Photo By Sgt. Shawn Valosin | Sgt. Jamie R. Gordon (left), a Rockland County, N.Y., native and instructor with the...... read more read more
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The time for attrition was over. After three weeks of classroom instruction, fitness training, hands-on practical application and applied knowledge tests, the instructors for Class 032-14 weren’t looking to weed out weak links or thin the ranks.
The Marines of Class 032-14 were already leaders in their own right, cut out of the fabric of non-commissioned officers from around the 2nd Marine Logistics Group.
The end of March marked their last week of training here before they filtered back to their respective units.
During their time at Corporal’s Course, the Marines learned about the Marine Corps’ history, heritage and traditions. They gathered each morning to recite their noncommissioned officer’s creed, complete daily physical fitness sessions followed by extensive periods of classroom instruction on everything from the Marine Corps’ history and structure to combat operations and mentoring junior Marines.
They spent hours conducting drill in the field outside their classroom, but also spent several days conducting combat simulations in the field.
“Everything we learned in the course we’ll apply out [in the fleet],” said Cpl. Roberto Class, a native of Puerto Rico and student in class 032-14. “It’s a lot of knowledge that they instill in you. It’s good knowledge because you can relate it back to the Marine Corps. This time it’s not so much about your specialty. It’s related to Marine Corps traditions and customs … stuff you can take back to your unit and pass [on] to your junior Marines.”
Class and his peers spent the weeks honing their understanding of close order drill and the Marine Corps’ sword manual under the watchful eyes of their instructors. They learned day by day through trial and error as the sergeants overseeing their training imparted not only the movements and commands, but also the symbolic trust behind the weapon and their rank.
“You have to set the example as an instructor,” said Sgt. Jamie R. Gordon, one of sergeants hand selected from within 2nd MLG to teach the course. “They’re going to see everything you’re doing, and they’re going to follow … If you’re that inspiring leader, they’re going to want to do what you’re doing. If you’re doing the right thing, they will take that back to their units and inspire their junior Marines.”
The Marine NCO sword itself, the longest continually serving armament in the U.S. arsenal, harkens back to a simple fact of Marine life: there is a special trust placed in Marine NCOs.
Of the more than 174,000 enlisted Marines on active duty, 144,570 are sergeants and below, noted Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, in a recent letter addressed to his NCOs.
When the numbers are added up, more than 83 percent of the Corps’ enlisted personnel are led by sergeants and below. The Marine Corps stands alone in granting the privilege to carry a sword to its NCOs precisely because of that special trust.
“As the corporals come through here, I think it’s essential they take that from doing the course,” said Gordon, a native of Rockland County, N.Y. “Knowing how to be a unit leader … it’s extremely important to an NCO, something they can read about, but actually getting out there and doing it is completely different.”
Gordon said she still draws upon the memory of one of her sergeants who did the same for her. As a junior Marine, she would gather with her peers at Camp Pendleton, Calif., early in the morning to practice drill and gain experience commanding a small unit.
“[My sergeant] was always doing the right thing and trying to motivate the Marines,” remembered Gordon. “At the time, I thought he was a little crazy,” she joked, “but looking back on it now, I realize he was trying to instill motivation, inspire us and teach us everything they were supposed to … Everything he taught me, the way he acted, inspired me to act the same way.”
The course is a sharp change of pace for many of the corporals, noted Gordon. While they come from leadership positions in their respective units, few have had the chance to implement many of the formal leadership techniques taught at the course.
“I hit the fleet and went to Afghanistan pretty quickly,” said Cpl. Joshua Munro, a student in the course. “I had some great NCOs, [and] it was a great experience. From the moment I hit the fleet and was learning from my senior Marines, I wanted to learn as much as I could just so I could pass it on to younger Marines.”
Munro’s quick jump into the operational climate of the Marine Corps at the time gained him extensive field knowledge, but he never got to follow up with education in areas such as conducting performance evaluations, uniform inspections, drill or many of the other tried and proven leadership principles taught at the course.
It’s more than drill and history; it’s the daily act of leading Marines through the lens of 238 years of tradition.
“It’s a lot of the formal education I never got,” said Munro, a Troy, Mich., native. “This is definitely adding to the garrison knowledge and the formal leadership, which was hard for me initially.”
“It’s definitely a step you need to take to develop your leadership in the Marine Corps,” said Munro of the course.
The instructors have been in their students’ shoes, too.
As a graduate of both Corporal’s Course and Sergeant’s Course, Gordon knows that this is one of the rare chances for the Marines to network with peers from a wide range of unit’s with an array of different specialties. In fact, she’s still friends with some of her classmates even now and uses lessons from her own time in the courses to inform her students.
“It takes time for them to learn, but they are learning,” said Gordon. “As long as I am making a difference in the Marine Corps, making sure those Marines follow what we teach them, and they take it back and teach their junior Marines or their fellow corporals … That’s all I need.”
| Date Taken: | 04.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.08.2014 17:13 |
| Story ID: | 124984 |
| Location: | CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US |
| Hometown: | PUERTO RICO, N, BO |
| Hometown: | ROCKLAND, NY, US |
| Hometown: | TROY, MI, US |
| Web Views: | 243 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Corporal’s Course forges next generation of Marine NCOs, by Sgt Paul Peterson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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