MCRD PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- When Maj. Gen. (select) Paul E. Lefebvre, commanding general, MCRD Parris Island/Eastern Recruiting Region, leaves the Depot today, he leaves behind a legacy that will affect the Depot for years to come.
He has commanded Parris Island for the past two years, and his changes can be seen everywhere, from newly-graduating Marines, to the permanent personnel and even the buildings on base.
In addition to his duties as commanding general of Parris Island, Lefebvre is also responsible for all the recruiting done along the Eastern half of the United States. He is in a unique position to see the entire evolution of a civilian to a Marine. Using the knowledge gained from such a distinctive position, Lefebvre was able to make a few changes around the Depot to help that development along.
Along with sweeping modifications to the recruit training process additions to the base infrastructure and regulations for support personnel, he also reached out to the Lowcountry community that has supported Marines and sailors through the years.
Of course, his main focus here was in the making of the basically-trained Marine. That focus led the general to review the training procedures in order to find the heart of what makes Marines so unique.
He started looking at the process as it was and decided the main ingredient of creating Marines was not physical, or even mental. The largest part, he said, is the moral character they possess.
His main question then became, how can one quantify the morals of a Marine?
“It’s very hard to measure that,” Lefebvre said. “The whole espirit de corps piece, the cohesion piece, the dedication to your brother or sister Marine, the ability under pressure to embrace the ‘we’ and not the ‘me.’”
Doing the right thing
Though tough to measure, those components are essential when it comes to how Marines make decisions in pressure situations, he said. Those situations are all but guaranteed for every Marine coming out of boot camp, he added.
“From my earlier experiences in the war, it was clear that the ethical decision making was critical to how we do business,” he said. “The whole notion of the ethical decision making piece of it and the core values as the bedrock of what we were doing were not as pronounced as it could be.
“In the complex, chaotic environment that we’re in, we were going to have to make some changes,” he said.
Understanding that, Lefebvre began his values-based training initiative at the source of how core values are taught to recruits – the drill instructors.
“Doing the right things has to do with how the individual drill instructor embraces and teaches core values,” he said.
Drill instructors are tasked with developing recruits’ moral foundations. In some cases, they build that foundation from scratch.
Though the burden of responsibility falls on the shoulders of the drill instructors, Lefebvre said they are more than capable of handling the pressure.
He called the drill instructors a “gift to the Marine Corps,” and said he is proud of the commitment they show every single day. Wearing that campaign cover requires sacrifices of immense proportions, he said. What they do and how they do it can mean saving the lives of the Marines they train.
“The war is going to require us to be experts at this and truly understand it and the basic Marine,” he added. “Because, they’re going to be tested in combat.”
Growing the force
The general’s multiple command tours have given him a unique perspective on the need for combat readiness in all aspects of a Marine’s career. His perspective as commanding general of ERR helped him guide decisions in other areas as well.
Lefebvre was able to see the entire recruiting process from a very unique position as both the commanding general of a recruit depot and the Eastern Recruiting Region. His responsibilities covered the recruiting surge necessitated by the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ mandate to increase the Marine Corps to 202,000 troops by year 2011.
According to him, the challenge of meeting that goal was met by the recruiters with determination and a warrior’s spirit.
“We have three districts performing at unprecedented levels,” Lefebvre said. “It’s about an offensive spirit and an attack mode in recruiting.”
That commitment to going above and beyond the call of duty led to impressive results, he explained. Recently, Department of Defense officials revealed they wouldn’t just complete the mission of growing the Corps. They said they would get it done early.
“When the Marine Corps says we’re going to do something, we do it,” he said. “Instead of 2011, now we’re going to be at 202,000 in 2009. That shouldn’t surprise anybody.”
He gives the credit for hitting the mark early to the recruiters and their tireless efforts, as well as those officers in charge of the recruiters.
“When you’ve got people who don’t confuse effort with results and you get it done early…great things happen,” he said. “That’s leadership. When the Secretary of Defense says the Marines are at 202K early, that’s why.”
The most important aspect of meeting the commandant’s mission two years early is the simple fact that the Corps accomplished it’s goal without lowering admission standards, Lefebvre said.
The commanding general said Marine standards are the greatest tool recruiters have at their disposal for adding future recruits.
“Our standards resonate in a lot of ways,” Lefebvre said. “It resonates with the recruit because he wants to be in a place where the standards are high.”
He said it also resonates with young men and women looking for something to challenge their personal standards. The will to challenge, fight and overcome obstacles is important for recruits to have, he added.
“A kid knows if he wants to play in the major leagues, he comes to us.”
Some of the people looking for standards are doing so because of their own limitations. Those men and women should still be afforded the change to become part of the Corps, Lefebvre stressed.
Those men and women who become Marines have all started as part of a community, whether near or far. They may have come from different backgrounds, faced exceptional challenges and dealt with issues many young men and women do not face, he said. The men and women that rise above those challenges have shown they deserve a chance to become Marines.
“In some situations, a guy or gal may not have had the same opportunities,” he pointed out. “But he’s got a core values-heart the size of Texas. How could you not want that kid in your Marine Corps?”
Some of the Marines serving today were once members of a local community outside the base gates. Outside the gates of Parris Island, there is a community unlike any other, Lefebvre said. That community, Lefebvre said, has been a gift to the Depot.
Our neighbors, our support
“If you look upon this place, in the Lowcountry, Parris Island holds a special place in the hearts of the people here,” he said.
“They’re proud of us, and they’re also very supportive of what we do.”
He pointed out the hundreds of volunteers from the Lowcountry area who help out the Depot every year, as well as the partnership that occures in times of emergencies, as examples of community support.
“There is a teaming that goes on between us that’s pretty important,” he said. “We’re proud of that. Very proud.”
“My wife and I have felt very much at home during the two years we’ve been here,” he added. “We’ll be very sorry to leave.”
Lefebvre has served in the Marine Corps most of his life. Throughout his service of 30 years, he’s seen the world through the eyes of a lifelong Marine. Those eyes, he said, weren’t necessarily enthused to see Parris Island … at first.
“To be truthful, I came from an operational command, and I wasn’t very excited to come here,” he said. “I underestimated the difficulty, the intensity and the special aspects of what we do here.
“All you have to be is be here one day, to watch graduation, to watch drill instructors or skill instructors operate, and you can’t help but…to embrace this whole thing.”
Lefebvre left his mark on the Depot in ways that will be felt throughout the entire Marine Corps for years. The Marines leaving Parris Island have all benefited from the initiatives he undertook to ensure they received the best training possible. That training will serve them well in the Fleet Marine Forces, a fleet to which Lefebvre now returns.
“I’m going back to the operational forces. I’m going to Iraq for a year,” he said. “I’m better off for having been here.”
Second-oldest post in the Corps
The men and women who have served here throughout the years each have their own memories of how Parris Island looked and felt. Throughout the years, the Depot has had many cosmetic changes, though Lefebvre stressed those changes have not affected the core for which Parris Island stands.
“Twenty years down the road, it’s going to be the same,” he said. “We make Marines, and that won’t change.
“We are the second oldest post in the Corps…the operative word there is oldest,” he pointed out.
“We have to maintain what we have, and we have to think for the future.”
The general said he improved the inspection processes across the Depot, planning farther ahead into the needs of the Depot than ever before. He said the base will look significantly different for visitors returning to the base in the future.
“Our visitors center is too small for the number of people we have coming here,” he said. “We need to expand the size of that, and we’re going to do that next year.”
In addition to the changes to the visitor’s center, there will be a new Tradition’s as well as a refurbishing of the original building. The new Marine Corps Exchange will be open for business later this year, he said, and there will be a new main gate at some point down the road.
The base has changed over the years, and will continue to do so to meet the needs of the future. The one thing that will never change, Lefebvre said, are the Marines that serve here. The changes that will come to the physical structure of Parris Island will not affect the Corps, because what the Depot stands for can’t be measures in brick and mortar, he said.
“It’s in the heart of the Marine.”
Pride is more powerful than fear
The mission of Parris Island will continue on with Brig. Gen. James B. Laster, Lefebvre’s successor. Training the next generation of recruits is often overlooked by the rest of the service, he said. But the legacy of what Marines do here is vital to the continuing success for which the Corps stands.
“Nobody ought to forget the importance of what we do for the Corps and for the nation,” he added.
Lefebvre realized that importance is borne on the shoulders of the drill instructors, skill instructors, support personnel and the recruiters under his command. As he closes out his tour at Parris Island, the general feels he has served side-by-side, and not above, the Marines here. He said the pride he felt at being here is mirrored by the excellent job the permanent personnel has done in securing the future of the Marine Corps.
“I want to tell them how proud I am to have served with them,” he said.
“There are some debts you can repay and some that you can’t. To the families that support those Marines…I can’t repay what they do. I’m thankful for it,” Lefebvre added.