The Embodied Rhetoric of Recruit Training in the United States Marine Corps

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The Embodied Rhetoric of Recruit Training in the United States Marine Corps BOWMAN, RACHEL LYNNE, Ph.D. The Embodied Rhetoric of Recruit Training in the United States Marine Corps. (2015) Directed by Dr. Stephen R. Yarbrough. 236 pp. In order to win wars, the United States Marine Corps must perform the highly difficult task of training recruits to kill when and whom they should in combat. This training is not primarily a matter of skills, but a matter of promoting an attitude that will facilitate strategic—not indiscriminate—killing. In shaping recruits, the Corps must not strip their agency away entirely, since they need Marines who can think clearly and quickly in the fog of combat, but they must mitigate those parts of recruits’ agency that would keep them from killing when and whom they should. Using rhetoric that falls between coercion and suggestion, therefore, they persuade recruits to become part of the body of the Marine Corps and to take on a Marine ethos that is neither too aggressive nor too restrained. Through critiques of such concepts as bodily persuasion, agency, understandings of cause and effect, and the rhetorical situation, my analysis uses complexity theory and neuroscience along with rhetorical scholarship to explain how the Corps uses knowledge of recruits’ physical perceptual systems to persuade them to adopt the Marine ethos. THE EMBODIED RHETORIC OF RECRUIT TRAINING IN THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS by Rachel Lynne Bowman A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 2015 Approved by ________________________ Committee Chair To my parents, without whose help I could not have finished my degree, and to Khadar, with whom I now begin a new phase of life. ii APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation written by Rachel Lynne Bowman has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair Committee Members ____________________________ Date of Acceptance by Committee _________________________ Date of Final Oral Examination iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Stephen Yarbrough for his insights and inspiration, from the beginning of my Master’s degree to the end of the dissertation: he opened up a new field of possibilities for the kinds of knowledge about communication and persuasion scholars can create. I would also like to thank Dr. Risa Applegarth for her intelligent, generative contributions to the writing process and her always-excellent conversation; Dr. Jennifer Keith for her continuing friendship, genuine interest, and elegant ideas; and Dr. Jennifer Feather for her smart, focused feedback regarding both ideas and writing. And I would like to thank all my committee members for their enthusiasm and encouragement throughout the process. I’d like to thank my dear friend and writing partner Sally Smits Masten for her unfailing encouragement and her astute, intuitive help throughout the research and writing of this project. I would also like to thank UNCG's Graduate School for funding my trip to the recruit training depot at Parris Island, and of course all the Marines at Parris Island and elsewhere who took the time to answer questions and offer their insights on the training process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: AGGRESSION, RESTRAINT, AND THE RHETORIC OF TRAINING ...........................................................................1 The Problem and the Solution; or, How to Persuade Marines to Walk a Line .......................................................................................1 Coercion, Brainwashing, and Agency ......................................................12 Embodied Rhetoric ...................................................................................17 The Project’s Contributions to Rhetoric ...................................................19 Outline of the Chapters .............................................................................25 Chapter II: Theory and Core of the Argument ...............................25 Chapters III-V: Loaded Actions .....................................................26 Conclusion .....................................................................................31 II. THE RHETORICAL SITUATION, THE RHETOR, AND THE AUDIENCE IN MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING ........................34 Sensation, Meaning, Intention, and Perception ........................................42 Consciousness and Agency ......................................................................58 Agents in a Rhetorical Situation ...............................................................65 Conclusion ................................................................................................76 III. THE YELLOW FOOTPRINTS .........................................................................78 Mitigation of Agency through Disorientation and Verbal Abuse ............81 Expression of Agency through Reflection and Resolve ...........................94 Drill Discipline and Uniformity .............................................................102 Conclusion ..............................................................................................110 IV. SPARRING AND THE M16 ...........................................................................112 Stoking the Fire ........................................................................................116 Urgency ........................................................................................117 The Experience and the Performance of Anger ...........................120 Positive Motivation: Excitement, Fun, and Glory .......................132 Refining and Channeling .........................................................................140 Rifle Values .................................................................................141 v Decision Making and MCMAP ...................................................148 Caveat: On the Effectiveness of the Training ..........................................156 Conclusion ...............................................................................................158 V. THE CRUCIBLE .............................................................................................160 Horizontal Cohesion: What, Why, and How ...........................................163 Core Values: Honor, Courage, Commitment ...........................................176 Honor ...........................................................................................179 Courage ........................................................................................184 Commitment ................................................................................187 Conclusion ...............................................................................................194 VI. CONCLUSION: WHAT WE KNOW NOW AND WHERE TO GO NEXT ...................................................................................................196 Pulling Theory and Analysis Together ....................................................196 Usefulness in the Field of Rhetoric and Where to go from Here .............202 Applications for the Marine Corps: Embodied Transition Training ........206 The Yellow Footprints .................................................................214 Sparring and the M16 ...................................................................215 The Crucible .................................................................................216 Conclusion ...............................................................................................219 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................221 vi LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. New Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, Run under the “We Make Marines” Sign during a Traditional Motivational Run through the Streets of Parris Island, S.C., on Aug 15, 2013. .................................................................................................34 Figure 2. A Unidirectional Bridge between Two Complex Systems. ................................41 Figure 3. Haloed Cluster ....................................................................................................52 Figure 4. Staff Sgt. Lindsey Gonzalez, Marine Corps Drill Instructor with Papa Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C, July 10, 2013. .........................................................56 Figure 5. Yellow Footprints on which New Recruits Stand at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island. ..........................................................................78 Figure 6. Suggested Foot to Give Marching Commands On. ..........................................104 Figure 7. Bumper Sticker Reading “Deadliest Weapon in the World, A Marine and his Rifle.” .....................................................................................................138 Figure 8. A Well-used “Mickey Mouse Towel” Outlining All the Parts of an M16A2 Rifle. ...............................................................................................142 Figure 9. Counter to Pistol: Front. ...................................................................................154 Figure 10.
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