Making the Corps

New York: Scribner, 1997. Fifth Printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. 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.