DI faces 45 counts in recruit-abuse case

[thedrifter]

October 25, 2004 <br />
<br />
DI faces 45 counts in recruit-abuse case <br />
<br />
By Gordon Lubold <br />
Times staff writer <br />
<br />
<br />
A drill instructor is accused of conducting an illegal physical training session in the...

[HardJedi]

Dang. Would this one fall under the good initiative/bad judgement rule? Or he's just a plain power hungry fool who likes to abuse his authority?

[fulmetaljackass]

More than likely the latter....working at the airport waiting for recruits to show up when you're supposed to be in the trenches training them sounds pretty d@mn boring.

[seandayley]

In this day and age I would have to say that it was both, bad initiative and bad judgement. This day and age you must be vary careful on what you do. Everything seems to offend someone. I tell you it sucks.

[LivinSoFree]

There are plenty of ways to enforce control and discipline even within the comparatively strict guidelines governing recruit training these days. My Drill Instructors followed regs to the LETTER when it came to this kind of thing, and they never had ANY problems getting their point across. This just sounds like a Marine making a VERY bad call, and to be honest, he's lucky that one of those recruits didn't have an unknown and/or undisclosed heart condition, because if one of them had kicked the bucket, he would've been in a much worse spot. That's why they don't IT you until AFTER the depot physical eval... period.

[Sgt. Smitty]

These boots nowadays don't know the meaning of hard physical work in boot camp the way we did in the 60's and before. My DI's used to physicall and mentally abuse us on a daily basis the whole time i was in boot. Recruits now would never make it through the boot camp that my generation had to endure. There would be too much snivelling and whining because a DI put his hands on them. Hell, that was an every day occurance when i went through boot. But not now, no, they can't even call them some of the names that we were called without cryin to someone because the DI was bein a big meany!! AS far as I'm concerned, boot camp has gone soft.

[awb5711]

Sgt. Smitty

I agree with you that boot camp has changed dramatically since the time you came in. But please don't take your frustrations out on the recruits and todays Marines. Marines today are performing an outstanding job in conditions and deployment rates unlike any before.

Is boot camp less abusive now than it was before. Yes. Does that make the training any less affective. I don't believe so. The days of storming beaches with mass troops are over. The days of an 18 yr old kid fighting a war with a laptop are here.

There are recruits now that do whine a lot. They request mast and fry a good drill instructor. Thats news. Thats whats on TV and in the papers. Its not PC to write about the majority of recruits who were disappointed in their boot camp experience. Most of us expected and wanted the training to be harder. There are many of us new Marines out there to day who were hit, cursed out or similarly abused. We are the ones who walk away smiling saying that was some "Moto S@%T!!"

Enough rambling. Just want to finish off by saying that Recruit Training is doing a fine job transforming young men and women into Marines. Who are now going out and doing an outstanding job across the globe.

Semper Fi

[mrbsox]

Floyd and the other two Marines were permanently assigned as staff at the airport, where they meet recruits arriving by airplane and conduct preliminary in-processing before sending them to Parris Island. Since recruits arriving at the airport have not undergone a physical evaluation, the depot’s airport staff is not allowed to conduct physical training. The depot Marines use an area in the basement of the airport that is not necessarily in plain view of the public, White said.

Floyd, an engineer, had been assigned to Parris Island’s airport staff since August 2003. He has since been reassigned to an administrative job in which he does not supervise recruits as he awaits court-martial, White said.


Other than in the heading, I don't see where SSgt Floyd is/was in fact a Drill Instructor. It says he is an engineer that was posted to the Airport staff.

While I question if he ever received any training for handleing recruits, I also question his judgement in PTing them. Especially, before pre-medical inspections.

It's a bad break for him, but of his own doing. The worse part will be if REAL Drill Instructors take the rap for it.

[ridingcrops]

I have to agree with Sgt. Smitty. The training in the old Corps was different than today. And that stuff about a laptop, PLEASE! You are a Marine! It doesn't make a difference is you have a laptop or a rifle. Marines are the 911 of this country and they should expect to be trained for that mission.
There is no government or organization anywhere in the world that dreads hearing the president say send in the Marines. Because they know they are about to face the finest toughest fighting force in the world.
I don't think what the S/Sgt did at the airport was right and he overstepped his authority. But as far as training goes it has become softer than it used to be. Now if they call you anything except private or recruit they want to investigate. But in the old Corps a DI had a way of getting his point across with a few very colorful words seeded in.

[awb5711]

If you read my post I did agree with Sgt. Smitty. It has gone soft. My problem is many seem to think recruit training today puts out an inferior Marine than what it used to. Its not the recruit or new Marines fault that training has gone soft. Its liberal politicians and "Mothers-of-America" that has made it go soft. Don't blame us and say we're all soft and whiners. We're the ones doing the job now. And doing a fine job of it.

[GunnyL]

awb5711

Very articulately stated and right on the mark.

Marine Corps Recruit Training has evolved over the years as the Marine Corps is very adept at adapting to the current needs. When the other services are handing out "stress cards" and cutting the Training days, the Marine Corps increased the Training days and added the Crucible. It's easy to say that it was tougher when I went through without going down to the Depot and watching the Recruits Train and more pointedly, without going through the training again yourself so you can do an acurate comparison.
I got called expletives and punched a few times by a Hard Junior but that's not the memorable part of my training or what taught me to be a good Marine.
I did 7 Years on Recruiting Duty and I put in or some way effected the processing of a lot of todays young Marines.
This is an All Volunteer Marine Corps. When you went through Boot Camp Sgt Smitty, there was a Mixture of Volunteers and Draftees. Different times require different tactics to get people trained. The Vietnam War is the only period in the history of the Corps in which we participated in the Draft and we ended up with a lot of Crap in our Ranks as a result. Not to say that all Draftees fit into that category but a true statement just the same. You had a lot of people who never wanted to be Marines. Todays Marines are all Volunteers and there is something special about each and every one of them. They chose the hard road when they could have taken an easier one. Every one of these kids today Earns the Title Marine, just like we all did and God Bless Each and Every One of Them!
As for the above story, that was pure stupidity on the part of the Staff Sgt and the Sgt's who stood by. Marine Corps Drill Instructors have rules and guidelines they follow in order to effect good order and discipline. This guy stepped across the line and he's going to pay the price for it.
If you'll notice from the story above, none of the Recruits got to the Depot crying about getting PT'd. The Medical staff noticed problems and did an investigation which they back tracked to the Airport.
Old Corps, New Corps, in the end it's always going to be The Marine Corps!

Semper Fi!

GunnyL

[snipowsky]

[quote]Originally posted by awb5711
[B]Sgt. Smitty

AWB5711 - There are many of us new Marines out there to day who were hit, cursed out or similarly abused. We are the ones who walk away smiling saying that was some "Moto S@%T!!"

SNIPOWSKY - My whole platoon was cursed at on a daily basis! I was one of those Marines who was hit during recruit training. One of my DI's kicked me in my nuts so hard that it dropped me to the deck for a good five minutes or so! Curse words never bothered me either. I didn't whine or cry because he kicked me! To me that was a right of passage that my Grandpa, Uncles, and I all experienced during boot camp.

In fact that same DI thanked me graduation day for not being a cry baby snitch and said he knew then I'd be a great Marine. He also said he sweated bullets for weeks after that figuring I'd tell... but I never did. I actually liked the guy! He made me a better Marine!

And yes it did motivate me to keep my mouth shut and my ears open!

[al20852]

Clearly the treatment they received at the airport was lesss than they would receive when they got to Paris Island. But at PI they have been medically processed and the training is conducted by DIs who know what they are doing. It is also conducted on a base where there is a chain of command whose job at least in part is to oversee that training. These guys were just cowboys and DI wannabes and deserve what they get.

[HardJedi]

for anyone who was wondering. I was being sarcastic about that good initiative/bad judgement thing. Guy is a frickin moron if you ask me. met MANY nco's and staff nco's, like him, who WAYYYYY overstepped thier authority.

[greensideout]

I kind of follow the flow and ebb of the comments but I keep tripping over the "medical evaluation" part.

No one joins the military without PASSING the med exam!

They got roughed up? I would guess that they got to much PT, before the build-up.

Bad call by the SSG.

Should he be thrown out of the Corps?

Not enough facts and the Med part leave me in question.

[rsta]

This article didn't state how many recruits were involved in this, but however many there were, 12 of them ended up in the hospital. I would say that was a pretty significant number! This guy sounds like one of those guys we've all run in to, given a little bit of authority and he goes mad with it. I doubt that he was an actual DI, but probably wanted everyone to think he was. You know, just because you've got a pimple on your ass doesn't make you a dermatologist. I don't know about getting run out of the Corps, but he certainly needs to be at least re-evaluted.

[ImAPuke]

I was punched in the gut by one of my DI's, who ended up
being removed from the platoon with another DI for abusing
recruits. What the SSGT did was over the top, as Living So Free
said, the SSGT is lucky no one died while under his "command".

[greensideout]

True, the SSGT was probally an A-Hole but my DI's met that criteria on many occations. I'm glad they did. I think it may have made me a better Marine, at least I had experience in dealing with A-Holes in life. :D

What we don't know---

How many of these maggots ran till they had shin-splints, did crunchs till they had a ripped a gut or did the duck walk till they screwed up their knees just to prepair for what was coming?

Hummmm---that kind of sounds like bootcamp AFTER you get there!!! :banana: