ranks of the USMC, the Corps tries to provide Marines a chance to try different things and broaden their horizons. This might include serving as an embassy guard or on a General officer's staff. It may also mean going back to school, an activity that the Corps encourages all of its members to try. A surprising number of enlisted Marines even study for a college degree. The Marines have several ways to facilitate higher education for enlisted ranks: Some are paid to attend a university. And some few who choose to seek a commission as an officer are admitted to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. In fact, the USMC recruits a larger percentage of its officer corps from the enlisted ranks than any other U.S. military service. Promoting from within (the 'Grow Our Own' program) is a key feature of the Corps, and such avenues for advancement contribute a lot to the morale of enlisted Marines.
The Road to Gunny…and Beyond
There comes a point in the life of a Marine where he or she begins to think of the Corps as more than just a job and a paycheck; it becomes a career. This is when a Marine begins the drive to the magic rank of Gunnery Sergeant (E-7), or just 'Gunny.' It takes a Corporal about four to six years in grade to make it to Sergeant (E-5). When you make it, the level of responsibility rises quickly, and so does the workload. But the move up to Staff Sergeant (E-6), about four to six years later, is an even bigger step in a Marine's life, for it means that you have committed yourself to becoming part of the institutional 'glue' that holds the Corps together. It also means a lot of hard work and patience, and a certain level of tolerance for the actions and views of those less experienced than yourself. As a Staff Sergeant, you will probably be assigned that most dreaded of duties, a new 2nd Lieutenant to watch over and hopefully make into a useful officer. You also will become a kind of parental figure to younger Marines assigned to your care. A Staff NCO never commands (that is the responsibility of officers), but a good Staff NCO is priceless as an advisor and partner to the officers who make up the leadership of the Corps. Good officers seek this kind of help as a matter of instinct.
At this point, a Marine is considered a middle manager and leader, with oversight over rifle squads, tanks and other vehicles, and aircraft. Finally, there is the drive to Gunny. Like making Staff Sergeant, it takes four to six years; and making it puts you in a different category within the Corps. Along with the almost mythic title that it carries, being a Gunny earns the respect of officers of any rank, and something like awe from younger Marines. You become one of the keepers of the 'tribal knowledge' that keeps the Marine tradition alive from generation to generation. It also means more practically that you can look forward to a twenty-year-plus career, with retirement benefits and a pension. Trust me when I say that every Gunny I have known has earned the title. As an insight, consider that most of the Marine officers I have spoken with have told me more than once that Gunny is the best job in the Corps, with the widest ranges of responsibilities and duties.
When Marines make it to E-7, if they wish to continue their career in the USMC, they get to make a choice. The next step is Master Sergeant (E-8). And from there they can choose to take the route to Master Gunnery Sergeant (E-9), a career track which leads to greater opportunity and responsibility within technical fields. The other option is the command side of the NCO ranks, which leads to 1st Sergeant (also E-8). A First Sergeant is typically the senior NCO of a Company or similar unit. Beyond First Sergeant is the exalted rank of Sergeant Major (E-9). These extremely rare birds are the right hands of officers commanding MEUs, regiments, divisions, and the Corps itself. At the very summit of the Staff NCO pyramid stands the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, a post currently held by Sergeant Major Lewis Lee, a veteran with over thirty years of service. Sergeant Major Lee sits in an office near to that of General Krulak; and the Commandant would tell you that he is the voice of the enlisted personnel in the Corps. Lastly, there is also the possibility of a direct commission to Warrant Officer (and the slang title of 'Gunner') for enlisted personnel with specialized skills, though this is extremely rare in the USMC.
The Mettle to Lead Marines: Officers
Though there are some subtle differences, the career paths of the small cadre of commissioned officers who constitute the leadership of this more-than-220-year-old institution are generally similar to those of the Army ranks described in
Whether they are Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) graduates or join directly out of college, they all go to the institutional home of Marine officers, the USMC Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Quantico, Virginia. A few dozen miles south of Washington, D.C. along the lower Potomac River, Quantico is where the Corps makes the majority of its officers. Interestingly, some leaders at Quantico wish the Corps would require Academy graduates to go through OCS as well, so that all Marine officers would share a common initial training experience. The ten-week OCS is similar to the Recruit Training course at Parris Island. Though there is a greater emphasis on leadership training and basic command and control skills like radio procedures, land navigation, and calling in artillery and air strikes, the training is just as physically demanding, the hours just as long, and the tests just as challenging as those enlisted Marines must meet. To prove it, just watch the officer candidates (the officer equivalent of a recruit) go through a particularly demented Combat Obstacle Course nicknamed the 'Quigly.' It starts with a slime- and ooze-filled ditch that flows into a small creek. The course continues through dense woods, followed by climbs and descents on a steep hill. Other obstacles follow, ending with a crawl over ground under fire from a light machine gun (don't worry, the staff uses blanks!). The sight of a slime-covered group of officer candidates moving down a bone-chilling creek is bad enough. But when you see the instructors moving a few yards/meters ahead of them, to clear out poisonous water snakes that linger in the area, you get some idea of how much these young officer candidates want to lead Marines. They quickly come to understand that they are being entrusted with the most valuable asset the USMC possesses, its young men and women. Supervising them throughout OCS are the ubiquitous Gunnies.
Following OCS, officers go through another training course at Quantico called the Basic School. Here they learn the skills needed to run a rifle platoon. This training includes not only weapons and tactical instruction, but lessons in the inevitable supervisory and paperwork skills necessary to keep any bureaucracy running. Infantry officers must complete Camp Lejeune's twenty-six-week School of Infantry as well. From there, they head out into the Corps to their MOS schools and their first assignments. Like the enlisted Marines they will lead, there is one common thread: Whatever their primary specialty (pilot, logistics officer, etc.), they are all riflemen first. They are all capable of fighting on the ground. This makes the USMC different from any other U.S. military service. It is also why the national leadership trusts Marines above any other military force to get a tough job done. You can trust Marines!
Taking young men and women and turning them into Marines is hard work, and General Krulak would tell you that the Corps only entrusts such work to its best members. From the recruiters like Gunny Hazzard at the Fairfax Station, to Series Commanders like Captain Whitney Mason at Parris Island, to the instructors at the Basic Warrior School, the process of building new Marines is the toughest job you can imagine. It goes on and on, and the process cannot be allowed to end, lest the very survival of the Corps be put into jeopardy. It remains in good hands.
When I was visiting the Fairfax recruiting office, Gunny Hazzard showed me a special corner. On a crowded bulletin board were dozens of letters, snapshots, and postcards from some of the young Marines he and the other
