Q & A: Top enlisted Marine speaks out - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Q & A: Top enlisted Marine speaks out

In his 32 years as a Marine — nearly half as a sergeant major — Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent has done a few things.

Embassy duty in Panama and Zaire. Two tours on the drill field. Numerous military specialties, including parachute rigger, gold-wing qualified with multiple jumps.

He was meritoriously promoted to gunnery sergeant in less than nine years, and served as sergeant major of I Marine Expeditionary Force in 2004 when now-Commandant Gen. James Conway commanded the unit in Iraq.

For more than a year, Kent has been Conway’s top enlisted Marine, advising and supporting the Corps during two wars, the push to add thousands of additional Marines to the active-duty ranks and a difficult operational tempo.

We caught up with Kent in his Pentagon office on July 23, wearing cammies and nursing a big glass of water after morning PT. In a candid, wide-ranging interview, the 16th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps painted a positive picture of a service that is getting the job done despite personal sacrifices, long hours and multiple combat rotations.

He expressed frustration at the rise in motorcycle deaths, his desire to get Marines more time at home, and the need to empower NCOs at home as well as in combat.

Kent also talked about physical fitness, overweight Marines and the Combat Fitness Test, which he expects to run in August with Conway.

The conversation is presented below, edited only for space and clarity.

Marine Corps Times: After traveling across the Marine Corps and talking to troops around the world, what’s your opinion on the status of the force?

The Marines are doing great, as you know. I mean, throughout the Marine Corps, especially over in combat.

That’s our number one focus, the Marines in combat right now. If you look at Iraq, it’s pretty stable, especially out in western Iraq. It’s really, really stable out there. The Marines have done a great job.

Right now, if you talk to the average Marine over in Al Anbar, they are bored. I’ll be quite honest with you. I mean, you talk to them, we’ve got infantry battalions that go over now and they don’t fire their weapon — not one — in anger. But they also know that that’s a positive turnaround, so that’s a good thing for us. But you get the young Marines, and you know how it is, they want combat.

If you look at it, we just re-enlisted 1,140 Marines over in Iraq, and 90 percent of those Marines re-enlisted to stay in the operating forces. Not to take a break, but to stay in the operating forces. Three hundred Marines asked the retention team if they can re-enlist and go to Afghanistan — and this is over in Iraq.

So right now, we’re pretty positive. The recruiters are doing really good and we will meet our mission of bringing the active-duty Corps to 202,000 Marines by the end of next year, which is about two-and-a-half years earlier than what we thought. That’s a good- news story.

Right now, we have Marines — squad leaders and infantrymen — getting bonuses to stay, like, an additional two years in the infantry. And that’s working. Matter of fact, my nephew is one of those. He was with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, and now he decided to re-enlist for a bonus, and he’s staying in the infantry. Now he’s on the East Coast in an infantry battalion.

MCT: Do you worry that by allowing someone to re-enlist and stay in the operating forces perhaps you run the risk of allowing them to burn out?

No, not really. Because I would tell you, if you talk to the average Marine, that’s what they came into the Marine Corps to do, is to deploy. Now, the leadership is very cautious to keep an eye on Marines like that, to ensure that we’re not burning them out. That’s why the commandant really wants to grow the force to 202K, so we can give the warriors more dwell time back in the States.

The commandant’s goal is to give 14 months dwell time for every seven months deployed. That’s his goal right now, and we’re going to get there. We’re not now.

MCT: Is it still a 1-to-1 ratio?

It’s still 1-to-1 right now, but we’re growing for that purpose, so we won’t burn the warriors out each and every time. But I will also tell you that we have Marines who have volunteered for three, four, five deployments. But the leadership has to keep a very close eye on those Marines, and that’s a great point, so there won’t be a burn-out period.

MCT: What do you consider your current priorities?

Priority right now is to continue the focus for combat. Also, another key people don’t understand is — us in the Marine Corps understand it, and you probably understand it — one of the most brittle parts for us in this whole equation is our families. I mean, our families are as important as ever. They’re supporting the Marine, they’re going through quite a bit and they’re sacrificing so much. So, the commandant has refocused millions of dollars back into our family support.

MCT: Is there anything coming soon that Marines can expect to see that is in the works?

Near-term is the Combat Fitness Test and the change with the Body Composition Program. That’s going to come to pass here very soon. And the Marines, you know, they have asked the commandant, “Hey, sir, you know, we have a PFT to test our physical fitness. Do we have anything that tests our combat fitness?” And they were right. I mean, we don’t go to combat and carry our wounded warriors with tennis shoes, green PT shorts and green short-sleeve shirts.

When you’re in combat, you’re in full gear most of the time. This Combat Fitness Test is going to test our combat fitness, and it’s long overdue, it really is. But we’re still going to keep the PFT that tests our physical fitness. So, that’s going to be one of the things that they’re going to see coming to pass very soon.

MCT: Any idea when it’s going to happen?

It should be coming to pass by next month. The order should be on the street by early next month. So, that’s going to be coming out very soon, and that’s going to tie in with the Body Composition Program.

MCT: Has the CFT plan changed substantially from what we’ve heard about earlier?

It’s going to be events like the body drag, the [880-yard run], those certain events in there. What you probably heard about earlier, it won’t change much.

MCT: Is there still going to be an introductory period, before it starts to count?

Yes, and the key thing to this program is it’s going to allow them to train for things in combat. So, yes, they’re going to have the opportunity to prep for it before we actually put it in play.

Now, I will also tell you that the Combat Fitness Test will not be done at the same time as the PFT (laughs). There were a lot of rumors out on the street about that, and it will be done at separate times.

Me, I like to work out, and I probably couldn’t even do the CFT and the PFT on the same day.

MCT: Have you tried the CFT?

No, we’ve scheduled to do it in about two weeks.

MCT: Who are you going to do it with?

The commandant (grins).

MCT: Planning to throw him over your shoulder?

Yeah (laughs). You know, the commandant is very much into physical fitness. He is there, and … he leads by example, and the Marines see that. So, I don’t think I’ll be carrying him, but he’ll be carrying me (laughs).

MCT: Why change the Body Composition Program?

We have some Marines that are getting out of shape in the Marine Corps. Every Marine came in the Marine Corps because we hold higher standards, and we got feedback from the leadership and from Marines that, “Hey, our standards are kind of slipping on weight control.” So the commandant is getting us back, refocused, on the weight control program. The good thing about this program coming out is that for enlisted Marines, the senior enlisted with that unit will ensure that they control all enlisted Marines with this Body Composition Program. On the officer side, it would be the [executive officer.] There will be a grace period, because we know Marines have to get ready for this.

The order is going to hit the street probably at the same time as the CFT. What the order is going to basically say is, “OK, you can have a grace period. The senior enlisted or the XO is going to get the warriors that are not within standards, bring them in and say, ‘This is what you need to do.’” To ensure that we are safe, as far as them losing weight, we’re going to get them to medical and we’re going to start working with them.

Nothing is going to go in their record initially, but they will be counseled. We’re going to give them a couple of months to try and fix the problem if they are not within standards. If they make the standards, then that’s fine. If they don’t make the standards, leadership will bring them back in and say, “You haven’t made the standards. This is what you need to continue to try and get there.”

There’s going to be some grace period for these Marines, because we don’t want to go out and just jam warriors. We want to make sure that we give them an opportunity to lose [weight].

But, we have a standard. Once that grace period is over with, it’s going to be a formal weight control program and we will monitor that.

MCT: And there was talk of the Military Appearance Program?

Even if you do make the weight control, how does the Marine look in uniform?

MCT: That’s a new concept?

Actually, we had this years ago. The Military Appearance Program, we had way back.

MCT: Why did it go away?

Well, different leadership comes in, and they focus on different things. The Military Appearance Program has been around, but what happened is that if you did a first-class PFT in the past, most of that pretty much was “OK, he did a first-class” or “she did a first-class, that means he’s or she’s good to go.” That’s when the weight-control program did not come into play, because they were first-class, and we gave them so many points for their body fat because they were first-class.

Now, with this new program, everybody is going to have to hit a certain percentage of body fat. You’re going to get a little bit, with age change, you’re going to get a little bit more body fat allowed than a younger Marine. But the fair thing about this program is that even if you have a Marine who is not within standards for his weight control, if they look good and they’re physically fit, a waiver will be processed for that Marine.

And that’s the good thing for this program. It’s going to be fair for everybody across the board.

MCT: What about people who say, “I run a first-class. Why are they all over me?”

Because it has to do with maintaining standards. We don’t want everybody to look like a poster Marine. No, that is not the commandant’s focus. But we want Marines to understand that you’ve got to have a great appearance in uniform and you have to be physically fit.

Let me tell you: Being overweight, you are not combat-ready. And it’s our job as leaders to ensure that Marines are healthy, and it’s a health thing, too. As leaders, we have to make sure that every Marine is healthy, and that’s a big part of this program, also.

MCT: Do you find some people are just training to the PFT, rather than being well-rounded physically?

Yes, I think that’s the case, and that’s why the Combat Fitness Test is going to make this a well-rounded thing, tied in with the physical thing. It’s going to make Marines go out to train to a standard where they’re well-rounded physically.

MCT: We’ve heard Marines say, “This is the test we needed all along.” If the CFT is really the combat standard, why keep the PFT?

Like I said, the PFT tests different things than the CFT. The Combat Fitness Test is pretty much endurance in combat. The Physical Fitness Test tests your cardiovascular ability and things like that, because you’re running longer, plus you’re testing upper body strength ... . It’s different than carrying a Marine on your back with full gear.

I think we need to keep both of them, but if you talk to some of the Marines, maybe, like eventually, if this Combat Fitness Test comes into play and it’s working and it’s testing the physical fitness and the combat fitness portion of it, then who knows? We might just say, “Hey, we might not need the PFT.”

Initially, with this Combat Fitness Test, it’s going to be a pass or fail. It will also negatively reflect on the pros and cons and on fitness reports if Marines fail it.

MCT: What can you tell us about the effort to empower non-commissioned officers to play a bigger role in motor vehicle safety, especially with the record number of Marine motorcycle fatalities in fiscal 2008?

It’s a big increase, and we are engaging every day on this.

You know, it is not the Marine that goes out and gets on a Harley. It’s the Marine who goes out and gets on the fast motorcycles. We are above where we were last year as far as motorcycle fatalities. We’re trying to figure this thing out.

We’ve got great NCOs in the Marine Corps. They go to combat and they lead Marines and they do great things in the Marine Corps. But when they get back to garrison, we tend to not give them the same responsibilities that we give them in combat, and we shouldn’t do that.

We’ve got to give them the same responsibilities in garrison that we give them in combat, because they never fail us. The commandant put out that message, saying he wants NCOs engaged, because who knows the Marines that are going to have something involving a safety incident? Who knows them better? We don’t. It’s the NCOs.

We’re delegating authority down to the NCOs to do the safety checks, to get us safety briefs and to say whether a Marine should not be going on liberty because he is a threat to safety. The NCOs are engaging throughout the Marine Corps, and we are working on it whenever we can. Losing one Marine is too many, because they are the most precious thing we have in the Marine Corps — the individual Marine.

MCT: What do you think of the new G.I. Bill?

I think it’s a good thing for passing down the educational benefits to the dependents, but on the flip side of that, we need to wait and see. On the retention piece, to allow individuals to do three or four years and then exit out of any kind of military service and be able to go to college full-time… I think it’s a great idea, but it might affect our retention in the future. We’ve just got to keep a close eye on that.

MCT: Did you watch the new HBO mini-series “Generation Kill”?

Yeah, I did — I didn’t like it. I watched 15 minutes of it, and it did not portray the Marine Corps. I thought it was a slap in the face to the Marine Corps, especially when you’ve got Marines that know that doesn’t portray a unit in the Marine Corps, from the leadership down.

I watched it for 15 minutes, and even my wife watched it with me. My wife said, “This is not the Marine Corps.” She said, “This is not the Marine Corps that I grew up around.”

I said, “No, it’s not.” And I turned it off.

It does not portray the great things that these Marines are doing today. I can tell you all about those things, because we witness it throughout the Marine Corps. One example is the wounded warriors in the hospital. They just want to get back to their unit. They’re not concerned about their wounds.

I can tell you, I’ve been truly blessed to be able to serve with these great Marines that we have in our Marine Corps today, and they continue the legacy of our Marines that came before them.

And that’s another thing: The Marine Corps is all about legacy. They never want to let the last generation down. That’s why they do great things in the Marine Corps today, and they will continue to do it long after I’m gone. Marines will continue the legacy, because that’s the way it is.

MCT: Some people focus on negative things, but you’re a positive person. What keeps you motivated?

You know, I have to focus on both. If there are negative issues out there that are affecting our Marines and their families, you better believe I’m going to be the first to engage. You have to focus on both of them, but usually a negative comes out with a positive at the end, because that negative is a lesson learned and something we can’t do in the future.

The most negative thing that I’m struggling with right now is protecting against Marines’ off-duty accidents.

That’s the most negative thing that we’re dealing with right now, dealing with that. It’s a shame when you have a Marine who goes to combat, does three tours, comes back safe and gets killed on a motorcycle. That’s a negative trend.

MCT: You can’t tell them not to buy motorcycles, though, or can you?

No, we can’t. But we can give them the tools to ride that motorcycle prior to them jumping on that motorcycle. We can’t stop them from riding them.

Another thing is the dwell time, and we already talked about that. That’s a negative.

We need to get them more dwell time at home. We actually owe them that. Marines are never mad, as far as going to combat, because that’s what they came in the Marine Corps to do. But we have to make sure that we give them time to regroup, and that’s the key right there, to spend quality time with their families.

You know, we have a really compassionate commandant. He really cares for the Marines and their families, and I’m not just saying that because I’m the sergeant major of the Marine Corps. Any Marine who ever came into contact with the commandant, it’s positive. From that private all the way up to another four-star general, and that’s the kind of leadership we have throughout our Marine Corps.

If I sit here and say that we have all positive leadership in the Marine Corps, I would be lying to you. But I would tell you that it’s a small percentage of negative leadership in the Marine Corps, and when we find that negative leadership, we weed it out. I can guarantee you that.

That’s why we’re so proud of the Marines and the leadership in the Marine Corps, because of their focus on taking care of that Marine. I’ve never heard a leader say, “I’m not going to take care of an issue.” If it’s an issue, they are engaging.

DISCUSS: The interview