How Many Candidates are at Medical?

One of the ways they evaluate candidates at OCS is by giving the candidates 'billets', or putting them in charge of other candidates for a short amount of time to see if they can handle the responsibility. In your candidate regulations, they give you a list of expectations for the duration of your billet, and one of the items on this list is to always know the whereabouts of everyone you are responsible for. This was called 'having accountability', and it was a somewhat different concept than how I was accustomed to using the word in the civilian world.

When I first read this, I thought they had to be kidding. How in the world are you supposed to keep track of everybody you are in charge of every single moment of the day, especially given the chaos of Officer Candidate School? Candidates running here and there, Sergeant Instructors yelling at you if you looked sideways--how could you remember a list of forty or fifty names and locations and be able to recall any one of them at a moment's notice, if you were asked? It didn't seem like a do-able task.

Of course, I wasn't the only candidate that didn't get it, and the instructors knew this. Most of the time if a candidate didn't have proper accountability they would get a pleasant explanation about how a lapse of accountability was about the worst thing that could possibly happen. It could get Marines killed, given a chance you would probably repeat this mistake and get Marines killed, and they were just itching for a chance to send you home before such a thing happened. Now, you could easily get this same lecture about any number of minor mistakes (Your boots are dirty? Canteens not labeled properly? Horrors! You're going to get Marines killed some day!), so I tended to take all such lectures with a grain of salt.*

Well. Some time around the fourth week of OCS I was given the billet of Candidate Platoon Guide. This meant that I assisted the Candidate Platoon Sergeant in running the platoon, but that I was not directly responsible to an instructor for anything. The Candidate Platoon Sergeant was the one primarily responsible for having accountability of the platoon. They were the candidate responsible for keeping track of all 40 or 50 candidates in the platoon and being able to cough up the whereabouts of any given candidate at any given time. (Yes, they wrote it down. Checking your notes was permitted when you were asked where someone was.)

My first day in the billet, when the candidates were standing in line for lunch, the Candidate Platoon Sergeant and I were standing outside the formation discussing platoon business. Or maybe we were just talking and waiting for lunch--I don't remember--but as billet holders we were allowed to stand outside formation and hold quiet discussions. As we were standing there, one of our Sergeant Instructors walked up and asked the Candidate Platoon Sergeant how many candidates from our platoon were at medical. She obviously knew that the Candidate Platoon Sergeant wouldn't know the answer, because she held up nine fingers as she waited for the answer. The Candidate Platoon Sergeant must not have seen the hint, because she answered, "Ten, Gunnery Sergeant." Our Sergeant Instructor wiggled her fingers and asked again.

As I stood there waiting for the Candidate Platoon Sergeant to catch on, I finally got it. I realized that during what had seemed like perfect chaos to me for the past four weeks, our Sergeant Instructor knew exactly where every candidate was at all times. And she wasn't the only one--our other Sergeant Instructors knew exactly where every candidate was as well. Even our Platoon Commander would be able to give an accounting for any candidate at any given moment, although I suspected she would ask a Sergeant Instructor. (That's how the system works.) I also decided that if they could have perfect accountability, then I could, too, and I decided that once I was given an evaluated billet, I would have perfect accountability.

The Candidate Platoon Sergeant caught on, and answered again: "Nine, Gunnery Sergeant." Our Sergeant Instructor said, "Very well", and went into the chow hall. No yelling, no theatrics, just "very well" and went inside. I wasn't the target of that teachable moment, but I learned more from that short conversation than I did from any other period of instruction at OCS.

I did have a lapse of accountability when I had my billet as Candidate Platoon Commander a week later. I had just been chewed out by our Platoon Sergeant, I was distracted, and I failed to notice that two Marines hadn't come to evening chow with us. Then I reported incorrect numbers to our Platoon Commander. You can bet I gleaned some more learning from that mistake.

Accountability is one of the most important concepts in the Marine Corps--accountability for your Marines, for your gear, for everything. And this is one case where our Sergeant Instructors weren't exaggerating even a tiny bit. If you fail to have accountability and leave a Marine on the battlefield or even outside the wire, you will likely be writing a letter to that Marine's parents or spouse. It was a concept that I was completely unfamiliar with as a civilian, but is absolutely crucial for Marines.

In just over one short week, I will be accountable for 41 Marines. This responsibility weighs on me more heavily than any other I've had in my life. I know I've been given the tools to successfully lead my Marines--now it's time to put them to use.



*Please note that I'm not trying to comment on the methods used to train and evaluate candidates. It's the instructors' jobs to create chaos and stress for the candidates, it's an important job, and they do it very well. (Very well.) I'm simply trying to give you an idea of what it's like at OCS.