Chesty by Jon T. Hoffman

Author:Jon T. Hoffman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780307430809
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-17T16:00:00+00:00

Despite the intervening years, the nature of the Marine Barracks at Pearl Harbor had not changed very much. Marines still performed the same missions they had in the mid-1920s—providing routine security for the installation and serving as a defense force in case of attack. For the latter mission, Puller’s new command possessed nearly all the weapons of a normal infantry battalion, including heavy water-cooled machine guns exactly like those that had occupied his attention twenty-three years earlier. It also was one of the largest barracks in the Corps, with eighteen officers and nearly seven hundred men. If it was not the infantry regiment that he wanted, it at least bore some similarities. And though he felt that it was yet another backwater billet, many senior officers considered it “one of the juicy jobs in the Marine Corps.” The climate was pleasant, the duties not too onerous, the social life convivial, and the company of other senior Marines plentiful. 40

In the letdown after the war, the previous commanding officer had not maintained the normal high standards expected of a Marine barracks. The inspector general’s visits in 1947 had uncovered a slide into sloppiness. The inspectors noted that “most of the men needed hair-cuts, ” some wore nonregulation uniform articles, and there was a general “lack of smartness.” The supply section also had accumulated large quantities of surplus items. A housecleaning brought forth 120 truck-loads of excess material, a good portion of it hauled directly to the dump, and a team of outside specialists needed six months to properly inventory and warehouse that which the command retained. The training program was wholly inadequate and the troops had rehearsed the emergency defense plan only once in the past six months. Most damning of all: “The companies are not organized according to military principles, with NCOs responsible for squads or sections or platoons. There appeared to be no line of responsibility or chain of command.”41

The inspection system itself was running into its own problems as peacetime doldrums settled onto the Corps and some senior leaders succumbed to the siren song of mindless bureaucratic activity that Puller loathed. The director of personnel at Headquarters was a case in point. Concerned that “interest in hobbycraft is lacking at many posts,” he asked the IG to “pay particular attention” to this program and gather data “in order that the emphasis which should be placed on hobbycraft in the Marine Corps may be properly evaluated.” At least a few staff officers at HQMC tried to maintain the proper perspective. A colonel in Plans and Policies ignited a heated debate when he recommended the consolidation of major inspections to reduce their frequency and the resulting disruption: “Even though prior announcement is made that normal routine will be carried out during an inspection it is common knowledge that once notice of a forthcoming inspection is received every one gets in a ‘tizzy’ and ‘spit and polish’ is inaugurated to the detriment of everything else.” The inspector general was not pleased

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