Making the Corps

Ricks, Thomas E.

ISBN 10: 0684831090 / ISBN 13: 9780684831091

Published by Scribner, New York, 1997

About this Item

25 c. 320 pages. Illustrations. Chain of Command. Map, A Note on Sources. Index. Signed by the author. Thomas E. Ricks follows 63 recruits from their home towns to Parris Island, through boot camp, and into their first year as Marines From Wikipedia: "Thomas Edwin "Tom" Ricks (born September 25, 1955) is an American journalist who writes on defense topics. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. He has reported on military activities in Somalia, Haiti, Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Ricks is author of five books: the bestselling Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq, its follow-up The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 (2009), The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today, the novel A Soldier's Duty, and Making the Corps. He was a military correspondent at the Washington Post (2000-2008). Derived from a Kirkus review: Wall Street Journal Pentagon correspondent Ricks combines a vivid account of the rigorous basic training received by US Marine recruits with commentary on what separates the disciplined culture of America's military elite from the more permissive civilian culture. The author tracks Platoon 3086 at Parris Island in 1995 through the challenging boot camp. Ricks offers anecdotal evidence on what USMC recruits must endure in the way of indoctrination from fearsome drill instructors in the deep piney woods where apprentice warriors get their first taste of what combat is like, and in other invariably sweaty venues. He goes on to review the washout rate of 14 percent or so, the ongoing debate on ever-tougher entrance requirements, and the army's purposefully ``user-friendly'' training regimen. A revelatory briefing on what sets the USMC apart and the consequences of its superiority during a post Cold War era when the wider world remains an armed and dangerous place.

Seller Inventory # 51435

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Making the Corps
• Publisher: Scribner, New York
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684831090
• ISBN 13: 9780684831091
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Fifth Printing.
• Condition: Very good
• Dust Jacket Condition: very good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Military Training
  • Marines

About this title

Synopsis

Semper Fi. The few, the proud. From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli. Once a Marine, always a Marine. The United States Marine Corps, with its fiercely proud tradition of excellence in combat, its hallowed rituals, and its unbending code of honor, is part of the fabric of American myth. No other group in America leaves so deep and permanent a mark on its members. Today, though, the Marine Corps feels increasingly besieged, at war with a new kind of enemy the vast social and political forces that it feels threaten to destroy its values. Making the Corps visits the front lines of that war: boot camp, Parris Island, South Carolina, "where the difference begins." Here, old values are stripped away and new, Marine Corps values, forged. Acclaimed military journalist Thomas E. Ricks follows sixty-three raw recruits, the men of recruit platoon 3086, from their hometowns to Parris Island, through boot camp, and into their first year as Marines. As three fierce drill instructors fight a battle for the hearts and minds of this unforgettable group of young men, a larger picture emerges, brilliantly painted, of the growing gulf that divides the military from the rest of America.

About the Author

Thomas Ricks is one of America's most esteemed military journalists. A Wall Street Journal Pentagon correspondent, he has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and awarded a Society of Professional Journalists Award for his writing on the Marines. He lectures widely to military officers and is a member of Harvard University's Senior Advisory Council on the Project on U.S. Civil-Military Relations. He lives outside of Washington D.C. with his wife and two children.