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Are senior officers providing proper guidance to their subordinates?
The stories that follow are all true, based on my personal experience and the firsthand accounts of juniors, peers, and seniors. The stories were collected more than 5 years ago when I became concerned about leadership shortcomings that suggested indifference to moral and ethical concerns-about behaviors that seem detrimental to the overall well-being of the Marine Corps.
During his tour as Commandant, Gen Charles C. Krulak made a concerted effort to focus attention on the importance of leaders-indeed, of all Marines-maintaining the highest personal standards of conduct. The questions that confront us now are: Did his efforts help? Are abuses such as those outlined below less frequent today? Are additional measures needed to improve sensitivity to the moral and ethical components of leadership? If so, what measures would be helpful?
Incident #1: Marine Corps professional military education schools strictly forbid fraternization between instructors and students. Numerous instances have occurred in which schools enforced this policy selectively, if at all. One story featured a prominent and popular instructor and a student admitting to dating, with the student being discharged while the instructor remained in a highly visible billet. At the same time, the same school relieved other instructors or forced them to resign even though the evidence was circumstantial at best.
Incident #2: The executive officer at one school refused for days to participate in a unit sweep urinalysis and became the subject of jokes by junior Marines in the command. At another school, one student confronted a peer about wearing unauthorized ribbons, yet the peer continued to wear the ribbons. When the student brought the issue up to his class advisor, a senior officer, the advisor remarked, "You guys take these things too seriously," and took no further action.
Incident #3: One school had exam questions compromised weeks before an exam. Some students reported the compromised questions. The school changed the questions the night prior to the exam. The school's director explained the compromised exam to the students as overzealous advisors trying to help their students perform well. The school refused to further investigate the compromised exam. Many students and instructors thought the incident was reminiscent of a Naval Academy cheating scandal of the early...