Let's be damned sure that no boy's ghost will ever say, 'If only your training program had done its job.' '' ''Making the Corps,'' Thomas E. Ricks's account of one Marine boot camp platoon, is a reminder that the mission is still the same. The marine may serve at sea or guard an embassy in peacetime, but is trained to be an efficient killer.
Training emphasizes physical strength, knowledge of weapons and discipline, discipline, discipline.
All of this is learned at the hands of drill instructors who also watch for the potential washouts, drug addicts, drinkers and others who can taint the barrel. At graduation from Parris Island or its West Coast counterpart near San Diego, the boots are addressed for the first time as marines, and are proud to claim that title throughout and well beyond their service. Ricks, the Pentagon correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, believes the harsh regimen is necessary, but he wisely raises the question of whether, along with estimable pride, there is not too much isolation from the national culture, too much political and social conservatism.