Marines for twenty three years.

I see that you retired as a Master Sergeant.  What made you retire as an E-8 as opposed to staying in and retiring as an E-9?

You are never automatically promoted, and I was very happy to achieve the rank of Master Sergeant, which was not easy.  Only three percent of the total enlisted force is promoted to E-8 and because I had been on two special duties (one as an Embassy Guard and the second as a Drill Instructor) I was selected for promotion.  In the Marine Corps you have to demonstrate leadership and compete against your peers to be promoted.

Why did you choose to stay in for 23 years, as opposed to retiring at 20 years or staying for 30?

Staying in the service for 30 years is not automatic; you have to be an E-9 to stay in longer than 28 years and getting promoted is difficult especially when the service is downsizing, which always happens after a war.  I was happy with my decision to retire at 23 years; longer time in service gives greater benefits.

What were your various jobs as a Marine?

I had many different jobs in the Marine Corps.  My first job was as a Logistics clerk at 11^th Marines Artillery Regiment. The duties of the Regimental Logistics clerk were typing official letters and standard operating procedures from the S-4 Officers, and also typing all of the forms to order Artillery Ordnance for training operations. I was lucky to serve with SgtMaj Crawford, who went on to become the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.  Most of my duties were typing and filing official correspondence; and back in those days that was not with a computer but the good old fashion typewriter.  I was only at 11^th Marines from July 7, 1978 to July 7, 1979 at Camp Pendleton Los Pulgas, which is right in the middle of the base.  I was promoted to Corporal meritoriously [t]here, mostly because SgtMaj Crawford found out I had been in a Drum and Bugle Corps when I was a civilian and during a three week training exercise in the desert at 29 Palms he handed me a bugle then told me to play reveille, morning colors, evening colors and taps. I must have done a good job because when the unit returned from the training exercise I was asked to play morning colors every Friday for a formal Regimental Colors ceremony.

I played trumpet and baritone in high school.  When I originally enlisted, I tried out for the Marine Corps band, on both instruments.  Each time, I failed the audition by one point.  After that, my recruiter wanted me to go open contract.  I said no, and chose Avionics.  In retrospect, I’m happy with that decision.  It laid the groundwork for where I am today.

SgtMaj Crawford told me he could arrange an audition for the band anytime, but I told him no thank you. I figured it is almost impossible to become famous and make a living as a trumpet player; my band teacher wanted me to try out of the Marine Corps band also.  Looking back I am happy I did not go into the band because they never had any personal time, because of many different requirements to perform at ceremonies, functions, retirements and special events. 

What was your assignment after leaving Camp Pendleton?

I went to Marine Security Guard duty after that and was in the last class before the Iranian students took over the Embassy in Iran.  My first country was Indonesia which is the world’s largest Muslim country and everyone there was a little nervous because of the events in Iran.  My second country was the Philippines. The Secretary of State Alexander Haig came to Manila, and Vice President Bush came for the inauguration of Marcos as president.

My next duty was at Marine Corps Air Station (Helicopter) Tustin, where I was assigned as the barracks manager for all of the enlisted barracks. I was assigned to the base S-4 office in March 1982, and at first worked at what was called the trouble desk where residents at the Base Housing would call if they needed maintenance (Plumber or Carpenter work). Next I was put in charge of all the barracks, which included being the responsible officer for an account over $100,000.00 for all of furniture.  I personally helped to replace this furniture in all of the different barracks around the base.  It was an unusual job because I had to order things like the Wind Socks on top of the Blimp Hangars.  I was promoted to Staff Sergeant at Tustin in 1983. 

I don’t think I ever mentioned this to you, but I was stationed at MCAS Tustin, from ’87 until ’92, with a couple of LONG deployments in between.  I LOVED that place.

I really loved that base also, one crazy fact when I was there I remember a 1stSgt from MAG-11 talking about Sgt Mckeel who was the only other Marine from 11^th Marines to go to Embassy School with me.  He became a hostage in Iran and was there for 444 days. I told that 1stSgt I bet his is telling stories about a scar on his chest which happened on leave before Embassy School and sure enough later that day he came to see me at the S-4 Office.  This happened in 1982; but a sad fact Mckeel was discharged from the Marines (Alcohol problem). He found a job managing an Apartment complex and was robbed at gunpoint; he fought back and was shot to death.

I then received orders to the Drill Field at MCRD San Diego where I was a Drill Instructor at India Company 3^rd Battalion for eight platoons, three as a Senior Drill Instructor.

Please share one or two of your most memorable stories as a Drill Instructor.

I think the one story that stands out in my mind [from] when I was a Drill Instructor was when I was a Junior Drill Instructor and it was February, when there was lots of rain at RFTD.  We were going to the machine-gun infiltration course, and the usually-dry stream bed was a full raging stream of water.  Since the recruits could get so much mud in their M16 rifle we had one brilliant Junior Drill Instructor who thought it would be a good idea to have his recruits wash the mud out of their rifles in this stream when they were fording it. This was not my platoon but another in the series. Well, as Murphy ’s Law would have it, two of the recruits from that platoon lost [their] grip [on] their weapon when trying to clean it in the fast moving water, and their weapons were lost. Since I was the most senior Junior Drill Instructor I was informed of this situation right away. Now I always take these things calmly because when you panic you only make mistakes.  After being told about the missing weapons I noticed that a Major from the Recruit Field Training Division headquarters was visiting the area, so I decided to wait before informing the Company Commander until this Major left the area. Once he had safely departed and was a long way away I went up to the Company Commander and informed him of the missing weapons.  He became extremely angry, because I am sure he thought his career was over right then and there. The next thing you know almost the whole company was up and down that stream about two hundred yards in each direction looking for those rifles.  It took about twenty minutes but those rifles were found under about four inches of sand right where they went into the stream. The Company Command went over to the Senior Drill Instructor who was in charge of that platoon and said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, “I want those two recruits punished every hour on the hour until they graduate.” Then he stormed off. That is one of the only times I ever saw the Company Commander completely lose control in front of the recruits.  You really can’t blame him because a lost weapon really would be the end of his career and probably the Drill Instructor’s career also.

Did the drill instructors follow through on the Commander’s order?

No they understood it was done in the heat of the moment.  This is also something that is addressed in the SOP, so they knew better. It really wasn’t a lawful order which is something else Marines have to be aware of at all times.

What are your thoughts of your time as a Drill Instructor?  About making Marines?

I do remember my tour of duty as a Drill Instructor well, and there were many ups and downs.  I have to say the school was the hardest thing I have done in my lifetime, as the school director was a Recon Major.  I saw many Drill Instructors get into trouble, and even one went to the Brig for taking money from recruits. I can remember my feet turning black from wearing the patent leather shoes on the Parade Deck and marching for hours.  We would all lose our voice and it would come back strong in a couple of days. Even as Drill Instructors we had to qualify on the range; I also remember being in an Inspector General’s inspection and they checked your service record to make sure you had the proper ribbons and badges. Sometimes we would have one week in between platoons and sometimes there wouldn’t even be two days. It was very hard and demanding duty but when you saw a platoon graduate and become Marines there was a lot of pride.  

How often did/do you hear from your recruits?

I only am in touch with about five of the Marines I trained.  A couple of them send updates to me on Facebook.  One of them sent me a long Thank you letter on the site Togetherweserved[.com], which was set up to help keep old military friends in touch and also make a historical record of your time in the service.

This is the end of Part I of the interview.  Click here for the second installment, which will discuss the latter part of his career.