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Inside Lance Corporal Leadership, Ethics Seminar

13 Mar 2014 | Lance Cpl. Cameron Storm Marine Corps Base Quantico

In early February, I was told that I would be attending the inaugural Lance Corporal Leadership and Ethics Seminar.

My first thought was: “great, more leadership training.”

Then they told me it would be a weeklong.

Yay…

I checked in to the main classroom in Yale Hall that was full of lance corporals from all over the national capitol region. While most of us were stationed on Quantico, we had Marines down from Marine Corps Barracks Washington and even a Marine from Camp David.

After a short time, Col. Robin Gallant and Sgt. Maj. Gerald Saunders, the commanding officer and sergeant major of Headquarters and Service Battalion respectfully, kicked off the course with a lesson on the importance of the colors, whether it be Old Glory or the regiment, battalion or company guidon.

After the first class they moved on to explain the unique and complicated command structure of the battalion, clearing up several questions about who reports to whom and so on. Now that I understood the organization and how it lays out, I realized the accuracy behind the nickname, “The Beast.”

That was one of the only classes where the whole course was in a classroom together. After it was over, the sergeant instructors of the course were introduced and the lance corporals were split into five platoons, each with about 10 Marines and an instructor who acted as the platoon sergeant.

When we left that first class room and the first lesson, I had a feeling that the rest of the course was going to be like any other course I had taken in my short, Marine Corps career. But I was wrong, and that is a good thing.

The next few days consisted of the platoons sitting around conference tables and desks and instead of the instructor talking “at” the students, they would introduce a topic and allow the students to discuss and debate their points among themselves with little guidance.

This tactic made a group of Marines expecting boring classes led by some sergeant turn into a discussion group that tackled issues like drugs and alcohol, and ventured into topics like leadership styles and strategies.

A few times, the discussions would spill over onto the breaks as well. Once, the discussion had really taken off when we were given a 10-minute break. All but one Marine got up, moved less than 10 feet away and continued the discussion as if there had never been an interruption.

But what made the course really effective was that each Marine contributed to the whole. Almost all of the Marines I talked to throughout and after the seminar were eager to take the knowledge they had learned and discussed back to their unit to practice with their Marines.

The course made lance corporals more than just junior Marines. It told us that it didn’t matter whether we are surrounded by Marines all the time or are the only lance corporal on their base, we are leaders and, more importantly, we are leaders of Marines.


Marine Corps Base Quantico