Marine Drill Instructor Charged With 225 Criminal Counts of Abuse

A Marine drill instructor (DI) apparently missed his younger days of pullingthe wings off of flies, so he reverted to bullying the recruits he was supposedto be training by the book. Now realistically, we all know thatnot following the rules 100% can be acceptable at times in most any job, but notwhen a recruit is made to dive into a dumpster and then get pushed further down.Sgt. Jerrod M. Glass not only ordered the recruit to "dumpster dive",but has been charged with 225 criminal counts of abusing recruits.

SAN DIEGO - A Marine drill instructor has been charged with 225 criminalcounts connected to abusing recruits, a Marines spokesman said Thursday.

In one incident, Sgt. Jerrod M. Glass allegedly ordered a recruit to jumphead-first into a trash can and then pushed him further into the container,according to court documents cited in The San Diego Union-Tribune. He is alsoaccused of striking recruits with a tent pole and a heavy flashlight.

Two other drill instructors, Sgt. Robert C. Hankins and Sgt. Brian M. Wendel,face special courts-martial in the case, the Marines said. Arraignment dateshave not been scheduled for either Marine. Military.com has the complete story here...

No one would expect a Marine Drill Instructor to coddle a recruit intraining, and training Marines for potential combat consists of many hardshipson the recruits. It seems that Sgt. Glass has a sadistic side, and "225counts" pretty much backs that theory up.

Military.com hasa discussion forum for their stories, and I wasn't surprised to see themajority of the comments backing up Glass and calling the recruits"punks" and calling to have their asses kicked.

 
• My God, this is unreal! Now the Drill Instructors can't do thier jobs    without a bunch of cry babies charging them? What's next, feelings hurt law    suits?   

  ---

   
 
• "A Marine Corps Drill Instructor abusing recruits? Absurd! The Drill    Instructor was toughening up and educating the recruits. I was educated once    for knocking the 'smokey' off of one of my Drill Instructor's head.
      I was on the quarterdeck doing about a thousand 'side-straddle-hops' when my    hand hit something. I then saw my Drill Instructor's 'smokey' roll across    the deck. Next thing I know, I'm getting 'educational training tips' to my    chin, my chest and my belly. Went on for a few seconds. My Drill Instructor    taught me something that I still do today and that is to respect the 'smokey'    of a Marine Corps Drill Instructor"   

  ---

   
 
• "I thought marines were supposed to be tough. If these guys get    captured and tortured in Iraq, do they honestly believe that their captors    will let up on them if they ask politely, or threaten to press charges.
      To me this is just more evidence that West Coast Marines are not as tough as    those from The Island. If they wanted to be babied, then they should have    joined the Air Force"   

  ---

   
 
• "My opinion on this is that this is indicitive of a larger problem    with civilian society. This whole liberal politically correct society we    have in this country today is hurting this country. We all have to be    touchy-feely and God forbid that we have to yell at someone. It wouldn't    surprise me if a lot of these kids called and cried to mommy that the DI's    yelled at them and gave them some discipline they never got at home. It    wouldn't surprise me either that some pinhead would sue the Marines for    putting stress on their little Johnny."   

  ---

   
 
• "Some of these young punks going in now need a good kick in the ***    to straighten them out and dicipline them. As long as no one gets killed or    maimed, I see no problem with it.( Enought of them will get killed or maimed    by the enemy-we don't need the DI's doing it to them-but hard dicipline is    ok-it will make men out of them instead of boys."   

  ---

   

An exercising Marine knocks the hat off a DI by accident, then gets hit inthe chin, chest and belly? Training Marines and Soldiers to be aware of theirsurroundings and doing their best not to have accidents is an important part oftraining, but in this case it appears to have been the DI's fault. Some of thecomments are reasonable, but there's a boat load of absurd ones.

More comments can be read HERE.

Of all the Marines that have went through boot camp and became outstandingMarines, I am sure it wasn't "abuse" that made them that way.

Comments

[Shupak]

Regarding the comment that insinuates DI-es might routinely hit or strike a recruit:

"An exercising Marine knocks the hat off a DI by accident, then gets hit in the chin, chest and belly? "

People embellish 'Boot Camp war stories' all the time to emphasize their own bravado and perseverance--you should know better than to include that, even it is an 'OpEd' piece.

This article you've written only feeds on people's already emotionally charged preconceptions of the US military.

First, the Marine DI, Sgt. Glass, charged in these acts was incorrectly cited in the original article as having been a Drill Instructor for one-year.

In reality, he'd been a Drill Instructor for a month--this was his first training cycle.

There seems to be a wide breadth of speculation as to what "horrors" he may have perpetrated in his short tenure as a Drill Instructor, but it seems to me that most of the public discourse has been widely fanciful.

As a direct result of this incident, Marine DI's are reprimanded for coming within one-arm's distance of any Recruit. Think about that. That's a far-greater personal space than you or I would be granted on the New York subway.

If you want to dance around the fire while this Marine burns, you'll probably have your wish, but get your facts straight

[Melodie Malone]

Yes, please do get your facts straight, SIR. These drill instructors are responsible for training my son, 2nd Battallion, Platoon 2039. He graduated in November, which means that this drill instructor was waving his "stick" around for at least TWO cycles. My son is a fine Marine, and Hankins, Wendel, Felan and Castillo are mainly responsible for the fine Marine that he has become, in SPITE of the treatment that he and many others recieved at the hands of Glass. Lets face it folks, the Marine Corps didn't charge this man based on the word of recruits who "didn't like thier DI", and anyone who is remotely associated with this icon in our society SHOULD know this! Those who dont, need to pull their heads out of the......sand and get the facts STRAIGHT.

[robert]

i think sgt glass did what he felt he needed to do to train these pansies. i was in hotel a year ago, sgts wendel and hankins had the honor platoon 2039 cause they can train men and teach us what we need to survive in the corps. i support their actions completly. its hot in san diego and they need to make sure all their recruits stay hydrated, cant have any heat casulties. Fu*k the guys that ran their sucks.

[Jason]

Sgt Glass may have acted "out of the book" but it happens in all branches all of the time. Someone just happened to get a ball rolling and they singled someone out. Nobody was seriously hurt, just thier feelings which are not covered in the constitution. When recruits join the Marine Corps, they shouldn't expect a breezy boot camp for the most elite fighting unit in America. These recruits think that a dumpster is bad, it is 100 times worst in Iraq.

[Mackenzie Mason]

As a marine with less than a year and a half time in service, I remember boot camp quite vividly. Let me make clear that I am by no means in support of unreasonable abuse, however, to experience boot camp and to read about what is done to recruits is strikingly different. This Drill Instructor may have gone over the line, however, I feel that the "225 charges" is excessive. In boot camp, you are hit in the throat, belly, back, legs, feet, etc. However, it is done for a very specific reason, not so much because a "smokey" was knocked off, but because you're probably going to experience a far greater amount of pain from the enemy than a Marine Drill Instructor. While I was at boot camp, I was hit in the throat and belly mainly, had an M-16 upper receiver thrown at me, and canteen repeatedly tapped on my glasses almost breaking them, and that's just some of the things. I won't say that I got the shit kicked outta me in boot camp, because I don't think I had it that bad, but I did see some junk. The one that stands out in my mind is when a recruit from a different platoon drew a Nike "swoosh" in permenant marker on his boots. His drill instructor saw it and went ballistic to the point where he brought him in our squadbay and literally shoved him in the clothes dryer. However, it wasn't like, "Hey, recruit, get over here" when he was just sitting cleaning his rifle. Nothing happens to you in boot camp if you lay low and do your stuff right. I think some people are making this a bigger fuss than it actually is. People that join the Marines should know exactly what they're getting into, hell they're enough books written about boot camp that you could figure it out. It's not meant to be fun, it's meant to make you tough so when you're wounded and have to carry your mortally wounded buddy back to safety, you can do that because you learned in boot camp to suppress that pain.

[Kent Thorsten]

I can tell you from experience that both MCRD's have their differences, but the thing that remains the same is that the Marine Corps Drill Instructors are the elite. They are the face of the Marine Corps that can make or break Marines. I graduated from the good ole island in south carolina and I did have my little "learning time" with my drill instructors. Oh well, its part of the Marine Corps. We are big on traditions. I'll tell you right now that this "XBOX" generation thats going through the high schools and through the beloved halls of boot camps need to shape up and shut their mouths. They dont know anything about the Marine Corps while they are in Boot. What they learn in boot camp will save their lives. They wore that T-Shirt that recruiters give them that states,"Pain is weakness leaving the body". Yet when they get a little smack with a shelter half pole they go crying to their mommas. I have friends that are drill instructors in both regions as well as mentors who were drill instructors. This little sissified, XBOX and laptop in starbucks generation is rediculous. They want the training, they want the discipline, but they dont accept the responsibility for signing the contracts and they are scared of the real committment of the Marine corps. I hope the names of the Marines in that platoon with Drill Instuctor Sgt. Glass dont let their peers know it was them that decided it was too much for them to handle. Later on in the Marine Corps, the people you will remember the most are your drill instructors that regardless of what age, turned you from a child into an aduld.

[Lcpl (I'm in Iraq)]

What the hell? I want some retard press junky to go and do a survey, asking a marines that actually graduated, made it to the fleet, and then became war vets, if bootcamp should be easier. its 3 months of your pathetic disguting little life. abuse is not tolerated, but when you screw up even in the most minute manner, you pay. a recruit had peanut butter in his pocket from the chow hall. the di took him out to the sand pit, and I.T.'d him good. that stands for incentive training, or in other words, disciplined him. I myself experienced a few beat downs, that my recruiter told me would never happen. i could have sued i think, hell, these recruits are sueing for lesser crimes, but he told me, "I gonna f'ing mess you up so that when you get to Iraq, and that f'er is on PCP, when you learn to be a man and stand up to me, then you'll be able to stand up to him, because the enemy dont give a f''k. you think mommy or daddy will save you? HELL NO! your own your own mother f'r. You'll remember this, and if you dont, you'll die.."
These words he left me with in the closets of the great rifle range, embodied me with something that has proven effective in this war zone i am CURRENTLY in. Recruits need to shut their suck and graduate, ITS ONLY 3 f'ing months of your pothetic lives!

[Courage Warrior]

OH THE IRONY !!!!

YOURE CURRENTLY IN A WAR ZONE BUT YOU HAVE TIME TO TAP AWAY ON A COMPUTER ON A BLOG !!!!

I GUESS WAR IS WHOLE DIFFERENT NOWADAYS COMPARED TO MY TIME IN NAM !!!!