Every Marine, from private to general, knows the stories of Dan Daly and Smedley Butler, the origin of the Blood Stripe, and the Marines’ Hymn (all three verses), and will never forget the location and significance of Tun Tavern on 10 November 1775. The Marine Corps strongly advocates through every rank rigorous study in the service’s history, military history, and the strategic, operational, and tactical facets of warfare. It is evident from individual military bearing to unit-level battlefield discipline that the Marine Corps has cracked the code on building proud, well-rounded warfighters who can consistently tap into a reserve of selfless dedication born of legendarily high standards for discipline and a commitment to preserving their service’s heritage through formal instruction and constant reinforcement.
The Navy does an excellent job indoctrinating its chief petty officers into a tight-knit group of intensely loyal, dedicated, and professional small-unit leaders. It can be argued that the bulk of the knowledge and appreciation for Navy history and heritage rests on the broad shoulders of the chief, senior chief, and master chief petty officer ranks. Unfortunately, this respect is not held across all ranks. Imagine the Navy’s increased pride and dedication if all sailors were infused with the knowledge and significance of their service’s history and traditions, and the emotional connection they would feel with their heroic forebears.
This deficiency cannot be blamed on today’s generation of sailors, because the Navy has not made it a priority to emphasize the importance of knowing its own history. Currently, the only service history officially taught during petty-officer indoctrination is that of rating’s insignia (the “crow”).
The pride invoked by striving to live up to examples of disciplined military bearing, selfless service, and maintaining a noble profession is one of the reasons many Marines continue to reenlist, knowing they will be sent into harm’s way. The powerful bond between an individual and the service he or she represents cannot be strengthened and upheld on a daily basis without mandatory education and constant reinforcement. The Marine Corps does this incrementally through every rank, beginning with a solid base of knowledge in boot camp for enlisted personnel and The Basic School for officers.
In contrast, the Navy has a wonderful museum at Naval Station Great Lakes that is not consistently used by recruits as part of their boot-camp training. Naval Station Norfolk, touted as the largest naval base in the world, has no single place where sailors can go to acquaint themselves with their service’s heritage or appreciate its heroes’ many sacrifices. The background emphasized in the Basic Military Requirements manual is wholly inadequate to form and strengthen an emotional connection with U.S. Navy history.
The Navy can work to accomplish this essential link in several ways. The Naval Education and Training Command should implement a solid foundation of basic history that every sailor is formally taught and tested upon at boot camp. The command should revise the Basic Military Requirements to focus on maintaining and building on that foundation. Additional in-depth history and tradition should be presented and tested for each higher rank during rating exams.
The Navy should also showcase commemoration exhibits accessible to its young sailors at naval facilities. Finally, the master chief petty officer of the Navy should expand the history and heritage section included in the formal petty-officer indoctrination syllabus. This will make all new petty officers aware that they are just as responsible for preserving Navy traditions and examples as are their CPOs.
There is no reason not to develop this untapped resource. The willing and selfless sacrifices of our young sailors is a priceless commodity that must be maintained if we are to keep our all-volunteer Navy proudly reenlisting to demonstrate honor, courage, and commitment.