"Adopt a Marine"

[Ender]

There is another catalyst for the question presented here that I did not mention above. In the Marines there were a few select SNCO's that I came into contact with who had forgotten more about the conduct of warfare than I would ever know. These guys were the old school 0321's who had learned their trade directly from the guys who served in Korea and Vietnam. I wanted to sit down and politely and professionally pick their brains. I wanted to learn from their mistakes and capitalize on their successes but the rank system prevented me from being able to break through and ask the questions that I wanted and also would have prevented them from answering the way they would have wanted. I see this as counterintuitive and counterproductive. Why should a young Marine have to wait for Master Guns to retire and write his memoirs so he can learn about his career when he has the primary source, unedited RIGHT there? Some things are rank specific and would not need to be covered under a mentor program because the Marines, and I am sure all others as well, do an excellent job of progressively training and pushing PME's... but there is more than that, there are intangibles that aren't put in the pubs that could be communicated one on one.

At the end of a mentor tour (imagine three years at home, with your wife and kids and outside of your normal job your sole purpose for existing is to take this Marine under your wing and teach him what you know.) success is measured by completion, and both sides would be required to submit final summaries of their lessons learned etc... SNCO/NCO symposiums and the like could collate and present the cumulative data annually or publish biannual reports and everyone all around would have a (hopefully better) idea of what areas need focus or attention in the next year. eg: "Seven out of ten Segeants are asking about circumstance such and such, why aren't we addressing this?"

Imagine a scenario: Gunny Jones from 1/8 is assigned Corporal Smith from 2/8 under the newly formed Military Mentorship Program(MMP), which serves as an umbrella for the MMPA, (Army ) MMPMC (Marine Corps) etc.... Both are 03's and Smith just re-enlisted so he is now eligible for MMPMC and all of the corresponding benefits and Gunny gets a gold star in his record and is now given higher consideration for E-8. Imagine what can be communicated over PT, "If you are ever in the Phillipines watch out for the (insert specific, localized piece of knowledge here)" or in the woods, implementing counter sniper tactics "This one I picked up on a training op in (insert "wooden" nation the NCO has never seen) from the local (insert instructive indig culture here)." Corporal Smith is then required under the program to submit his weekly review, which in turn can be checked on by his platoon sergeant or Gunny himself. I won't go on but I think the benefits COULD be tremendous...

I can see why some Platoon Sergeants or Battalion Commanders would not want someone messing with their Marines but there is a certain strength to working with someone who does not know if you are a ####bag or are ####hot... there is no history and as long as respect and discipline is maintained there should be no consequences, only benefits.

If this concept is malformed, half-baked, premature or immature I would like to hear about it... I have wondered what lines exist and how much could feasibly be communicated between senior and subordinate in the interests of the individual Marines' development and can't imagine a better forum to ask in.