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Well I’m sure some of you have no idea what this strip is referring to, but those of you that are currently enlisted and active duty have probably already read the Commandant’s letter to NCO’s dramatically titled “The Reawakening.”
All of this is part of the CMC’s continuing efforts to POG-ify the Marine Corps for peacetime and pretend like combat hardened Marines that don’t give a fuck are a genuine problem. The letter also embellishes the whole “leadership” idea of NCO’s, which could be true if promotions were based on merit and not cutting scores. I know I might be biased, seeing as this website is called “Terminal Lance,” but it’s hard to buy into the idea that Corporals are somehow magically transformed into leaders once they reach above a certain score.
That’s what the promotion is, it’s a score.
There’s tons of boot Corporals that I wouldn’t trust to lead their dicks to a wet hole, but their rank says otherwise. This has always sort of been my fundamental problem with the promotion system: rank versus rate. The book says rank is more important, but everyone on the ground knows that rate matters so much more. What do I mean by “rate?” I mean experience. I was a Lance Corporal after two deployments to Iraq, but I’m supposed to listen to a Corporal fresh out of MOS school because he’s a rank above me?
Fuck.
That.
Shit.
Anyway, make of the letter what you will. There’s no fighting the change to peacetime Marine Corps, I just wish the Commandant wouldn’t demonize those with a little salt on their backs. I find it borderline offensive that he’s putting Marines with substance abuse issues on blast, like a rodent needing to be rooted out, rather than trying to get them the help that they probably (desperately) need.
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