HARP Forms or Strategic Corporals?
In 2022, the Marine Corps preaches decentralized leadership while simultaneously centralizing all authority and responsibility
Cpl. Hernandez utilized his training and education, the latest equipment, his grounding in the Marine Corps ethos, and quality leadership role models to appropriately lead his squad. He represented a fully empowered noncommissioned officer, agile enough to stay ahead of an enemy in an environment that was “increasingly hostile, lethal, and chaotic.” 1
In 2008 I was an NCO living in San Diego. I lived on base with my wife and daughter. I had anywhere from 5-15 Marines depending on the time of year. In short, I felt quite capable of doing my job. If we needed to stay late today to get out early on Friday, NCO's were expected to lead that charge. A Gunny or a Staff Sergeant would check in to make sure we weren’t hazing anyone. But there was no mistake. NCO’s were running the show. We made mistakes, and plenty of them. Mistakes were part of the process, and accepted as a byproduct of development.
In 2022, there seems to be a rot that turns NCO’s into assistants to the regional manager, rather than the tactical managers they should be. There were checklists and systems in place in the early 2000’s, but nothing to the scale we see now. Today, the SNCO is the new NCO, and the NCO is quickly turning into a “Junior Marine” or “E5 and Below”.
“How can we prevent this from happening again?”
If it is Friday in the fleet a week after a liberty incident, you might see a line of cars in the parking lot, with a SNCO personally conducting safety checks on everyone’s car. A couple weeks later, you would see a group of Marines in a classroom pencil-whipping those checklists when they realize how monotonous and stupid the act has become.
At some point, a Marine in that command was probably driving with an expired insurance card, and ended up on the blotter for the Sergeant Major to see. The Commander most likely asked that fateful question - “What we are doing to prevent this from happening again?” - and someone said, “Don’t worry Sir, I’ve got an idea”.
I was in another command where someone had gotten a DUI, and it was found that drinking and driving was not covered on the HARP form, or the safety brief. “Sounds like we found the root cause here. We need to create another system to fix this”. Every single Marine in the command had to email a Lieutenant Colonel a copy and paste statement every single Friday, signifying they would not drink and drive a vehicle at the same time.
The instinct to systematize everything makes sense on a whiteboard. Simply create a checklist for Marines/NCOs/SNCOs to follow, and we can prevent this incident from happening again. Commanders want to solve problems by getting involved, but sometimes the best thing they can do is just leave the room.
“SNCO/Officer Involvement”
Recently, you may have been a part of a commands mandated “home visit”. I was in Hawaii when a General decided that he wanted everyone under his command to be offered the chance for a SNCO or Officer to visit their on or off base residence. This was no doubt spurred by some domestic violence incident or an on base residence being trashed by a young Marine and his family. Shockingly, 100% of our people declined the offer.
During my monthly force preservation council (FPC) briefs, I started to hear commanders, XO’s and senior enlisted ask questions like “Where was the SNCO, or his OIC?” when a Marine dealing with legal or family trouble was reviewed. Think about that for a second. What exactly could a Lieutenant or a Staff Sergeant do in their own off time to prevent a Marine from beating their significant other, driving under the influence, or cheating on their spouse? FPC has quickly devolved into micro-management of every aspect of a Marines life by a SNCO or Officer. No longer can we trust individuals… “I need a (insert rank here) to go to the house and check on this,” whether it is legal or not.
The newest system to streamline micro-management is CIRRAS2, or the “Command Individual Risk and Resiliency Assessment System”. This is the Marine Corps version of a social credit score. It allows a SNCO or Officer of higher rank than you, to subjectively assess things about every aspect of your personal and professional life. This information is available as part of the FPC to the commander and anyone with access. When I first started entering information for my people, it made me want to take a shower. It asks questions about “failed intimate relationships”, names and addresses of roommates if they live out in town, pet names, and anything else you could think of. As always, its defenders say that it is “just a tool” for commanders. I honestly cannot comprehend how it is legal.
The scary thing about CIRRAS, is how it can be used by the many toxic leaders in the Marine Corps. I as a Gunny can create an “event” in the system and can be the judge, jury, and executioner of what happened based on MY perspective of the situation. Any risk averse commander petrified of not getting that next rank and losing his career will stop at nothing to “help” that Marine with command directed appointments, services, and “holding them accountable” - all with the direct oversight of a SNCO or Officer. This all takes time away from leaders who have a genuine concern for their people. The knee cap to knee cap conversations they want are now part of a comprehensive checklist that will undoubtedly be pencil-whipped. We have reduced the informal, and highly personalized leadership and development of young people to a series of checklists. It is transparent, and perceived as disingenous by everyone.
Trust
I often find myself doing things as a Gunny that I did as a Corporal and a Sergeant over 10 years ago. Want your Marines to stay late to accomplish a mission, or prep for a big training event? Better check with the CO, or get it approved by Master Guns, or there will be trouble.
I see Corporals and Sergeants reduced to overpaid formation callers who run to the SNCO at any sign of trouble. They are all scared to critically think, or make a decision because of the culture of micro-management and risk aversion sweeping across the corps. I believe this has nothing to do with new generations. It is our collective fault.
We used to be trusted to develop humans based on our experience, example, and tacit knowledge. Now we rate our Marines mental health online to decrease the commands liberty incident rate, while being forced to solve every problem with a form or a process.
You cannot replace leadership with a system.
-TG
https://mwi.usma.edu/krulak-revisited-three-block-war-strategic-corporals-future-battlefield/
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/388851/marine-corps-develops-secure-app-monitor-holistic-health-and-combat-readiness-marines