Leadership in bootcamp

[Tennessee Top]

My two cents.

The senior leadership position is the platoon guide. How you actually attain that job varies by DI. Some take volunteers to start, others look for leadership experience such as JROTC, Eagle Scouts, etc. Guides get fired for myriad reasons (we had 3 different guides during the same day once) so holding onto the job can be tenuous. Sometimes, it may just be that the DI wants to give another recruit a leadership opportunity just to see how they handle it. When the guide speaks, it's just like the DI speaking so the platoon listens.

The other platoon leadership positions are the four squad leaders. When they speak, the recruits in their squads listen.

If you are not initially picked to hold one of these 5 leadership positions, your job is to be a follower/team member. However, you can always strive to take over any of those jobs and once you're there, stay as long as you can (potentially resulting in platoon honorman and/or meritorious promotion when graduating bootcamp). You can still demonstrate to your DI's your leadership potential by always working harder than everyone else, sounding off louder, performing better at training events, etc. (without trying to usurp the authority of the guide and squad leaders). Just observe, you will quickly see what the DI's are looking for and expect from their recruits.

I'm sure you know this already but remember. 1st phase is the "breakdown phase". The DI's are getting the "scuzzy civilian" out of your body. This is the time when it is normal to question your decision to join and want to quit. 2nd phase things get better because by then, recruits figure out the routine and what is expected of them.

Finally. We belong to a Corps and not a Corp. That's the first thing you need to get squared-away.

[USMC 2571]

Very true, Top---the "breakdown phase". I was at PI 2 weeks after I turned 17, having done all the paperwork when I was 16, and the first night there, could not remember what it had been like to have been a civilian.

[josephd]

Leadership in boot camp?....non existent. Even if you hold a leadership billet like guide or squad leader you are not going to be exercising any real leadership traits. Boot camp is intended to mold you into a Marine and teach you to follow orders(instantly). Boot camp is not the place to try and be any sort of leader or secondary DI...your DIs will destroy you for it.

Billet holders get hired and fired so frequently and arbitrarily that it's almost funny...if you were actually allowed to laugh at boot.

[USMC 2571]

My sentiments exactly, Joe, as I said----boot camp is a place in which to obey orders instantly. Leadership, as far as it exists at all for recruits, is so far back on the priority list it may not have even made the list. It's there in very small ways, but the huge accent is on doing what you are told 100% of the time, instantly and unquestioningly. That will draw the D.I.s attention to you very effectively, the more you stand out in that department.

[USMC 2571]

and, ironically enough, that instant obedience may very well lead to leadership positions within boot camp, but as Joe said, and it's true, here today and gone tomorrow, at the slightest misstep by a recruit who is guide or squad leader or scribe, as a way of showing him and the rest of the platoon that he needs to be taken down a peg.

[03Mike]

Here's my two cents... and I'll qualify it by saying that I spent 3 years at PI involved in recruit training: First - the goal of recruit training is to train a basically trained Marine. You are not being screened and evaluated for future leadership potential, and those records are not going to follow you to the fleet. Second - I'm going to say that a lot of it will be situational. During first phase everyone is screwed up. During first phase, make sure that you're taking care of yourself - do as you're told, do it well, brush off when you screw up and do better next time. Pitch in to help another recruit when the situation allows, but you're not there to police other recruits. The only time in first phase when it might be appropriate is when/if you are given a leadership billet (as mentioned by others above). Things change as you move through training though, these situations will be different in second and third phases - and by the time you get there, I think you'll have it figured out. Make sense?

[m14ed]

did Heritage continue ??

Ala 'blanket-parties"
Tune-ups for individuals
when all else failed

[silveradomick]

All I can do is echo what's others have said, and to add that once you hit the fleet, nobody is gonna give a fvck what positions you did or didn't hold in boot camp. As long as you graduate, everything else is sauce.

[LCPL1341]

Leadership is not a big factor as a recruit in boot camp; I don't know who told you this, but they misinformed you. You don't need to be a leader to graduate boot camp. Leadership only applies if you're trying to get a meritorious promotion at the end.

Secondly, if you step in and try to be Mr. recruit enforcer with other recruits, not only will the Drill Instructors f*ck you up on the quareterdeck for stepping out of your place, but your fellow recruits will also look at you as that wannabe DI doucheb*g. SO my advice is this: if you're a natural leader, you'll end up in some leadership billet, if you're not, STFU and color. Play the bootcamp game. Be loud, be fast, pay attention to detail, and graduate. You'll get ample opportunity in MOS School and the fleet to demonstrate your leadership. You kinda come off as a kiss a*** no one likes a kiss a***

[josephd]

you kinda come off as a kiss a*** no one likes a kiss a***

lololol

[hryan0925]

03Mike that makes excellent sense. I think you really hit the nail on the head. Many people have told me to blend in to the group. Don't be last, don't be first. But at the same time I've had people tell me to be a leader. If someone is acting up then talk to them when you have a moment and tell them they need to get their act together. Not to be a jerk or anything like that, but to keep the rest of the platoon from getting punished. I wish I had reworded my original post a little differently. I think a lot of the people who have responded are thinking that I'm trying to be a jerk to impress the DI's. That's not the case. I just want to be the best recruit I can be and help my platoon as much as possible. I don't want my fellow recruits hating my guts, I want to inspire them to be better. Is that a bad thing?

[hryan0925]

LCPL1341 I read over my original post and I kind of thought that myself, lol! I wish I had worded it differently. I just want to be the best I can be, and I want to help the platoon that I am in be the best that it can be. Not for glory, or recognition or anything of that nature. I want to lead by example and inspire the recruits to do their best. Is that a good or bad thing? Tell me honestly.

[josephd]

Don't say anything to any recruit, it's not your place.

Everyone there is going through the same thing, some pick up the way of things sooner than others. Pulling one aside to "talk to them" won't fix or help anything no matter how polite or nice you are trying to be.

I completely understand what you are trying to say and want to do/accomplish but let me tell you that boot camp does not work that way. Chances are you won't get that "moment" to do that you explained anyway.

Boot camp is boot camp....I am saying this in the nicest way, nothing you can do will make it better no matter how bad your platoon is.....

boot camp is one big and long 13 week game.....just play along and graduate

[hryan0925]

Josephd I completely understand what you're saying now. That clears up a lot for me. I'm sure a lot of my questions may be pretty ignorant, lol! I'm just nervous because I literally have no idea what to expect. Thanks for the advice! This helps a lot.

[josephd]

Josephd I completely understand what you're saying now. That clears up a lot for me. I'm sure a lot of my questions may be pretty ignorant, lol! I'm just nervous because I literally have no idea what to expect. Thanks for the advice! This helps a lot.

you should be nervous and a little scared....it's a good thing. everything you do in the Marine Corps moving forward should give you butterflies in your stomach, if it doesn't then you have become too comfortable.