Posted on 05/09/2024 1:50:53 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Three Marines who graduated boot camp in April were looking forward to representing their recent accomplishment at their Colorado high school graduation later this month. That was until they were told by school officials that they would not be allowed to wear their dress blues unless it was covered by a cap and gown.
Thomas Pencis, Jacob Dalton, and Christopher Ferguson went to summer school in order to finish their credits early and attend Marine Corps boot camp before graduating from Centennial High School.
Their school is in Pueblo, Colorado also known as the “Home of Heroes” because it was home to four Medal of Honor recipients: one from World War II, two from the Korean War, and another from the Vietnam War. Four large bronze statues depicting the MOH recipients sit in front of the Pueblo Convention Center, which is also home to active duty troops and veterans. In a statement to Task & Purpose, the Marine Corps said it was “aware of the sentiments expressed by Marines from 8th Marine Corps District who recently graduated high school. We value our relationships with our local high schools and will continue to respect the policies and procedures of all establishments and institutions within our communities and are appreciative of their ongoing support.”......
The story was first reported on Tuesday by a Pueblo television station, KRDO. On Thursday, the three students met with school officials, including a mediator, to find a compromise. The details are still being worked out but in general, the school decided to honor the three Marines at graduation after the presentation of the colors, while wearing their dress blues. Then the students would change into their gowns and pick up their diplomas.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Give them a sash with USMC on it.
What next? Candy striper? Auto racer? Mechanic? Enough.
“as long as they are reasonable people”
The current crop of educators and democrats are not reasonable people. Drag queens giving school presentations on gay sex, teachers encouraging children to select pronouns and get sex changes, etc, etc, etc.
So while getting thru bootcamp and winning the right to be called a Marine is commendable, the uniform for crossing the stage at the HS graduation is cap and gown.
Not so sure myself. I’d like to know how pukes just out of boot can wear dress blues- wasn’t like that when I was in.
These young men should accept that they are among their peers in the graduating class. That is an honor all its own.
If they wish to wear their dress blues at the prom or at a class gathering after the ceremony then that's fine. But the graduates are walking in as a uniform body of peers and fellows. That should be upheld and respected.
Outrageous!
It, as has been shown repeatedly, does not work.
So please stop. Stop kowtowing to the mentally ill.
That is why they win you know.
You are nicing and ruling your way into slavery.
And sorry but dress blues are appropriate in all but a few handful of cases. Graduation is one of those occasions where it is appropriate.
If we allow these young MEN to wear their uniform it will make the poor wittle snowflakes that can not walk across the stage with out a nap FEEL bad.
Whatever. Just remember you did this when kids want to wear their hockey gear, football gear, candy stripper, McDonald’s uniform. It’s on you and you alone.
You didn’t read what I said.
I didn’t say in all situations they couldn’t wear the uniform. I said that they are not allowed to use the uniform for their personal display of success. The article specifically mentioned that they were not wearing the uniform for the public display of the branch or its history. They were doing it for themselves to brag about how they passed basic training. They were making a statement about and for themselves, not for the Marines.
The very first line of the article said:
“Three Marines who graduated boot camp in April were looking forward to representing their recent accomplishment at their Colorado high school graduation later this month.”
And that is specifically pointed out in my retort with what the uniform could not be worn to with parenthesis. Not for their use, but only the use of the branch. Don’t let your emotions get the better of what you think it said. From a military point of view, it was done correctly but those Marines should have researched it and found out they weren’t allowed in this instance. Wrong reason. They’re just young.
Wy69
I wonder if those damned African scarves will be allowed .
….
Cute. Nice attack on a fellow combat veteran, jerk. 17 months in combat in Vietnam, plus 7 months in the hospital recovering from wounds. Finished my career as an artillery battalion commander.
Those young men should have been encouraged to wear their uniforms, particularly since they have volunteered when so few others have.
Those young men did something very few of their classmates or for that matter, very few of this country's young men have done - volunteered and successfully completed boot camp.
They should have been honored by that school.
Headquarters, U. S. MCO 1020
11003. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY POLICY PERTAINING TO UNIFORMS
c. Authorization to wear the uniform should be granted by a commanding officer when reasonably assured that the service member’s appearance in uniform at the particular event, viewed objectively, is not for the purpose of lending substantial weight or significance to privately held convictions or interests…
The interest here was not in the interest of the Marines, but of the service members themselves. And they admit that in the opening sentence of the thread like I mentioned. The members cannot use the uniform for personal gain, in this case, admiration.
“They should have been honored by that school”
Recognized maybe, but not with the use of the uniform. They were not there in uniform to represent the branch but themselves. Now if the school didn’t require certain things in the wearing of the graduation dress, they could have misused the uniform. But that opens the door for any type of uniform and people could wear a German soldier’s nazi uniform. And it’s uniforms like these that the school is trying to control. You can’t just let one side do something and not the other. So, they set a standard.
And one of the most important reasons for not letting them go on display is to protect them and the branch from itself. Kids come out of basic training with knowledge of how to fold their under ware and polish their boots. And many know where they are going to tech school and a little about what is taught there. But they are not prepared to meet the public that might ask questions they are not prepared to receive when they are not public affairs personnel trained in the proper way to field such situations.
So the ability to misrepresent the corps or issue some sensitive information is readily available.
Example: we’ll say one of the troops is going to language school. He is going to learn Korean so he can monitor systems. If he entertains that question and answers the truth or even a partially deflected response, (talk around), he has just passed information. And many of those will be graduating from the school with higher that secret level. They don’t know what to say. Better not put them on display. They will learn, I hope. But they are not ready, yet.
wy69
They are representing the Corps and if they do abuse that right, they will face someone like me later.
All you jealous, nit-picking, non-Marines are just looking for any excuse at all to put a damper on the courage, dedication and patriotism of these young men.
Too bad about you, I guess...
You also managed to completely misinterpret MCO 1020.
Read 29 who has the experience. Stop the revisionist history. It’s boring.
“They are representing the Corps and if they do abuse that right, they will face someone like me later.”
Then I guess you missed reading the first line of the thread that said they were doing it for themselves and the Corps was not even mentioned except as an excuse for attention to them.
And if you are the one they answer to then you should be talking to them for approaching it publically the way they did. And you above others should understand that coming directly from their first and only connection with the military and placing them into a display of success on such a small level if they are asked questions and they shouldn’t be displayed as a source of answer.
I apologize for using the wrong terminology for training but only the Navy and Maries use boot. The Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard use basic training. Most people don’t know the difference between the army and the marine corps. So sometimes it is easier to use a terminology they might know more. Army and Air Foce basic training lasts 8 weeks (9 if you count 1 week of getting shots, uniforms, and everything else they put you thru that first week). The Marines have 12 weeks of boot camp and the Navy has basic training.
https://www.navy.com/sites/default/files/2018-03/bootcamp-brochure_0.pdf
So the question I ask is, after 12 weeks of boot do you think the boot with nothing more than boot knowledge is prepared as well as troops that have been in training at tech schools and practical experience? I would hope not. So having them go into the spotlight of representation of the Corps, which they never were doing anyway, is foolish at best. And you’re right, they should be councelled.
“All you jealous, nit-picking, non-Marines are just looking for any excuse at all to put a damper on the courage, dedication and patriotism of these young men.
Too bad about you, I guess...”
I hope you take the time to understnd you do not know who you are talking to. I worked with the Marines in Vietnam, Serbia, north Africa, Granda, and retired from, the DOD while in direct support of Combat Logistics Battalion 23. At no time did I use any excuse at all to put a damper on the courage, dedication and patriotism of these young men. Just their innocent inexperienced desire to display themselves and not the Corps. And, BTW, you forgot to mention the same qualities of the women in that branch as they even have a better retention percentage than the men.
Sorry you missed them.
wy69
A little hard to have "revisionist history" when I actually lived it for close to 40 years.
As for you - never were a Marine?
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