Uncommon Men

This book fills a void in the literature of Marine Corps leadership. Supplying the biographies of the first eleven men to hold the proud title of Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Uncommon Men offers new insights into the senior command levels of the United States' fighting elite. This book portrays not only the lives of those pioneers, but also gives us a social history of the Corps since 1942 as only a Marine could tell it. Using interviews and personal comments, official documents, and family photographs and correspondence, among other sources, the author, retired Marine Corps Captain John C. Chapin, has tapped resources not available to the traditional historian. His stories include accounts of these men's participation in battles from the World War II island campaigns through the responsibilities the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps met in the recent war in the Persian Gulf. But peace time challenges have also tested the skills of the noncommissioned officer often called "The Enlisted Man's General". Reductions in size and other peace time economies only added to the problems those enlisted leaders had to face and help solve. Drugs, social experimentation that threatened the Marines' high standards, low morale and discipline problems, and the ever-present need to supervise the Corps' recruit training, are all issues which Chapin addresses. The Sergeants Major of the Corps come from all parts of the country. Chapin reminds us of their humanity, their families and off-duty friendships and hobbies, and how they rose through the ranks.