Marines And Parris Island Essay, Research Paper
The Marines and Parris IslandAt the Marines main training camp, Parris Island, many of the rules and concepts we learn in Sociology are accentuated and brought out into plain view. The Marines must operate as one, a unit of many operating for a common goal, to protect the United States. And in order to do this, they must apply strict mores and norms onto their soldiers, to ensure that no one steps out of line, and everyone is in the same direction. To start, the corps takes away the most evident forms of individuality. All recruits hair is lopped off to a clean-shaven buzzcut. Their street clothes are replaced with uniforms, all almost identical. All recruits are beginning to look the same, and they begin to feel like a team. At this point, they feel mostly the same as they did on the outside, and have yet to experience anything they did not expect. Enter the Drill Instructor, who will get these civilians to stand the same, walk the same, talk the same, and be the same. Everyone must stand at ‘attention’, those who slack or do not conform are chastised by the Instructor. This alone could cause the most casual civilian to firm up instantly. Most Drill
Instructors are scary individuals who scream, banter, and degrade their recruits. The stripping of dignity, and replacing with the values of the corps. Shouting, Chanting, and Songs are used as tools to mold the recruits even more. Not only do they cause all the recruits to act as one, all singing in unison, but they are required to shout in the same tone. Shouting in the same tone, and the same inflection, is the final nail in the coffin of the new recruits former life. In comes the physical training, which will provide the soldier with the tools required for being a Marine. Repelling off walls, climbing hand over hand, over large moats, and balancing over mud, are some of the challenges provided to trainees. If they fail the task at hand, the Drill Instructor begins tearing into the recruit, because failure is not acceptable. Some may call it brainwashing, which it is probably a form of. But the Marines are one of the most agile, powerful divisions of the Armed Forces ever, and are feared worldwide. If this training allows this force to become more mobile, and considering that the training has not changed over the many years, they must be doing it right.