WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Staff non-commissioned officers and officers of the Marine Corps Communications School attended an interactive Professional Military Education course at the National Archives on Jan. 16, 2014.
The Marines attended the course to better understand what it means to “support and defend” the Constitution of the United States of America.
“When we came up here I was expecting to sit in a class for two hours and learn about the constitution,” said Gunnery Sgt. Douglas Bowman, the data chief at the Marine Corps Communications School. “Instead we got to see the constitution in action in day-to-day occurrences.”
During the training, the Marines were taken into a room where they were briefed on what they were going to be doing for the interactive part of the course.
“What we do here is simulate on a small scale what the archives do,” said Amber Kraft, an education specialist at the National Archives. The visitor’s role play as a researcher or an archivist and were presented with a document. The document had some sort of historical significance and they try to determine where it gains its power from the constitution.
Some Marines were given a document that had the oath the U.S. Senators took before the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. The Marines’ jobs were to determine which part of the constitution granted congress the power to impeach government officials.
After a little digging, the Marines determined that Article II of the constitution gives the House of Representatives the power to impeach government officials, and the Senate has the power to try all impeachments.
Many of the Marines didn’t expect class to be as enjoyable.
“It’s pretty cool to see the other side of the archives,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Huskey, the radio chief for the Marine Corps Communications School. “Being an archivist, I got to put on this blue lab coat and go into this little simulation archive to get the records my team needed. Even on this small scale, the archives are pretty extensive.”
At the end of the day, the Marines were able to go into the main viewing area which houses some of the most important documents of the United States including the original Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights.
As loading up the bus for the return trip to Quantico, the Marines were better informed about the document that they were sworn to support and defend.