New Marine Speaks at Lancaster, PA Synagogue
The following speech was delivered at Temple Beth El, Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006 by Private Ethan Aaron Brooks, recent graduate (1/6/06) of Marine Corps Recruit Training at Parris Island, Platoon 3006, Mike Company.
Before answering any questions about my experience with the Marine Corps, I’d like to address those of you who are now of age or soon will be. You probably haven’t given enlistment much consideration. You have probably always assumed that the military was not for you. I know that when I enlisted I got a lot of what’s a good Jewish boy doing enlisting in the Marine Corps? Many of us who grew up intellectuals always believed that ours, the life of the scholar, and the life of a warrior could never mix. In other words, leave the fighting to the dumb-dumbs.
Allow me to share a few thoughts with you that you may not have considered. Believe it or not, your religion shares many values with the military, or at least the Marine Corps (those are the values I know about). At recruit training, I learned that the essential values of a good Marine were spirit and discipline. Before performing any task, the Drill Instructor would say, Ready? and we would scream, Spirit! Then he would say, Move! and we would scream, Discipline! How is spirit a Jewish value? Well, does a good Jew pray with K’vanah? It’s been a while, but back in USY, wasn’t there something we called Ruach that got the Jewish blood running? When Jews pray, they should do it like they mean it. When Marines do just about anything, they do it like they mean it. That’s spirit. Then there’s discipline. Military discipline is not a concept that many Jews get very excited about, but they should! After all, when a good Jew sees some lip-smacking pepperoni pizza, but orders the veggie instead – hey, that’s discipline. In fact, every mitzvah is a test of discipline, whether it entails resisting temptation or fulfilling a regular obligation that sometimes one would rather not fulfill. Resisting temptations and fulfilling obligations are par for the course for Marines as well. Ever notice that you don’t often see a Marine digging in his face with his hands – scratching bug bites, picking his nose, and that sort of thing? That’s part of maintaining military bearing and it entails resisting temptation. If my face itches, it might feel good to scratch, but if I exercise discipline, I won’t do it. A Marine’s regular obligation is PT (physical training) and as tough as we may be, we don’t always feel like doing it. But, the same way a Jew has to go to shul whether he feels like it or not, a Marine has to PT.
But despite all the similarities between being a Jew and being a Marine, Jews are under-represented in the Corps, and in the whole Armed Forces in general. Many Jews do well in high school, in order to be accepted into prestigious colleges, in order to go into high-status professions. Few want the military to interrupt their career aspirations. They should consider, however, what an asset military service is to any career. Those pursuing a career in politics will have a tremendous leg-up from the leadership skills they learn in the military. Those pursuing a career in journalism will be able to claim that they once had a hand in the world events on which they now report. Those pursuing a career in medicine should heed Hippocrates words: He who desires to practice surgery must go to war. Those pursuing a career in academe can achieve no better scholarly understanding of the world around them than by participating in warfare, the single most influential force in history. If you join the reserves before entering college, go active when you finish and you will have a steady job with lots of benefits. If you have already begun college, then enlist after you finish. Several recruits in my platoon at boot camp did that and they graduated a pay grade higher than I. Generally, military service offers a unique perspective on the world that will benefit you no matter where life takes you.
Today we live in an era of great animosity toward Jews. In America we are mostly sheltered from this animosity, but it is not the New York Times, nor the Peace Corps, nor the Anti-Defamation League, nor even Harvard University that provide that shelter. There are many foreign forces (none of which are particularly philo-Semitic) that would gladly storm this castle were it not for the sailors, soldiers, airmen, and Marines standing on the ramparts. You can either show your gratitude by taking up arms beside them or not. If you appreciate what your country does for you, keeping you safer than any other Jew anywhere else on the planet, then you are not too smart, too well educated, too good to risk your skin being part of the effort that keeps things that way.
Whether for self-advancement, or in gratitude for the service of those who make possible the privileged life you live, I ask that those who have the opportunity do, in earnest, consider military service.
Before I take questions about what I’ve been up to the last three months, allow me to give you some basic information. Eight days ago, I graduated from my thirteen-week-long recruit training on Parris Island, South Carolina. There I took part in close-order drill training (marching in formation) physical training including 3-, 6-, and 10-mile marches, Marine Corps martial arts training, academic study, including study of Marine Corps history, first aid techniques, and Corp Values, combat water survival training, rifle marksmanship training with the M16-A2 Service Rifle, basic warrior training, field training, and field firing training. The culmination of my training was the Crucible, a 54-hour exercise in food and sleep deprivation as well as teamwork and problem-solving skills. However, I developed most as a recruit not through these events, but through my interaction with drill instructors who demand speed, volume, intensity, and discipline at all times. The change from civilian to Marine is not a matter of bigger muscles and new skill sets. It is a matter of new principles and a new mindset. The change is fundamental. On Tuesday I’ll be leaving for Camp Geiger, North Carolina to undergo Marine Combat Training where I will learn skills to operate in a combat environment.
I’ll take questions anyone has at this point.
[Note: Questions involved the nature of the training, treatment by Drill Instructors, Private Brooks’s future plans and activities, and his evaluation of changes he had experienced as a result of recruit training. Private Brooks left for three weeks of Marine Combat Training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, on Jan. 17, and immediately thereafter moves to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi for his MOS training as a Weather Observer for the Marine Air Wing.]
I am a senior citizen now. But your enthusiasm and logic, combined with your eloquence, remind me of my early days as an enlisted man in the British navy.
I’m reminded that there are now 125 Jewish cadets at the naval academy. What are your future plans? Have you considered officer candidacy?
Excellent speech! I’m glad to see Parris Island is still putting out top notch Marines.
Yesher Koach and Semper Fi!
OOH-RAH Marine! Congratulations on your graduation and good luck in your enlistment service. The Marine Corps and the Jewish community are very lucky to have you in thier midst. I hope you find Jews in Green to be a place where you can continue to share your enthusiasm and pride for your country and the Jewish people. We appreciate your contribution and hope it isn’t your last to this site! Thank you.
~Shannon Rubin (co-founder of JIG)
AS an AF Helo Pilot, as a Former Marine, as an American, and as a Jew, I could not have said better myself. Semer Fi Marine!
Most eloquent Private I’ve ever read! Congratulations! You seem a stellar example of the best the Marine Corps has to offer!
Private Brooks,
Your wonderfully insightful remarks are personally rejuvenating and inspirational. I will share them tomorrow morning at our worship services for basic trainees here at the Army Infantry Command (Fort Benning). Good luck to you.
Semper Fi,
Neil Block
USNA ’61
By the way, along your way, consider seeking apppointment to the Naval Academy. We have a proud tradition of former enlisted Marines winding up there and making fine officers.
Yo, Marine!
See you at shul one of these days. Sorry I missed your shpiel, but I had a drill weekend! Hope your combat training is going well.
From one McCaskey graduate and member of Beth El to another, yasher koach! (even if you chose the Marines)
PTE Brooks,
Even though I am a member of the ADF (Australian Defence Force)I fully emphasise with what you have written. I am very impressed, good on you. I am trying to do the same thing here in Australia. Your enthusisam and committment will take you a long way.
I agree with what the others have written, you have displayed good leadership ability get your arse over to Officer Candidate School in Qantico, VA.
Regards from Downunder,
Aussie
Hardcharger
I was one of the first Marines to go through WX training at Keesler. I also went for forecasting school. good MOS. I wanted to make you aware of Sgt Foster Harrington. We were rack mates and scribes in boot camp togther. He died 9/2002 in Iraq from combat action. true hero and all jewish! Thought you’d like to know. Keep him in your prayers as he gaurds the streets of heaven.
Private Brooks is feeling that rush you get after boot camp, it will not last, I can assure him. I do commend him for not joining the infantry, a choice which I made despite opportunity and test scores that could have put me anywhere else. The fleet is no joke, its tough and demanding, all fine with me. But I will warn him, antisemitism is alive and well in the Marines today, and the idealism I had when joining is all but evaporated. A better choice for a Jew who wishes to fight terrorism and not feel like a stranger for embracing their faith is the Israeli military. A speech before my shul would not be as supportive of the Marine Corps as Private Brooks.
PFC Nevin, I’ve been infantry since 1994, granted in the US Army, but the differences are minor except for the amount of time you guys spend on boats. And outside of the Marine corps, you won’t find a more homogenous grouping than that of Army parachute units, of which I’ve been a proud part. I’ve endured more than my share of antisemitism, from the blatant to the more subtle deliberate ignorance of accomodating religious observance.
Ethan and I share a synagogue, and from what I know of him, he’s not wearing rose-colored glasses. He may run into antisemetism, if he hasn’t already, but like me and many others, he’ll find the vast majority of his peers are not of that mindset.
I think its terrible that your experience has so jaded you, but you may also be wearing the rose colored glasses regarding the Israeli military. There’s distinctions and friction between American Jews, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, Ethopians, and the other divisions within Israeli society that can be just as debilitating to servicemen in Israel. The climate for being Jewish might be better, but its Sociology 101 at work everywhere. We divide ourselves into groups and alienate regardless of location.
I fully expect Ethan to develop more cynicism as time goes by, but I fully expect that he’ll love the Corps as much once he’s got some dirt on his boots.
This is a response to PFC Nevin.
It’s been a year and half and two pay-grades since that rush after boot camp and a lot has changed. However, I think that PFC Nevin might be a little disappointed in me.
The USMC is the proudest and most beloved institution in my life today. After moving to college, I switched reserve units and left the Wing, joining the 4th CEB where I serve as a 1371 Combat Engineer. I look forward to serving with the Infantry in Iraq. I have found the work of a grunt demanding of body as well as mind, even if it isn’t demanding of test scores. I am attending OCS this summer, ground contract.
I have a few comments on the anti-Semitism issue as well. First, I have personally never encountered anything that I would consider anti-Semitism in the Corps and many Jews have achieved very high ranks (see the article on Gen. Magnus on this site). However, I can think of some behaviors that would elicit a reaction from Marines that might seem anti-Semitic.
1. Being a pain in the butt: when the MREs are being handed out, you stand up and give a lecture on Kashrut.
2. Failing to adapt: you use your Judaism as a way to separate and distance yourself from the pack.
3. Being overly sensitive: this is a complicated one. Marines and political correctness go together like ice cream and ketchup. It’s easiest just to have a thick skin, but not if that means tolerating disrespect. My line is Holocaust jokes. But the most important thing to remember (and this goes for just about everything in the Corps) is that you have to earn respect before you demand it. And when all is said and done, your job is to safeguard your country, not ethnic sensitivities.
Last, PFC Nevin, if you have only been in as long as I was when I was a PFC, I would wait and learn a little before passing strong condemnation on the Corps. And if you have been in a lot longer and you’re still a PFC, then I would think long and hard where the trouble you’re having is really coming from.