D.i.

[jahhead88]

I'm a drill instructor,
to look at me, you might think;
Maybe he wasn't smart enough for college,
or he's got a sadistic personality.

I've got a tough job;
trying to teach your sons;
to stop being individuals;
and think and act as one.

Their lives are in my hand;
you might think I'm cruel,
as I shout out my commands.

I have to try to teach them,
how to fight and live.
Because their are no friendly faces in combat;
and a bullet doesn't forgive.

I'll spend up to 16 hours a day;
away from my wife and kids.
I may even end up divorced;
or lose one of my stripes.

Because one kid will report me;
for trying to set him straight.
He'll say I abused him;
and others will berate.

Yet if this recruit falls in battle;
it's me they'll often chide.
I should have done a better job;
Lord knows I tried.

I tried to square him away;
before he deployed to Iraq.
I tried to make the recruits understand;
I really have their back.

On graduation day I'll don my sword;
and send them marching on their way.
I might wonder how they're doing,
after they leave bootcamp.

I might even run into a few of them along the way.
Did I train them well enough?
What does their future hold?
I gave each of them 1000% of me,
in the hopes that they'd be quality Marines.

A new batch of recruits is coming sometime tomorrow night;
another group of young men;
I have to train to fight.
I'm going to my job;
a job I know that's right.

So when you're son comes home;
standing tall in his blues.
Rember someone trained him to look you eye to eye.
I'll fade back in the shadows;
A Marine Corps DI

[Isrowei]

I'm a drill instructor...




I'll spend up to 16 hours a day;
away from my wife and kids.
I may even end up divorced;
or lose one of my stripes.

Because one kid will report me;
for trying to set him straight.
He'll say I abused him;
and others will berate.

Yet if this recruit falls in battle;
it's me they'll often chide.
I should have done a better job;
Lord knows I tried.

I tried to square him away;
before he deployed to Iraq.
I tried to make the recruits understand;
I really have their back.



A nice romantic poem.. but that verse is hardly.. if ever.. the norm. In fact, it's so often not the case that it's almost ridiculous to mention it.

We'd love to see that every allegation turns out to be nothing but hokey crap dreamed up by a recruit. But that's not the case. Not by a long shot. Officers investigate EACH allegation. I've did 6 last cycle alone for other companies. Most were unsubstantiated (meaning the recruits were full of crap), but a few put a DI squarely at fault.

Being a DI (or even a Marine) doesn't imply maturity and does not mean that everything they do is above the law. Stupid Marines get in trouble. Break the law (or disobey orders) and you will be held accountable.

[jahhead88]

I should have explained. I wrote this based on the account of one of the DI's in my platoon who I ran into in the fleet. He was busted from a Staff Sergeant to Corporal.

This is more a way to say thanks to those who do what I consider a thankless job. I talked to a lot of former DI's out in the fleet. Some would tell me about the troubles they had with their marriage, others told me about worrying about the recruits they trained and wondering about how they were doing once they hit the fleet.

I met a retired Marine that told me how he would sometimes take it hard when he heard about recruits he trained getting killed. This poem was a compilation of all the accounts I heard.

My drill instructor told me, after he was busted, he worried about the platoon he was relieved from. He also told me that one of the reasons they rode me was because they cared, and they thought I could be better than what I thought I was. I never got to thank all of them after graduation, so I figured I'd do it this way. And since my wife went to the hospital, ironically, I've gained an appreciation for how my drill instructors pushed me. I know that it was the power of God that helped my wife and twins; however, I have to give credit to the drill instructors that helped me to learn to deal with stress.

[jahhead88]

Almost forgot: Thank you for the feedback. One things for sure. I'm grateful for the DI's I had the privilege of meeting.

[PatriotGirl422]

A nice romantic poem.. but that verse is hardly.. if ever.. the norm. In fact, it's so often not the case that it's almost ridiculous to mention it.

I actually thought that the verse was a very good one. Yes, I'm sure that once in a while a D.I. may do something unjustifiable, but in my opinion, there really aren't too many things that a Marine can do that aren't justified when training recruits for combat.
And I also know that in my platoon, there wasn't a day that went by that some recruit wasn't whining about how "the drill instructor shouldn't be allowed to do that" or "she should get in trouble for that". I know of a few recruits who really ****ed off our D.I.'s by reporting "incidents" to the company commander. I always said "If you don't want to be trained for war, don't join the Marine Corps". Jesus people.

[jahhead88]

I concur.

[sgtjimh]

I owe a debt to my Drill Instructors that I can never repay. Thank you SSGT Ponder, SGT Barefoot, and Sgt Newby. Platoon 2060, MCRD San Diego, Aug 1967.

[Gusty]

Im soo ready to go in and be trained by the best and in time become one of the few the proud just like my dad. I appreciate the 1000% your giving and can only hope that I recieve the same.

[maverickmarine]

The Few The Proud The Marines!

The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in war. I believe that if a recruit needs to have a little more motivation then so be it. The Drill Instructors have an incredibly hard job and are training little nasties to become Marines. Who are you going to cry to in battle when something doesn't go your way or if the enemy isn't being fair? Yeah, just God because you will soon enough be meeting him.

If you joined the Marine Corps then suck it up and become a Marine!

[Quinbo]

I enjoyed the poem and think every verse is appropriate.

Had a lad do something stupid and get busted to pvt and put on restriction. He wrote congress. There was a Corporal, a Sergeant, a Staff Sergeant, a Gunny, A 1st Sgt, a lieutenant, a captain and a colonel who had no clue that this guy had heartburn about something ... anything. I often think about that when I read about recruit interviews. Bypassing the chain of command and going crying to an officer does not fly and should not.

[jahhead88]

I agree. However, I have seen that just mentioning going to a congressman can get something done. One of my roommates told me about how he hadn't been paid for 3 weeks. He went up his chain of command, and got to his company commander. They called disbursing and nothing got done.

He went to disbursing one day on his lunch break, and asked a clerk he knew from bootcamp if they knew anything about the status of his pay. Frustrated; he said I've had it. I'm going to take this to my congressman. He went back to work ticked off. Two hours later he gets a call to come to disbursing immediately. They had a check waiting for him.

Sometimes, like my grandma would say, " You may have to kick the hive to get the bees to make honey."

[Isrowei]

...in my opinion, there really aren't too many things that a Marine can do that aren't justified when training recruits for combat.


Marines are considered "the best" because we work and live within our guidelines. Those guidelines are established for a reason and unless you're prepared to argue against the leadership of the Marine Corps for the past several decades then you might find it beneficial to discover why the Corps has structured training they way it is.

We are training recruits and Marines for combat when we enforce regulations and punish those who go outside the rules for their own reasons. Marines operate under Rules of Engagement in a combat theater. Those rules are established by the duly appointed military leadership. Recruit training is no different. In fact, it's the same level of leadership that establishes both rulesets. Then ends NEVER justifies the means. If you can't do the right thing, the right way... it's no good. If you think it is, I hope you stay very far away from me in this Corps because I can't trust a person who invents their own rules. It's dangerous.

This isn't about denying that fact that DIs work hard and do great things. Most of them do. But I can tell you with certainty that not all DIs are noble. And the act of reducing a SNCO in rank is very very severe and reserved for extreme cases of misconduct. It doesn't matter if you like him personally, the Marine did something wrong.

I understand the spirit in which you wrote the poem and I can appreciate that. I think your intent was good. In the interest of not reducing this thread to a flame war this will be my last post here. The bottom line is that good people sometimes make mistakes. It may not mean he was a bad person, but he wasn't a good Marine. No DI receives punishment without a VERY thorough investigation. As a SNCO, they can't be reduced in rank without a court-martial. It's a very lenthy, thorough process. There is a reason why MCRDs have some of the largest military law centers in the country. They receive the benefit of the doubt until it just can't be ignored. Trust me on this. If a DI receives serious punishment, you can expect (no matter what his version of the story is) that something VERY serious happened. And he was at fault.

It's that simple.

[jahhead88]

I appreciate the feeback. And quite frankly, I never liked him. I respected him. Truth be told the heavy in my platoon sprayed me in the face with cleaner, bent my rifle cleaning gear and threw it down the center of the squadbay, and one day when he was feeling especially aggressive; took my green monster ripped some of the papers out and threw them down the middle of the squadbay for the great cardinal sin of my inkstick drying out.

I thought about reporting him numerous times. However, looking back on it; his actions ironically helped me when I had aggressive teenagers in my face when I worked for the Missouri Division of Youth Services.

[Quinbo]

There are some out there that would complain if they were about to hung with a new rope, no chunky peanut butter in the chow hall, fish on fridays or a prayer rug. When the mothers of America started getting letters from their loving sons that the training is hard, they stepped in and tried to make it easier. A guy who marches a platoon into the swamps of SC and ends up drowning some should be punished severely. A guy that gives a royal ass chewing to a substandard recruit should not.... there is a difference.

[jahhead88]

I agree with the last post. The heavy helped me out in the long run. And ironically with him in my face constantly I learned to think on my feet.

[Alphaonethree]

I was cracked across the head oh I would say 3 times during my stay at SDMCRD, I deserved all 3 of them. I would rather a DI crack me on the grape and rattle all the bolts back in to place in my brain housing group rather than send me home a failure. Some recruits need to have a little more training, They will be good Marines but just need a kick in the lower brain housing group to set them straight. I can understand some recruits just dont have what it takes and should go home. Please give me a brake with the CODE RED garbage, If officers and politicians continue to take the Drill Instructors flexibility in recruit training away, We might as well just switch over to ARMY recruit training, Liberty on the weekends and no fat body platoon and sensitivity training.

[jahhead88]

I remember a conversation I had with my senior drill instructor. I had gotten to the point of wanting to quit. I questioned my ability to be a Marine, much less make it through Parris Island. I went to the duty hut, and asked permission to speak to my senior drill instructor. He granted me permission to come in.

I asked permission to speak to him directly, which was granted. I then informed him I wanted to quit, for reasons I won't get into. I told him I didn't think I could make it through bootcamp. I told him I thought I had been an embarrassment to him and the other drill instructors.

He could have ripped me a new one. He could have dismissed my concerns. He told me that he could write up orders to send me to casual company. Then he looked at me, and briefly showed his human side. He told me of his struggles at MCRD San Diego. He told me that he had been in a similar position. He also told me that me quitting would be a mistake I would have regretted for the rest of my life. He told me that the DI's were going to put me through hell, but that there was a reason for it. He told me they were going to push me beyond my limits.

There were times I wished the DI's riding my ass would have gotten a life. I questioned why I was getting ridden for things that other people in my platoon were doing that appeared to go unnoticed.

It wasn't until many years later I came to understand what they were trying to do. They have standard operating procedures, which from what I can remember going through in the 1980's, just about anything they did was subject to an abuse allegation. I don't think a DI is perfect; but I do think they have done me good later in my life. I worked with troubled teens who wanted to give up, some didn't care. Some got aggressive, in my face spitting and hollering, others threw furniture. The experience of my drill instructors in my face, yelling, spitting, name calling, throwing myself down the middle of the squadbay; became a great asset with those teenagers. I was able to handle these teens calmly.

I see a bad double standard. DI's are supposed to train recruits to get them ready for combat. Suppose they find themselves POW's, with the enemy hitting them, making them sit in vomit; hitting them with items such as sticks and flashlights. From what I can tell from watching the news; these insurgents don't care about being gentle.

Yes, a DI at San Diego violated procedures. I won't deny that, but I also don't recall insurgents following standard operating procedures of the MCRD's either.

[Alphaonethree]

Please dont get me wrong. I dont think that beating recruits is any kind of training. But I do think that the Drill instructors need that little bit of flexiblity that could mean the difference between giving up on a recruit and getting his attention

[jahhead88]

I agree with the need for the flexibility.