Posted on 11/15/2007 5:41:34 AM PST by RDTF
SAN DIEGO -- In the biggest such case in decades at the Marine boot camp here, former Marine Corps drill instructor Sgt. Jerrod Glass was convicted Wednesday by a military jury on eight counts related to the abuse of recruits.
Glass, 25, who was charged with kicking, punching, slapping and ridiculing the young men, could face 9 1/2 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.
Jurors indicated, however, that they did not believe dozens of specific allegations in which the only witnesses were the alleged victims themselves. That could count in Glass' favor when he is sentenced. In a four-day trial, nearly two dozen former recruits testified that Glass abused them for minor mistakes during training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and at Camp Pendleton.
After convicting Glass, the Marine jury of three officers and three senior staff noncommissioned officers heard testimony concerning his sentence. The jurors will begin deliberations on sentencing today. The verdict and the sentence then will be reviewed by Brig. Gen. Angela Salinas, commanding general of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.
A conviction of this scope is rare. In the last three years, the recruit depot, which has nearly 500 drill instructors, has seen 44 drill instructors charged with misconduct toward recruits. Of those 44, only two before Glass went to court-martial; others were punished or admonished through an administrative process. Glass was convicted on two counts of violating orders, two counts of cruelty and maltreatment, three counts of destroying the recruits' private property and one count of assault.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The platoon is/was not on trial.
Parris Island or SD won’t be the same if they get rid of all that stuff. New Marines won’t be the same.
That's what I was thinking, TexasGirl. Motivated recruits can do a lot worse to a fellow boot who isn't measuring up. There's no complaint department for that one (if it's done correctly)!
What?
The only tower on any firing range I saw in the military was for the range officer.
You do know the three degrees of qualifying are:
Lowest is the Marksman
Next is the sharpshooter
Best is the expert.
LOL - if done correctly is right.... kind of like our joke around here of “they would never find the body”.. ;^)
...Like the DI that drowned several of his recruits at PI back in the 50's when my dad was there. We don't need to do that. It was said better than I could ever say it. "Marines have developed training for Marines." They are the ones that brought charges against the DI.
I've seen "good" guys and "bad" guys in the Corps. You can be hard without being brutal... it's a fine line. A good DI has to develop over years and years of dealing with boots and this guy was new. Probably had more to do with it than anything. The DI's that I respected the most were combat vets that were just hard as nails, told you what needed to be done and didn't put up with any bullsh#t.
I really think that a lot of the stuff that really burns me up has happened with combat related litigation. I just pray that our Marines are trained hard and allowed to wage war as needed.
Yes, because when the Marines will be facing angry islamists, Taliban, N. Koreans, Chinese or any other enemy - they won’t be abused, will they?
“Lance Cpl. Sean Fitzgerald recounted for jurors how platoon members began trying to break open one recruit’s foot locker after Glass began hitting the trainee over the head with a tent pole for forgetting the code for the combination lock.”
Bit harsh, even for a DI
You did catch this part, right:
Lance Cpl. Sean Fitzgerald recounted for jurors how platoon members began trying to break open one recruit’s foot locker after Glass began hitting the trainee over the head with a tent pole for forgetting the code for the combination lock.
Putting them on the 8 ball squad with extra time spent marching after hours helped to put some of them on the right track.
Ping.
Ma, I have confidence in my Marines. Though I wouldn’t want them mollycoddled, I think there are cases where people step over the line, and perhaps this is one of them. I am not in a position to judge.
I do know of one or two who squeaked through boot who probably should have been whacked with a tent pole, at least once or twice. Or at least prodded.
When I went through basic training in 1968 a training cooked off a grenade in violation of instructions and accidentally dropped it. A quick reacting drill instructor tossed the grenade over the wall before it exploded. The drill instructors formed a circle and put the trainee in the center. They passed him from one drill instructor to the other each one punching and slapping him. We all got the message and nothing further happened to the kid after he got his behind whipped. I saw many other things that were worse than what this DI is charged with, and all of it seemed to be geared to making sure that we got the message.
I think that much of the “abuse” we received actually made us focus a lot better.
On that note, I am officially 'Old Corps', I guess that makes me.
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