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Summary: TRUE PICTURE OF MARINE CORPS CULTURE
Review: Great picture of the Corps. In 1965 this is the culture i wanted to join. In 1998 I regret i cannot do it all over. Ricks does an excellent job showing the power, the good the bad and the danger of a military thatis becoming more and more seperated from the democracy it serves.....If we could just get the society to shape up!
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Summary: Author of "Making the Corps" responds
Review: I just want to thank everybody for their very nice comments about my book. Except that cranky guy in Vermont who posted a criticism after reading only an "excerpt.''
Rating: 
Summary: good
Review: It was written well. Brought back a lot of memories of boot camp. But this took place 90's style. I went through boot camp 1962. But boot camp is boot camp at Parris Island. I think they have it much easier today. Ricks got the message across. But salts will understand it better...
Rating: 
Summary: T.E.Ricks used bar stool research for "Making the Corps"
Review: Just from excerpts, I know Ricks poorly
researched his material. Quoting him, he
refers to Marine recruits "mopping floors".
Marines do not "mop floors"; they "swab
decks". I think Ricks spent most of his time at the
bar in the Bachelor Officers' Quarters with
an occasional VIP tour of the enlisted men's
barracks. The above is just one example of his
second-hand research but suffices to convince
me the author is a poor observer of the real
glory behind the making of a U.S. Marine.
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Summary: audio
Review: Will this book be in audio, if so when will it be released.
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Summary: Great story about trainng Marine recruits as well as society
Review: Thomas E. Ricks's excellent book, "Making the Corps", narrates in solid journalistic prose the transformation of Paris Island recruit platoon 3086 from shiftless and undisciplined American youths into, at least among the survivors, fully indoctrinated, if not yet full trained, Marines. The book follows closely a dozen or so recruits over eleven weeks as their three drill instructors "teach them" the Marine cultural imperatives of honor, obedience, and individual sacrifice for the good of the group. In addition, Ricks uses the story of platoon 3086's recruit training as a framework to discuss the role of the military in post cold war America and the world. Ricks shows a great deal of respect and affection (which I share) for the Marines, having been with them as a journalist in Somalia and Haiti. By staying true to their focused, expeditionary role and having not compromised their culture, they have recently prospered, avoided public scandal, and have become the force of choice for small wars - at a time when the other services face a crisis of role and purpose. This overall organizational success, in turn, has lent strength to the Marines's core cultural values, values that are seen by the Corps as essential, but that they too rarely find in contemporary American society. ------- The process of recruit transformation has been told many times before, but in "Making the Corps", Ricks has written a compelling story by paying close attention to people with interesting stories. It is somewhat ironic that by treating the recruits and their drill instructors as individuals - in sharp contrast to the Marine Corps's professed goal of eliminating the individual "I" in favor of the group "we" - Ricks provides the reader both high journalistic drama as well as insights into what is, for too many Americans, a closed military culture. In this way, "Making the Corps" is as much about Marine recruit training as "Moby Dick" is about whaling. I think that Ricks uses the recruit platoon's training as a device to discuss what he really wanted to talk about - the growing division between American society and the military that may have to defend it. Marine boot camp is consciously designed to insure that successful recruits have accepted and internalized those moral values that the Corps sees as missing from contemporary American Society, as to well as train riflemen. At the end of their training, most recruits no longer really fit into American society and are in fact disgusted by it, just as some ultimately find that the reality of day-to-day Marine duty does not always meet their high initial expectations. It is unfortunate that this tension between initial high ideals and a sometimes shoddy reality is not pursued in any depth by "Making the Corps". Only a selected summary is provided of the platoon members's subsequent careers as Marines. Instead, the latter part of Ricks's book focuses on the increasing division between an open, democratic society and a military drawn from a limited class of society and inculcated with very distinct values. Some of the resulting military attitudes and values are disturbing to anyone with a traditional view of constitutional process or civilian control of the military, as when Ricks describes members of the Corps increasingly engaged openly in partisan politics or publicly hinting that our society might need a "Chilean" solution to its perceived moral and cultural rot. ------ In telling its tale, Ricks's book raises important issues that need serious discussion. Is it important that our military reflect all classes in American society? If so, do we need to bring back a universal draft? Why do so many of America's young lack any moral compass? What is the role and scope of the military when no direct threat is obvious? "Making the Corps" does a service by combining a great story while raising profound issues for our country. It deserves to be read and considered carefully. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: How do they take a typical kid and make a Marine?
Review: This is an engrossing peek into a modern miracle. If your son or daughter is in boot camp like my son is, this book will help you to understand what your child is going through. If not, it will cause you to reflect on your childs sense of societal duty. Besides it is one heck of a good read.
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Summary: Proud to be a marine
Review: Making the Corps is true to the core.A detailed account of the day by day metamorphasis of young,undiciplined youths transforming into United States Marines.Brilliant story lines following the effects and toles it has each individual recruit as they try to gain the title Marine.Great insight into today's younger generation and the struggle thes the Drill Instructors have to strip them of their individualism and form them into basic Marines.I personally served four years in a recon unit with SSGT.Carey the "Hard Hat" in the platoon and can personally vouch I have never met a finer Marine.Semper Fi
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Summary: Ricks captures the essence of the Marine Corps
Review: This book explains how an elite institution can mantain its standards and values in the face of a rapidly changing society. The lessons extend beyond the armed services: successful businesses need to instill a set of values and a sense of team work as the Marine Corps has -- for more than 200 years. But the book should give pause to military "reformers" and those who want to impose modern "values" on the armed forces. Instead, perhaps civilian institutions could learn a thing or two from the Marine Corps' remarkable success.
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Summary: A book that every former Marine can appreciated.
Review: As a former Marine (1950-54)I didn't think it possible to capture the essence of the making of a Marine. Coupled with Zell Miller's book, "Corps Values," the author has given answers to questions that have occasionally bubbled to the minds surface but have escaped answers. The questions of how the Corps transforms young men and women to meet the challenges of the Corps but equally important the values that are carried over to civilian life. This book is a must read for all former Marines and the civilian types who will appreciate the creation of the young men and women who carry the title of United Sates Marine.
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