You want the best of the best to teach and train new Marines.
And now, the leadership of the Marines are trying to make examples of some Drill Instructors for making small mistakes and throwing the book at them, causing the moral of Drill Instructors to plummet.
From the Marine Times:
Sgt. Korey Bromery was fuming. When he came upon his recruits horsing around in the squad bay bathroom, he ordered the entire platoon — some 70 men — into the showers where he made them run in place. For added discomfort, he thickened the air by dumping bleach down the drains.
This incentive-training session happened in 2012 at Parris Island, S.C., one of the Marine Corps’ two recruit depots. It lasted less than five minutes, and no one was hurt, but it’s likely going to cost Bromery his military career.
His actions violated the service’s rules governing drill instructor conduct. As the platoon’s “heavy hat,” a position one tier below senior DI, Bromery was not authorized to IT more than 10 recruits at a time. And the use of bleach, a noxious cleaning agent, could have done some serious damage had any of it splashed in someone’s eye.
Cause for concern? Sure. But in December, after a months-long investigation, Bromery’s command sent him to a general court-martial, the most severe form of military trial. “I’m getting treated at the level of people that rape or are involved in murder cases are treated,” Bromery said. Even the judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, who has overseen hundreds of trials throughout his career, called the move excessive, according to a record of the proceedings obtained by Marine Corps Times.
Bromery, who acknowledged making poor decisions that day, was found guilty of maltreatment. The judge imposed no punishment and went so far as to write Parris Island’s commanding general, Brig. Gen. Lori Reynolds, recommending she disregard the conviction, but the Corps has begun the process of administratively separating him from the service anyhow.
Reynolds said she is duty-bound to hold drill instructors accountable when they break the rules. Indeed, there is heightened pressure on commands to swiftly and aggressively address allegations of abuse in the ranks — not only at boot camp but throughout the service — since sweeping revisions were made last summer to the service’s anti-hazing order. But DIs and others question whether this reaction is so severe it will distract these Marines from carrying out their mission and ensuring the recruits in their charge leave boot camp as disciplined, dependable war fighters....
During Bromery’s proceedings last month, Jones, the judge, took the unusual step of commenting in the court record how he found it inappropriate for Bromery to be facing a general court-martial. He said that having served as a judge for about 700 courts-martial, he had never seen a case on that level reach a general court-martial.
“For all accounts, the Marine is an outstanding Marine with outstanding military character and — who is probably in the most stressful and difficult job in the Marine Corps who had a momentary lapse of judgment for a few moments,” Jones said during the court-martial. “... We must realize that nobody was physically hurt.”
The Corps should not lose Bromery, he added, and offered to write a letter to Reynolds on the sergeant’s behalf. In his letter, dated Dec. 13, Jones told the general that Bromery should receive nonjudicial punishment or a written counseling entry for his actions.
“It is in my opinion that he should not receive a federal felony conviction for this misconduct,” Jones wrote...
Bromery said he and his attorneys sent a clemency package to Reynolds, which included the letter from Jones. But about two weeks ago, he received an administrative separation package, he said. He said he feels that Reynolds is punishing him for VanDyke’s alleged mistakes....
Drill instructors aboard Parris Island know everything that goes on there, Montanez said. If a zero-defects mindset takes hold, he added, good Marines may leave the assignment with unwarranted blemishes on their records.
As a staff noncomissioned officer, Montanez said he worries that people will look at Bromery’s case and think they could face trouble with their own careers if they report violations to the command. When the investigation began, he said, officials at Parris Island cast a wide net to try to pull in anyone else who might have even a slight connection to the wrongdoing.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20140120/NEWS/301200006/Parris-Island-gets-tough-on-arrogant-drill-instructors
I am quite sure these decisions are being made at the top level of the Pentagon with help from the Obama administration.
Obama and his ilk hate the military and I am sure, especially the Marines because the are the toughest and do the toughest work (though each branch of the armed Forces have important and tough jobs, so I don't want to put them down)
The Obama administration has made it a point to throw out Generals they don't like and are trying to make social experiments with the military by reducing standards and punishing those who try to instill toughness in the military. They are trying to make the military weaker instead of stronger.
Hopefully, Sgt. Bromery will be allowed to keep his career but if Obama and his band of pussy cats have their way, he won't.
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