PI038: Book Review – Larry Smith’s ‘The Few And The Proud’ Looks At USMC Training And How Marines Of Old Stack Up With Modern Marines

This post contains affiliate links.   ParrisIsland.com is an Amazon Affiliate and we will earn a small commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase items through these links.

It is easy to see why The Few and the Proud: Marine Corps Drill Instructors in Their Own Words by Larry Smith is a New York Times Bestseller. The introduction is packed with facts about the Marine Corps Recruit Depots on Parris Island and San Diego and answers questions such as how the areas came to belong to the Marine Corps; what were the areas before; and who the Depots were named after. The author also includes information on how the Marines became known as Devil Dogs and what year women and men began to have equal training.

The book is broken down into sections starting with one called the “Old Breed,”  “Rough and tough and ready” Marines.  These men belong to the generation of Marines who fought in WWII, Vietnam and Korea. Today Marines must have a high school diploma or GED but one interviewee recounts how he almost dropped out of high school to join the Marines so he could help his family during the depression. The descriptions of life as a Marine are colorful, and a lot of the men describe war stories in gruesome detail. I would not recommend this book to anyone who might take offense to explicit language and vivid descriptions. These Marines are not hiding any of their feelings, comments, or thoughts about certain matters (like war) and they shouldn’t have to.

Throughout the stories, Smith includes information about Marine Corps Recruit Training including the phases of training, The Crucible, and Cadence. This gives a nice break between interviews and provides more background information on what goes on during training.

This book is not just about being a Drill Instructor or about recruit training. It’s much more and the title does not fully describe the contents. Smith states in his introduction that “The question in my mind, in setting out to explore recruit training, was this: How do today’s Marines stack up?” This book goes about answering Smith’s question, how do Marines today compare with Marines of old? The stories are told by Marines, most of whom were at one point in their career Drill instructors, but that makes up only a small portion of their Marine experience.

I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about the Marine Corps. Civilians will appreciate what goes into the making of a Marine; retired and active duty Marines will enjoy reading about the Old Breed. I already recommended it to my dad. There are a lot of interesting facts and stories and while it’s a little hard to get into at certain points, (it’s not going to keep you on the edge of your seat in anticipation), it is overall a very well done and interesting read.

Living in Beaufort enhanced my reading experience. I recognized many of the places the men talked about and I even met one of the Marines Smith interviewed. However the book is harsh, it talks of war, mistreatment of recruits, and the unfairness of being a woman in the Corps. These are facts that do not shock or offend me but I would not recommend this book to someone who might be horrified by what happened in the past.

This book gives an insight into a culture and life that one must live through to fully understand. Gene Alvarez says it best in his interview with Larry Smith; “Times have changed and civilians could never understand the psychology of Marine recruit training…”

The Few and the Proud: Marine Corps Drill Instructors in Their Own Words
By Larry Smith, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 332 pp.

Visit the resource page for gift ideas.