Update: Recruit commander, Sgt. Maj. dismissed at Parris Island

1stSgt Eugene Harless - When I was a drill instructor in the early 80s one of the biggest problems was some of the 'material' the recruiting command shipped us. We once had a kid who on TD-1 came to the DI house and told me he couldn't stand the other recruits because, get this - he had served in the Rhodesian Light Infantry and knew the other recruits didn't have the stuff to make Marines and would get people killed. I looked his records up - he had turned 18 a week before he shipped to boot camp. So I asked him how the hell he served in the RLI (since he would have been about 14 or 15 since the RLI disbanded in 1980. He said he went and served during summer vacations . He went straight to see the shrink - turned out he had issues with delusions (no kidding).

Sad part was while he was in processing some DI got tired of his stories - the kid would go hysterical nuts if anyone challenged his story - so the DI came in one day and told the kid "We checked out your story and I want to apologize, apparently you DID serve in the RLI - the government of Zimbabwe has you listed as a war criminal so we are going to extradite you so they can execute you." - Kid freaked and went off and tried to commit suicide - DI got slammed (court martial) two other DI got NJP, the LT in charge of processing got a letter of reprimand. Not a good thing.

GySgt Carl Rumbolo You meant to skip the second half of my comment?

CSM Charles Hayden - I assumed that was complete sarcasm - and I realize that the recruiter may not be entirely responsible but having spend two years on the drill field (granted in the 1980s) there were a number of recruits that you had to ask 'how the hell did the recruiter pass this guy'.

I was a recruiter from 2003-2005. I don't think most people realize how hard it is finding/screening/hypnotizing these kids and getting them to actually ship. The competition and pressure to perform is relentless. In my experience, the permanently assigned side of the house (8412s) are so out of touch with reality it is ridiculous. They simply do not care about ruining a canvassing recruiter's (temporarily assigned 3 years) career. Couple that with the fact that we have a generation of kids who have been misdiagnosed with ADD, ADHD, or whatever excuse was needed to medicate them. The kid was a moody teenager? No shit? Really? They all are. If we weed out every kid who is even slightly disqualified we would have to shut the Corps down. Sad but true.

Equating military and federal civil service as comparable is a non-sequitur. They are entirely different in form and function. While there certainly is room for improvement in the civil service disciplinary process, one should also remember that historically the civil service was a patronage system - entire departments would change with every election. The Civil Service Act of 1883 (Pendleton Act) was a major step in political reform - there are historical reasons why it is so difficult to fire a person from the civil service.

GySgt Carl Rumbolo - I am well aware of the differences. It doesn't change the fact that a bad employee should be terminated. And there should be even less hoops when dealing with civil service positions. They work for the people. If they are not serving the people by performing their job properly, that is both a bad employee and a waste of tax dollars.