How should a situation in the MCX about wearing a cover in the building be handled properly?

Col Kyle Taylor Great feedback!

LTC (Join to see) I agree - there could have been some underlying issues with him and his mother! You never know when things like this happen! If there were I'm sure the SgtMaj got to the bottom of it and took that into consideration when they went outside to further discuss the incident! Stuff Happens!

1LT William Clardy all three involved (Enlisted Marine, Junior Officer, and SgtMaj were in the Summer Utility uniform (whatever the Marines) call it - see example below:

Well, that blew my theory on why an enlisted Marine might mouth off to a commissioned officer, COL Mikel J. Burroughs, based on my own encounter with a Marine corporal who thought that an officer out of uniform no longer had any authority.

LTC (Join to see) There is no link, here is the information on what happened from above:

THIS WAS A REAL SITUATION THAT TOOK PLACE YESTERDAY 12/30/2015 - NO BS!

If anything, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and my wife called me at home immediately following the incident - she knew I would enjoy hearing about it. I just said, "that CSM owns that young Marine!"

RP Members this one comes from the wife that works at Camp Pendleton, CA Marine Base in the MCX.

A young Marine was in the check-out line with his mother and still had is cover on. He was approached by another Marine (Junior Officer) and asked to remove the cover. Immediately the young Marine took up the defensive and asked the junior officer "who the F*** are you?" The Junior Officer then got into the young Marine's face and told him to have some respect and remove the cover - it escalated into a shouting match in the check-out line in the MRX. Coming from the back of the store there was a loud roar from a Command Sergeant Major in the Marines (built like a tank according to the wife). He bellowed, "both of you shut your mouth there are families in here!" The MCX went silent and several employees and Marines hit the deck (no kidding). The SMA came to the front and grabbed the young Marine the by collar escorting him out of the MCX with the Marine's mother yelling, "don't touch my boy!"

Any extra duty in this Marine's future?

SSG Mike Angelo Excellent advice! I owe you a vote up - all out this morning!

SSG Mike Angelo must have served a long time ago?
That is a "bus driver's cap, Enlisted" on his head in the pic, I almost mistakenly thought he was Air Force!

Yup...no scrambled eggs on this saucer cap....pure enlisted post- Vietnam era, my section chief was a Spec 7. Also note, brown poplin shirt, long sleeve of the Class A uniform of that era. 40 years ago this year I enlisted in the US Army, Private/E-1 with the base pay of $354.00 / month....single, no dependents, Oakland, California.

When I first enlisted, in the NG, the "Bus Driver's Cap, Enlisted", (A.S.U. Service Cap, Enlisted), was almost completely phased out, (or at least not very widely available, or worn), by the middle of my RA enlistment, (July of '81), it was no longer authorized for wear, or available at CSS or in the PX/BX . My Section Sgt., (RA), was a former Marine in the grade of SSG.
By the time I left the RA, the new Army Green shirts had replaced the brown poplin ones for wear with the Dress Green Uniform. I was also single, no dependents, pay was a bit better though. Now I see that the Army Green Uniform has been supplanted by the New Army Blues.

SGT Jeremy Phillips Thanks for the professional feedback!

GySgt William Hardy Yea I been getting that a lot from the Marines on this post Gunny. It happened, I'm sorry to say, but thanks for some of your insight and thoughts about how it should be handled!

Had I been there, I probably would have walked up the the Pvt and removed his headgear myself, just given him a nasty stare as I walked off. Sometimes less is more. Regulations need to be enforced, but NCOs and Officers need to have a variety of appropriate responses handy. During my active duty days, we discussed these responses in the various leadership schools, and "sensitivity" training classes (race relations, males-females in the work place, etc) A good NCO or Officer should tuck away these ideas from their professional development and do their best to pick an appropriate response. I had some of this when I served in the Army National Guard, but not as much as when I was on active duty.

SSgt (Join to see) Great feedback. The wife said that there were only a few other civlilians or individuals out of uniform in the check out line behind the two - this happened right before they ready to ring up what they came in for and it is very close the exit door (there are two entires - the main one and a secondary one) they set up a special register for Service Members in uniform (all branches), slow day, so only the two mMarines in Line with Mother and two other people behind them - big store, but they were so loud when they started their exchange that the SgtMaj who was way in the back, but with a direct line of sight through the isle heared and had his family with him as well and that's what made him mad and why he Yelled: Shut up both of you and take it outside their are families in the store - he immediately marched up and escorted them out of the store - this is after the one of the Red Shirt Managers also asked them to take their issue outside (again Mother yelling at both the Junior Officer and SgtMaj to leave her boy alone! My wife, knowing the military, was completed blown away. That is why she called me - she couldn't believe it. In the three years that she worked there, no one had ever acted that way in the store.

I do think it should have been taken outside however, the correction still should have been made, and it wouldn't have gotten out of hand had the young Marine done what he was told in the first place. As a combat veteran of 4 tours I still go back to the instant obedience to orders, thought to every Marine in boot camp. Society has changed there for so have the men who now have joined, we have a smarter Marine Corps, however is it at the expense of the basics being lost. Instant obedience to orders, respect of those who have gone before us and those of higher rank, pride in our new easier then ever uniforms, and the basis of our Corps doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

I have almost 16 years in, and some broken time. I started in 1997 and I will leave this year on my 8th over seas deployment. I am concerned about the warriors we will leave our Corps to. I am seeing the basics becoming less and less important and the NCOs are not stepping up like we did. As a NCO I used to think my SNCO was there to answer questions and guide me when I was not sure it was my job to run everything so they stayed out of my business. Our Marines today do not feel that way(most of them).

The Lt could have kept it from escalating, however he shouldn't have had to and he is still learning how to handle situations like this.

SgtMaj well he was much nicer than I would have been and handled the escalated situation very well however he shouldn't have had to either. I really hope that the young Marine sees corrective action in a minimum of company level NJP. Having his mother their he should have been on his best behavior not embarrassing himself and our Corps.

I also want to point out that the Cpls Courses place Marines at that same location to teach them to make corrections and to do nothing to this Marine will show them that we condone this behavior and there for, making corrections isn't worth your time because we as senior Staff and Officers will not back them, after all if it is not important to us it won't be to our NCOs.

Thank you for listening to my opinion COL Burroughs. I was not there, However I am passionate about correcting our Marrines, a Great SgtMaj once told me "are your pockets buttoned" a Moto that means more than just your Uniform, it means have we forgotten our basics of everything that makes us a Marine and the pride to ensure basics are not lost.