Preparing Lives via Literacy

Many organizations and teams have their own goals, whether it be to win the next game, improve each player or the team as a whole, or to simply come together as a team. This, in very broad terms, defines a discourse community. To be more exact, John Swales defines a discourse community as “…[any community where] there are common goals, participatory mechanisms, information exchange, community specific genres, a highly specialized terminology, and a high general level of expertise” (224). In summary, a discourse community is a group that uses literacy to further its goals. An example of a group like this would be the Young Marines, a non-profit organization that prepares young children for life in the military or a paramilitary organization, such as a police force. The Young Marines are open to both boys and girls ages eight to eighteen who have any interest in the military or any kind of military-like lifestyle. The main goal of the Young Marines is to teach their three core values, teamwork, leadership, and discipline. Through these values, the program teaches its participants to keep clean and stay on a lawful path. The program is also a recruiting tool for the military. We go hand in hand with the Marine Corps and try to prepare our members for that branch of the military. Also, another goal of the Young Marines is to teach their members how to mature and give them a maturity that can rarely be seen in today’s generations.  This program uses a chain of command, guidebooks, and an obligation and creed to further prepare its members and teach the three core values.

The first major aspect of the program is the chain of command. The chain of command works similarly to a triangle. At the bottom of the triangle are the privates, the private first classes, and the lance corporals . These are kids, normally ages eight to twelve, who recently joined the program and may still be getting used to how things work. However, they are also the guinea pigs of the level above them, which would be their squad leaders. The squad leaders are Young Marines who have already established themselves as responsible leaders. These kids are normally ages twelve to fourteen, but are supposed to be held accountable for their specific squad. Above the squad leaders lie the platoon leader, and above him stands the platoon sergeant. The platoon sergeant reports to the executive officer, who then reports to the unit commander. This chain of command is followed to the letter and there are few ways around it. The unit commander uses the chain of command to give out orders on what the unit will be doing that day. For example, the unit commander may give very broad, general orders to his executive officer, such as “I want the Young Marines to have a land navigation class on this date”. The executive officer then gives the platoon sergeant a time in the schedule and a location to teach the class. The platoon sergeant then might tell the platoon leader what should be taught to the platoon. Finally, the platoon leader would carry out the commands given to him ultimately by the unit commander. However, the chain of command is a two-way road. Any feedback or problems of the Young Marines in the unit would be given to the squad leader, who would then report it up to the chain of command until it reaches the proper authority. The difference between going up and down the chain of command is that ideas going up the chain of command may not always make it to the top of the triangle, however everything from the top makes its way to the bottom (Hagan). This chain of command allows the unit commander to quickly and effectively give orders to his unit that hopefully would be made with the furtherance of the three core values of the program in mind. Through his decision of what the unit would be doing that day, the Young Marines in his unit will learn something new about how the core values would have an effect on their lives at some point in the future. The chain of command also works as a way to push Young Marines through their guidebooks. As a Young Marine progresses through their guidebooks, that person also climbs the chain of command and receives special privileges that would not be given to someone who is a private. The ability of the chain of command to flow both ways allows the organization to better itself through feedback, as well as make it easier for the Young Marine unit to grow and come together as a team, and pushes individual Young Marines to work harder fpr the next rank.

Secondly, we use a set of guidebooks to teach our Young Marines how to run different drills. For each rank there are a different set of learning objectives. The privates are tasked with learning menial duties such as how to march and basic history such as what day flag day is. As mentioned previously, privates tend to be between eight and twelve year olds, so not much can be expected from them. Once a private gets passes a series of questions on all of the required learning objectives for his rank, the private earns a promotion to a private first class, the rank immediately above private first class. This promotion gives the Young Marine more responsibility than a private, as well as more learning objectives in what is called the basic guidebook. After testing through lance corporal, a Young Marine advances into the junior guidebook. Once in the junior guidebook, a Young Marine again assumes more responsibility than the ranks below him and subsequently might be in charge of some of those Young Marines. The Young Marine continues this cycle of learning certain objectives, testing on them, and giving speeches at certain ranks, until he has passed through the basic, junior, senior, and advanced guidebooks. Once through the advanced guidebook, the Young Marine has reached the highest rank possible without being awarded a promotion. The rank one receives is strictly based upon where they are in these guidebooks. The guidebooks are looked at as a right of passage into the higher ranks of the Young Marine program. As a Young Marine advances through the guidebooks, the three core values take a turn. A private needs to worry more about discipline and teamwork than leadership. However, as that private progresses through the ranks with the help of the guidebooks, leadership takes on a new meaning (Hagan). Without the guidebooks, Young Marines would not be able to learn the certain items that the Young Marines earn money for such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education, otherwise known as the D.A.R.E. program. The higher rank a Young Marine earns is directly proportional to where they are in the chain of command. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the chain of command is a significant genre in which orders and feedback make it from the unit commander to the privates and back. Because of the guidebooks, the chain of command is simplified and categorized much easier.

Finally, the Young Marines also have an obligation and a creed that are memorized and recited every drill so that they are drilled into the head of each Young Marine. The obligation explains how the Young Marine that takes that oath will “set an example for all other youth to follow and I shall never do anything that will never do anything that would bring disgrace or dishonor upon my god, my country and it’s flag, my parents, myself, or the Young Marines” (District of Columbia Young Marines). The obligation is always referred to during disciplinary meetings because the Young Marine program looks at the obligation as an oath, and if broken, the punishment can be harsh and swift. The obligation was created by the founding unit of the Young Marines in Waterbury, Connecticut so that members of the program will mature much quicker than their peers around them in their civilian life. The unit in Waterbury also created a creed, which is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as “an idea or set of beliefs that guides the actions of a person or group”. This creed, similar to the obligation, was made to set a standard for Young Marines as they enter the program. Also, any Young Marine who goes against the creed will face swift punishment. In summary, the creed states that the Young

Marine will remain clean, both mentally and physically. It also states that the Young Marine remain “alert to learn at school, at home, and at play” as well as urging the Young Marine to “remember that having self-discipline will enable [the Young Marine] to control [the Young Marine’s] body and mind in case of an emergency” (District of Columbia Young Marines). Both the obligation and creed are followed so strictly as they are so that the Young Marine learns that going against an oath or creed has serious implications on that Young Marines life. Adult leaders in the program feel that it would be better for the Young Marines to learn now before a similar breach could cause them to lose a job in the future. The obligation and the creed both teach Young Marines to be mature and think less like the eight year olds that they might be. With the maturity taught by the creed and obligation, the younger kids in the organization have an easier time working with the older kids, some of whom may be the same rank as the younger kids. The newfound maturity also makes it easier for the Young Marine to become a leader who is respected by his teammates, rather than a boss who pushes them past their physical or mental limits.

Hence, the chain of command, guidebooks, and obligation and creed, are genres with which the Young Marine program works towards its goals of teaching maturity, teamwork, and leadership. The values that the program teach prepare its members ultimately for a life in the military or a paramilitary organization. Not only, does the program prepare the members for a difficult life, but it also tries to teach the members how to live life in a lawful way, in a society where it seems to be cool to be unlawful.

 

Works Cited

“Creed.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 14 July 2016.

Farnsworth, Travis. “Douglas County Young Marines Logo.” DCYM About Us. District of Columbia Young Marines, n.d. Web. 14 July 2016.

Hagan, Keith. Telephone Interview. 12 July 2016.

Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. By Elizabeth A. Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. N. pag. Print.