Marine drill instructors at Parris Island are under investigation for hazing, abuse at boot camp

Let us see if the investigation has a hot line that goes all the way back to WW II.

I'm of the opinion that it is better to err slightly on the side of harshness than to err toward coddling recruits and trying to shield them from physical and mental stress. The rigors of combat are much more extreme and I believe that those who were able to make it through the more stressful training will have fewer casualties in a combat situation.

As an aside, I am also of the opinion that the military is not best served by having females serve as combat infantry. The military was never meant to be a social experiment and just because Suzie wants to be a grunt, doesn't mean she should be one. Women fail at a much higher rate than men and it is not fair to taxpayers to waste their money on training when the failure rate is statistically higher... Furthermore, studies have shown that all-female infantry units underperform male infantry units as well as mixed. This is not to say females don't have a place in the military, but we should be smart about where we put our people and put them where they are best suited to provide the most benefit to the service and support the highest military readiness and combat effectiveness. FWIW. But that is a discussion for another day. It's probably a topic that has been kicked to death already.

A very good life lesson I learned... they weren't my kids which changed my approach. In fact, that carried to my family life. At the time my sons were all under 4 years old, so I had no experience raising kids. However, as I adjusted my paradigm of the 1970s DI (I was a recruit in '76) to become consistently regimented with in focus towards attention to details. Instead of punishing with beatings (like we got) I became creative with the tools I was given i.e. incentive PT, repetitions, crappy duties etc... I managed to stay out of trouble that tour and used that tactic in the fleet and carried those lessons to teaching public school. I taught "at risk" students for 19 years. My success there was creating an environment that you are an outcast if you chose not to participate in your learning. Check yourself, teamwork, and learning to work as an individual and checking why are you here? Taking that approach required hands-on-leadership, i.e. leadership by example. That approach was so successful I managed to stay in that teaching positions that chewed up teachers like a buzzsaw. In fact, my doctoral dissertation focused on the value of teachers as hands-on-leaders. I was a very successful soccer and wrestling coach along with being a father. Since then I retired from teaching public school and moved to teaching leadership and management as a full time college professor.

What I believe would work well for current and future DI's would be using a similar approach. Moreover, I believe many successful DI's do it naturally while some are lucky they didn't get caught. Personally, I believe 'in-service' training to teach those young NCO's the rigors of leadership consistency, hands-on-leadership and the importance of leadership influence. I believe DI duty is one of the most important leadership positions in the USMC because we have our hands on the pulse of the USMC. DIs make or break the person we are transforming into Marines. I believe the first step of ensuring our Corps is at its best is ensuring each DI has the best training and tools to completed the mission.

Great advice 1stSgt (Join to see)

I can say from experience...they will nitpick everything you've done, every word you've used and will charge you with anything they can write down. Then allow a court martial or NJP to decide...I was court martialed back in 1980 and walked with no conviction (one of the very few who beat that rap). I learned a butt load about military law and how investigations actually work.