The other day, our battalion CO held a formation and had us all sit down so he could talk to us about alcohol. Apparently, one of the more intelligent Marines in my battalion thought it would be a good idea to chug Bacardi 151 until he got so drunk that he had to be brought to the hospital to have his stomach pumped.

That's actually pretty tame compared to the rest of the division, from which there have been several alcohol-related deaths lately, not to mention those young drunk Marines I mentioned in my previous blog. And so, looking at the big picture, it's been decided that the division as a whole needs to tone it down a bit. Alcohol is "getting out of hand" and needs to be nipped in the bud.

Anyway, I told you all that so I could get to the point of this blog, and that's military leadership today compared to the old days. After the formation the CO dismissed the battalion... except for the Sergeants. The Sergeants alone, he said, he wanted to talk to.

So everyone left, and we Sergeants stayed. We all knew exactly what he was going to say to us. I've mentioned before, in comments and blogs, that Sergeants run the Marine Corps and everybody knows it, right up to the very top of the chain of command. When you want something done, and done right, the best way to make sure it happens is to place the responsibility for it on the shoulders of a Sergeant. \

So it wasn't hard to do the math... CO says there's a problem that needs to be reigned in, and then asks to speak to just his Sergeants. Sure enough, that's exactly what it was: He placed responsibility for keeping our junior Marines under control squarely upon our shoulders. But here's where it got me thinking... see, he gave us this whole 10 minute pep talk about how great Sergeants are and what great leaders we are and how much faith he has in us because he knows he can trust us to get any task done, and he told us he needs us to watch our junior Marines and make sure they're drinking responsibly.

Now, like I said... we all knew exactly what he wanted the moment he said he wanted to see us. So that entire second speech was completely unnecessary... and I still remember the days when our commanders knew that. I wasn't a Sergeant at the time, and I don't recall what the problem was, but I remember one time before when a Battalion CO asked the Sergeants to stay and dismissed the rest of the battalion. I was just a PFC back then. I went back to my barracks room with the others... mere minutes later the Sergeants all returned, gathered up all their Corporals, and laid down the law. Again, I forget what it was about, but rest assured it ceased to be a problem.

Well I later learned that, after we all left and it was just the Sergeants and our CO, he stood their in silence for a moment, and when he spoke, this is all he said: "We've got a problem, gents.... Fix it." That's it. After that he dismissed them. Nothing more was needed... and that, to be perfectly honest, is exactly the kind of leadership that makes the Marine Corps function so efficiently.

"Fix it." That command is so simple, yet so profound. We still use it today. So many things tie in with that command that go unspoken. "Fix it" means that you don't care how it gets done, only THAT it gets done. That order is given when regular measures have failed. Without actually telling you to do anything outside the boundaries of our written code of conduct, it's generally understood that as long as results are produced, no questions will be asked. And I promise you... no matter how big or small a problem is, if you pull aside every Sergeant in the entire Battalion and tell them "Fix it." then the problem will vanish overnight. Guaranteed, 100%. Come sunrise, there will BE no more problem.

I miss that kind of leadership, that kind of trust. They know we won't do anything stupid, nothing so extremely out of line that it will draw unwanted attention from higher authority... but they also understand that our code of conduct, as it's written, is not always effective. Sometimes, the best way to get things done is to break a few rules and cross a few lines. "Fix it" is consent to do what you think is best, given in faith that you'll get the job done without escalating the problem or creating new ones.

But these days, political correctness is corroding everything in our society. (Yep, PC is once again the problem. Starting to see a pattern? That's because there is one!) It's getting harder to keep things under the radar. Things that used to be no big deal are magnified and made into headline news. Hazing, they call it. Oh, by the way, hazing has gone so far that you can be charged with it for swearing at one of your Marines. Yeah... SWEARING AT HIM. We have to tiptoe through the fuckin tulips and coddle them like babies. So much for making men out of them.

And so, "Fix it" has become a risky order to give. There is no more trust that we won't stray too far out of line, because these days you can't even spit across the line without making the news, and even worse, the recipients of this "tough love" we use to fix problems are ready and willing to sound the alarm at the slightest hint that we might not be their mommy. And the worst part is, they don't even realize that they're only hurting themselves by forcing us to do things by the book.

Because guess what? The book only has one way to deal with problems that isn't considered hazing. And that's paperwork. Charges. Loss of rank, loss of pay, loss of privileges. Things that damage your career and possibly their entire life, things that can remove the word "Honorable" from their discharge papers when they get out. Personally, if I were given a choice... a choice between being taught some humility, and having my pride wounded, but getting over it within a week and carrying on... or having charges filed against me that could affect my entire career and have a lasting impact on my life for years and years... well, I can tell you, it wouldn't be a very hard choice for me to make.

But these kids these days, they don't get broken down in boot camp like they used to, because political correctness has tied the hands of our drill instructors as well. The non-hackers and the weaklings are not weeded out like they should be. These kids don't learn humility and selflessness like they're supposed to.

Alright, I'm done ranting. You all get the point.