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COMBAT DIs INVALUABLE

In reference to the Jan. 18 article, “Battle-tested DIs”:

I would like to say, as a Marine who just completed a drill instructor tour at Parris Island, S.C., that DIs with combat experience are invaluable to recruits. I worked with the Marine on your Jan. 18 cover, Staff Sgt. Mindo Estrella. His experience and passion for training recruits was nothing short of amazing, and that passion is a direct result of his experience in Iraq. I can tell you that Marines like him don’t have to be reminded why they are on the drill field. They also don’t have to be told what’s really important in recruit training.

These combat-veteran DIs are not out to make a name for themselves, set drill records or compete against other “hats.” They come to the drill field to teach everything they know so recruits may survive combat and maybe go on to teach recruits themselves. These warriors are unsung heroes so full of passion that one has to see it to understand it.

The Corps needs to create a DI screening team that finds more of these true warriors for DI duty. The Corps and recruits would benefit immensely.

Gunnery Sgt. T.A. D’Alesandro

Camp Pendleton, Calif.

WOMEN CAN FIGHT, TOO

I shook my head in disbelief over Sgt. Charity Perrine’s Jan. 18 letter “Combat not for women.”

I don’t know where in Iraq she felt the locals considered female Marines a joke. I never experienced anything like that.

During one city council meeting in Iraq, I had an Iraqi man sitting next to me get up and move across the room. When a Marine asked him why he moved, the man said, “She is very scary. I want to watch her.” The male Marines had a field day with that, but it showed that female Marines are not seen by locals as jokes.

And yes, as Perrine says, females do get pregnant in war zones. But that is the result of actions taken by female and male Marines. They are both responsible. The fact that women get pregnant sounds just like another invalid excuse for why they shouldn’t be on the battlefield. And I have never had a male Marine around me watch what he says because he fears being charged with sexual harassment. What does that have to do with combat?

I have never had problems with my male counterparts. That’s probably because they know I have their backs in combat.

Sgt. Renee Langlais

Tampa, Fla.

Sgt. Charity Perrine’s letter, expresses views that I am compelled to challenge.

My favorite thing she writes is that, “Every day in the Marine Corps is a struggle to compete and be a leader.” That is how it is supposed to be. We, as Marines, push ourselves and each other to be better. This is a defining characteristic of Marines that ensures:

• When ignorant locals attempt to make jokes of us, we ignore or educate them rather than alter our policy.

• When our brothers or sisters falter in their fidelity to their significant others, we support them in their efforts to stay honorable and give them a swift kick in their posterior when they drift in the wrong direction.

• When ignorant Marines harass others, they are held accountable. Sexual harassment and assault are real problems in the Corps [“Zero tolerance,” Dec. 28], but it sounds like Perrine suggests females should be removed to make life comfortable for those male Marines who harass females. That’s backwards, which is not the direction the Marine Corps goes.

• We never diminish the Corps and always seek to improve it and ourselves, and by extension, the Corps itself. The Corps is looking downrange, taking on challenges and becoming stronger and better. It is definitely not going back to “the way things used to be,” as Perrine suggests it should. All Marines ordered to the battlefield belong there — including women.

Former Sgt. Margret Collins

Honolulu

‘BEST BOOKS’ LIST FLAWED

I have absolutely no idea how “Lone Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell did not make it into your article “The best military books of the decade” [Off Duty, Jan. 18].

I disagree with J. Ford Huffman’s opinions of “Jarhead” by Anthony Swofford. I have a lot of issues with Swofford’s book and think very little of him after reading it. The movie was even worse. “Lone Survivor,” on the other hand, is a well-written, easy-to-read and humble account of a harrowing combat experience.

Swofford comes off as an embellisher and whiner, while Luttrell comes across as a man with deep-rooted values who was moved by the men he served with and seems supremely aware of the luck and fortune that kept him alive.

I hope that omitting “Lone Survivor” from the list was just an oversight by Huffman. I believe it belongs at the top.

Former Sgt. Sam Balla

Columbus, Ohio