preview

Practice Leading Marines Essay

Decent Essays

Is there a way to practice leading Marines? Is it possible to build confidence in your ability to lead Marines? Can you do both while instilling discipline in your junior Marines? How can you bring your unit closer together? All of this can be accomplished by implementing Close Order Drill beyond graduation from Recruit Training, Marine leaders will build confidence, practice their leadership abilities and promote unit cohesion all while instilling discipline in their junior Marines.
Close Order Drill (COD) builds unit cohesion through Esprit De Corps, teamwork and competitiveness. Esprit de Corps is instilled in all Marines from the moment they step on the yellow footprints, it is a bedrock of what makes us Marines. According to the Merriam-Webster …show more content…

Discipline is the instant and willing obedience to all orders, respect for authority, self-reliance, and teamwork.” When Marines are in formation they are subject to all commands given by the Unit Leader. By executing the commands they are showing obedience to their superiors. Colonel von Spohn of the German Army said: “Every order places the subordinate to whom it is given in a position of constraint, to which he willingly submits without any question if he recognizes the necessity for it; in such a case obedience is not a servile submission.” It is not that Marines are considered slaves if they do what they are told, they are obedient out of their own free will. This obedience will benefit them in all aspects of their military career. While standing at the Position of Attention (POA) you are not allowed to move until commanded to do so. This exercise of discipline can directly correlate to how a Marine may have to hold himself were he in a camouflaged position. If he moves to brush a fly off of his nose, his camouflage will be compromised giving away his position. A well-disciplined Marine will accomplish assigned tasks without question as it becomes second nature to obey all orders from superiors. At the same time, the superiors must be confident in their ability to give orders by developing a “command presence” towards their

Get Access