Reviewed: Making the Corps

I just finished Making the Corps by Thomas Ricks. This is a book about the US Marine Corps. The first part shows the training of recruits in great detail, following one platoon through basic training at Parris Island. Later parts discuss the history and character of the Marines, their distinctive culture, and how that culture is transmitted, starting with basic training.

Finally the book discusses the growing distance between the armed services and the society they protect. In their eyes, the rest of us are fat, rude, greedy, and undisciplined slackers. We are also rather too liberal. Few Americans -- and very few members of the elite -- have actually worked in the military, which makes it hard for them to understand what the military does and why, exacerbating the problem.

Making the Corps is a great book. It has a generally positive view of the Marines, but isn't afraid to point out some of the rough bits, too.