We're Not Marines (But Copy Marines)
Study.
Is your foundation solid?
Borrow One Idea: Be Comfortable Correcting Peers
To observe a Marine is inspirational. To be a Marine is exceptional.
Gunnery Sergeant Charles F. Wolf, Jr.
If you didn’t spend 30 seconds watching the sweet recruitment video above, it ends with the tagline “you don’t join the Marines, you become one.”
Close your eyes and imagine a Marine, either in physical embodiment or just as a concept.
Regardless of what you just visualized, I can guarantee the Marine had their stuff together. There might not be a better, quicker characterization of a Marine than ‘they’ve got their stuff together.’ It’s the look, and feel, of being disciplined and accountable. It’s the look of someone who has become a Marine.
Marines do not arrive at that end-state naturally, it’s a development process.
Disclaimer: The author has not, nor will ever be, a Marine.
This content is based on research and opinion, not first-hand experience.
One part of that development process, and a method by which Marines help build discipline and accountability, is through peer support. Sometimes this takes the form of peer correction, even for junior enlisted Marines.
Junior Marines are often hesitant to make corrections due to a lack of confidence in their own knowledge, or not wanting to seem like a stickler among their peers. However, adhering to rules and regulations shows that Marines take pride in their service and in the Corps. Some regulations have obvious connections to safety or job duties, but others are about upholding standards. For example, the reason rips and holes are not permitted on Marine uniforms is a matter of pride. As written in the Marine Corps Uniform Manual:
Wearing the uniform should be a matter of personal pride to all Marines. Marines will maintain their uniforms and equipment in a neat and serviceable condition and will, by their appearance, set an example of neatness and strict conformity with these regulations. Marines are not known just for their battlefield prowess, but for their unparalleled standards of professionalism and uncompromising personal conduct and appearance. It is a Marine’s duty and personal obligation to maintain a professional and neat appearance. Any activity which detracts from the dignified appearance of Marines is unacceptable.
So long as it is done in a constructive manner, correcting peers or junior Marines can have a positive effect on their careers. In this stage of a junior Marine’s career, learning these standards and how to stay within them is imperative.
MCTP 6-10A, Section 3-4, PDF page 24
Confidence in correcting peers challenges junior enlisted Marines, new graduates entering the workforce, mid-career professionals, senior executive, spouses, college students…everyone.
The times when teams and individuals get into the most trouble is rarely a result of one person making an isolated, poor decision. More often it is the culmination of a series of errors or issues occurring as people bite their tongues, unwilling to have the confidence to call out the problem or needed corrective issue. They do not want to correct their peers.
Correcting peers, and the ability to accept correction from peers, must start early in a career - at the junior level - and be practiced continuously.
It helps you solidify your own foundation of discipline and accountability, allowing you to reinforce your own grounding in personal and professional standards.
This week, borrow with pride and reflect on your ability to correct peers. Where are you confident and where do you not? What outstanding issue in your life might be rectified by taking corrective action now? Were a peer to correct you this week, what might they say? Is your foundation solid?
Get Familiar With: Building on a Solid Foundation
Chances are, you are not a Marine. I’m not one either. That does not mean we cannot work to be like them. Not in all ways, but some.
US Marine Corps recruit training (and subsequent schooling for individual specialties) is designed to transform normal humans into Marines and place all the new Marines on a standard level prior to sending them forward to the Fleet Marine Forces. Its purpose is to build a solid foundation.
Recruit training, better known as boot camp, is very challenging. The Marines, however, recognize that the more significant challenge is sustaining the transformation after boot camp provides an initial foundation.
What will be built ON this solid foundation?
If the transformation that begins in recruit training is not sustained, the pride and motivation stemming from that accomplishment may wane, and growing pains may overpower it.
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Marines must ensure they are taking the necessary steps to set themselves up for success by sustaining their transformation or they risk straying from the strong foundation they built.
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In recruit training, ever minor mistake was correct without the Marines having to think about them. … Leaving the heavily scrutinized schoolhouse environment removed the close supervision and put more responsibility on the Marine to self-correct and maintain the standard.
MCTP 6-10A, Sections 3-1 through 3-3, PDF pages 21-23
Whether you are one or ten steps removed from the foundational building stage of your life and career, it is helpful to revisit your foundations frequently. Everything is built on the foundation; any weakness in the foundation will lead to less than desirable results elsewhere. The farther away we get from the foundation building stage of life, the easier it becomes to forget what is in the foundation.
No one wants to stray from the strong foundation they built. But it does happen. Evaluating, repairing, or even rebuilding a foundation is sometimes necessary.
Is your foundation solid? Have growing pains overpowered your foundation? What makes a foundation strong, and which elements of your foundation might need attention?
The Guided Discovery for this week will explore the US Marine Corps definition of a strong foundation, the professional and personal expectations placed on junior enlisted Marines, and how to sustain ourselves and others as we build on our foundations.
Learn More: Suggested Reading
MCTP 6-10A, Sustaining the Transformation
Pages 3-1 through 3-27 based on printed document (PDF pages 21-47)
Description of general responsibilities and expectations of junior enlisted Marines as they progress through the early stages of their careers
Link to MCTP 6-10A on the US Marine Corps Publications Electronic Library
These materials will be the focus of Thursday’s Guided Discovery
Catch Up: Last Week’s Content
Study: Be - Know - Do
Guided Discovery: Developing Leaders
Always be asking:
1. What is the connection with my leadership development?
2. How does this change my thinking on management?
3. How does this influence planning for life?
4. What can I borrow with pride to use this week?