Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

A DI’s regrets: What I’d do different

Staff Sgt. Jerry Correa has a thoughtful piece in the November issue of 'Marine Corps Gazette' reviewing his time as a drill instructor.

1024px-Marine_Corps_Platoon
1024px-Marine_Corps_Platoon

 

 

Staff Sgt. Jerry Correa has a thoughtful piece in the November issue of Marine Corps Gazette reviewing his time as a drill instructor. “When I look back now, I know I put 110 percent into training my recruits, but maybe I wasn’t mature enough to know the difference between the important things and the things that were made important because of the culture on the depot at the time.” (He served at San Diego from July 2009 to October 2012.)

What would he do differently? He wishes he had spent more time giving his recruits the tools they needed for real life in the Marines, especially in handling their personal finances, which he points out is a leading cause of suicides. “I wish I had taught my recruits the importance of budgeting, spending wisely, and saving.”

Image credit: Full Metal Jacket/Wikimedia Commons

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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