Drill Instructor guilty of abusing recruits

[testforecho2112]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/14/mar....ap/index.html

SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- A Marine boot camp drill instructor was convicted Wednesday of abusing recruits under his command.

A military jury found Sgt. Jerrod M. Glass guilty of cruelty and maltreatment, destruction of personal property, assault, and violating orders on the proper treatment of recruits.

Glass, who was relieved of duty as a drill instructor in February, faces as many as 11 years of confinement, dishonorable discharge, reduction in rank, and forfeiture of pay and benefits. A sentencing hearing began immediately after the verdict.

Telephone calls to Glass' attorney and his family were not immediately returned.

Glass, who volunteered for two tours in Iraq, had worked as a drill instructor for less than a year when the mistreatment occurred at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot near downtown San Diego.

Glass, 25, was accused of ordering one recruit to jump headfirst into a trash can and then pushing him farther into the container. He was also accused of striking recruits with a tent pole and a heavy flashlight. None of the recruits was seriously injured.

Glass' parents have said their son did not act maliciously, and that they believe he was being scapegoated for commonly accepted practices.

During the court-martial, witnesses testified Glass routinely stomped on recruits' toiletry kits, breaking razors and soap containers inside, for minor infractions like not displaying name tags properly.

They said Glass and another drill instructor would line recruits up after meals and force them to down liters of water from their canteens in a ritual they referred to as "waterbowling."

Glass was one of three drill instructors charged with abusing recruits. Sgt. Robert C. Hankins and Sgt. Brian M. Wendel are facing special courts-martial on related charges. A fourth instructor, Sgt. Joseph Villagomez, received administrative punishment.

About 17,000 recruits graduate each year from the depot, one of two Marine depots nationwide. The other is in Parris Island, South Carolina.

[Big Jim]

Is this it?!?! Is this all?! Yeah, he may have been abusive but how many good Marines has he turned out at the MCRD. In my opinion, I think the recruit just went crying to mama and she called the Senator and then heads started rolling. I was hit and beat in boot camp...yeah I was...as was alot of other recruits! I needed it and I thanked my DI's for it after I graduated! Just liike a bunch of other kids needed it...and I'm still here and I was a BETTER Marine and person for it!!! This is also how the "stress cards" were introduced and how this deteriorated our Marine ranks with selfish Marines and NCOs. I seen changes in the USMC before I got out, some good, some bad. Different generations of Marines can tell you the same that it wasn't like that when they were in...it was tougher...and what made us tough you ask? Our beloved Drill Instructors who taught us by the numbers and if we didn't learn, we paid for it with pain and sweat!! IT MADE US STRONGER!!!

Now, I'm not saying I'm for abusing anyone, especially a recruit but I'm not against Corporal or Capital punishment either. Its about firm, fair consistency and I believe when the politicians get involved with our beloved Corps...unfavorable policies start coming into play. Which means a domino effect that makes for lax rules and less strict enforcment and less cohesion of our comraderie and less intention to be a good and honest Marine. If the recruit couldn't hack boot camp...they should've sent his ass home!!!

Sorry....just came out!

[greensideout]

Well---I'm going to step out of line here a bit on this one---A jury that most likely didn't have a clue as to what Marine training is really like made a really dumb ass call on this one!!! If they had any idea of what MY Drill Instructors were like they would likely **** their panties! I belive that this Drill Instructor was doing his best to prepare the recruits for the combat that they would soon be in. He has been there! A man, in this case a Marine, is to be judged by his peers. Likely, he was not!!!

[warren peck]

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO THE CORPS ? I WENT THRU PARRIS ISLAND IN 1953 AND GOT THE **** KICKED OUT OF ME , THE SAME AS ALL MY PLATOON BUDDIES DID. THAT'S WHAT MADE US MARINES. BIG JIM, YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD-THAT PUSS RAN TO MOMMY.

[killerinstinct]

Whats funny is they cant do anything like that in bootcamp but i always find it funny, how in the fleet,you can get taped to a chair rolled out in the back and stay there....

H

[Old Marine]

Well---I'm going to step out of line here a bit on this one---A jury that most likely didn't have a clue as to what Marine training is really like made a really dumb ass call on this one!!! If they had any idea of what MY Drill Instructors were like they would likely **** their panties! I belive that this Drill Instructor was doing his best to prepare the recruits for the combat that they would soon be in. He has been there! A man, in this case a Marine, is to be judged by his peers. Likely, he was not!!!

Did you read the article? It was a court Martial and had a military jury that consisted of enlisted and officers. Even if it was BS.

[Duke1970]

Just like the rest of you, I received my share of 'thumps' for boot camp infractions. However I do not recall any DI breaking personal items by stomping on shaving kits or anything like that. When I was on the receiving end of a DI's displeasure, it was for something I did and I never did the wrong thing twice!

I just wonder what else happened that was not in the article?

[Buckeye]

They want the title of Marine,but not willing to go through the steps....These pussies are making my Marine Corps. weak...... .GO HOME!!!This is why everyone can't be Marines!!!!!

[Rowdy1948]

I wonder what they thought Marine training was going to be like, if your going to be a Marine you have got to be trained to be a Marine, Yes its tough that is why One reason i'm here today alive and talking about it,because you have to tough it out. Semper Fi. Do or Die.

[jetdawgg]

Isn't USMC boot camp available for video game playing now?

Unreal

[jinelson]

I've said it many times before and I will say it again I was never touched, sworn at, or harrassed in any way shape or form during my recruit training. What happened in the platoon stayed in the platoon. All I can offer as proof is that I'm here to say this, I got through the Nam and the happy homecoming and I owe that to my Drill Instructors and no one else.

Semper Fi Bro's

Jim

[maverickmarine]

I had good training, that's what I call it, as well. I didn't know too much about the Corps before I went in other than it was going to be tough and that's just what it was. I hate it when recruits start crying home and then mama's gotta get involved. Personally, I didn't read anything that worth the punishment that he received.

[Old Marine]

As a DI, I learned that if you teach the recruits there can be thumping(held at a minimum). I used to have a Pvt who could not drill with the platoon and I made him sneak along the parade deck and hide behind the palm trees during drill.(Called him Gomer) He finally came around and made squad leader.

When I went through Boot, I received a can of Planters Peanuts in the mail. Was called to the Duty Hut and had to stand at attention in front of the DI's desk and he threw one peanut at a time to my open mouth. For every one I missed, the Pfc. D.I. gave me a love tap in the gut. Sure was glad when the peanuts ran out. Maybe things are getting soft these days at both Recruit depots. Have to remember that a BAM is the CG at MCRD, San Diego. Not that I have anything against BAMS.

[MarineNCO]

There are very specific guidelines as to what is and is not acceptable behavior towards recruits during recruit training. I am sure all facets were considered before this Marine got convicted. That being said he must have done some pretty crazy crap to get 11 years.

[oneshot649]

I had good training, that's what I call it, as well. I didn't know too much about the Corps before I went in other than it was going to be tough and that's just what it was. I hate it when recruits start crying home and then mama's gotta get involved. Personally, I didn't read anything that worth the punishment that he received.

Reading from an LA Times article on it, it wasn't one of the recruits who was listed as being abused that came forward, but a recruit that witnessed it. Apparently, the incident that sparked it involved a recruit overtaking Sgt. Glass and instead of calling out "By your leave, good evening, sir" he only said "good evening, sir". Sgt. Glass then reportedly took the recruit's moonbeam and started striking him over the head with it repeatedly until the recruit was crying. It was another recruit who witnessed it and reported it to his SDI, which then sparked the investigation, etc.

When i was at PI, i was on 3rd Deck, Follow Series, "the land God never set eyes on". We got hit by one DI or another starting the second week of training and continuing until we got to the rifle range, upon which every day resembled one of those russian-conscript-beatdown videos. The physical abuse never bothered me actually, i preferred to get slugged, or kicked, in the chest any day instead of spending 10 or more minutes on the QD. Once i was through training though, i asked around other platoons (who are always looking to show how much tougher they are) and i don't remember any of them having gotten touched more than once or twice. My best friend went through PI in the same company a few months after i got out and reported never seeing what happened in my platoon, his actual quote being: "You must have been in a really jacked-up platoon."

So my question after boot was this: Is a recruit who was hit and kicked by his DI's any tougher or more of a Marine than a recruit who just spent half his cycle on the QD? From the Marines i've known, the only difference seems to be that the ones who were hit like to talk about how having been hit makes them better than the ones who weren't hit. Not saying that's representative of all you old salts out there, but that seems to be the trend i've noticed with guys coming out recently.