Early in my command of a rifle company, we were hit with an atrocious hazing allegation. The investigation resulted in court-martial, and the accused was busted down several ranks, served time in the brig, and was kicked out of the Marine Corps. And he absolutely deserved it, for what he did to our new Marines.
As the company leaders, we worked through what we might do to prevent another hazing incident, and we decided we needed to alter the culture in the company. Although the culture was not bad, we decided to be proactive and create a new narrative about how our Marines should view new members, who often are treated as if they must prove themselves by some of their seniors.
It reminded me of a lesson I learned at Officer Candidates School (OCS). Toward the end of OCS, we did what we called a “Medal of Honor Run,” in which the candidates ran a designated trail through the woods in Quantico. There were multiple stops, and at each one a different candidate read aloud the citation of a different Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient as the rest of the platoon stood at attention, listened, and reflected on the words. It was a humbling and illuminating exercise that I have never forgotten.
As a first step to strengthen our company’s culture, we decided to adapt Medal of Honor runs into a weekly event, drawing attention to the rich heritage of past Marines from own company and the legacy our new Marines were inheriting. The program focused on a different group of Marines each week, with the goal of getting every Marine in the company to participate. By making this event unique to our company, we set out to build pride, camaraderie, and esprit de corps in our unit.
On the wall of our company offices hung a collection of citations of valor of previous Marines in the company: Navy Crosses, Silver Stars, and Bronze Stars—several posthumous. They went back to World War II and continued through Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Marines heralded in these citations were officers and enlisted. Private, private first class, corporal, sergeant, staff sergeant, first sergeant, lieutenants, and even a captain. These Marines had committed extraordinary acts of bravery in the face of a determined enemy, and they did it not for their mothers or baseball or apple pie but for their fellow Marines. This highlighted that Semper Fidelis are not just random words; they mean something specific to Marines in a cohesive unit. Cohesive Marines are always faithful to one another, and this fidelity does not come for free. Semper Fidelis must be cultivated.
We conducted runs on Fridays, led our company first sergeant or company gunnery sergeant and me. We alternated reading the first citations. We told the story of a Silver Star awarded to a company commander in Vietnam whose devotion to his Marines led him to refuse medical treatment after an intense ambush until after he fought through the enemy attack and led his company back across friendly lines. At the next stop, my senior enlisted Marine told the team how a company first sergeant earned a Bronze Star in the battle of Okinawa during World War II by traversing an enemy cave to rescue a wounded Marine. At the next two stops, we read the Navy Cross citations of two lieutenants in Vietnam, followed by the Bronze Star citation of a staff sergeant in Afghanistan.
After reading each citation, we would say a few words about what it meant to us. After reading the citation of the company commander who was awarded the Silver Star, for instance, I told our Marines how this officer had inspired me to give my best to them and how I work every day to live up to his legacy. Similarly, I asked how the past examples of others might inspire them in their own billets to live up to the high standards they set for us.
We challenged the Marines in the group to weigh in. When we got to the citation of a sergeant, we would call a sergeant out of the formation to read it and comment on it. The same with the corporal’s citation, and those of the lance corporal, the private first class, and the private. We would run the group through the hills behind Mainside for several miles, stopping a dozen times to read and reflect on a valor citation.
The run ended at a marble monument to a lance corporal in our company who was killed in Iraq. He was struck by enemy fire and mortally wounded as he placed his own body over a wounded comrade, who would survive the engagement. After the last Marine read this citation, the senior staff noncommissioned officer would ask the Marines how they could expect anyone to come to their aid as that lance corporal had if that person had been hazed or mistreated in any way. He would emphasize that this kind of valor—knowingly laying one’s life down for a friend—reserved for Marines who share a special trust with one another. That kind of trust, we emphasized, is not forged by abuse.
We would close the run with a discussion. I would point out that all these citations read nearly the same way. Through multiple wars, separated by decades, men from different generations, and Marines of many different ranks, all performed heroic acts for their fellow Marines. While our company’s history is rich, as attested to by the Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, and Navy Cross citations on its wall, we had no Medals of Honor on our wall—not yet, at least. We discussed how, given our company’s duty to defend the nation, someday a Marine in this company likely would receive the Medal of Honor for heroic deeds. Many more Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, and Navy Crosses would be hung on that wall as well.
We reminded them that we do not know who these Marines are. They may not be in our formation for years, or they may be standing in our formation now. It could be any one of them, or any one of the next batch of new Marines who step off the next bus from Infantry Training Battalion. We discussed that we would not know until the day of action comes. For each Marine, we emphasized, when that day comes, they will perform just like all the Marines in every citation we had just read—from the Greatest Generation in World War II to the most recent award we read from Afghanistan.
Marines need to begin forging bonds from the day they arrive to their unit, and it begins with a welcome hand from their fellow Marines. The Medal of Honor runs were just one way to remind Marines of our common bonds, all the way up the chain. Leaders must continue to look for methods to build both trust among every Marine and sailor and the imperative to never do anything to compromise it. Leaders must emphasize through their actions that Marines are no different from one another. Today’s leaders must remind their units that every Marine has the potential to perform extraordinary acts when the time comes, just like all the Marines from past wars. We will not know who will place their body between ours and enemy fire until the moment it happens. That is why we must view and treat every fellow Marine with respect
and dignity.