One hundred and fifty-two Marines died in fiscal 2016. The causes ranged from motorcycle crashes to a mid-air collision between two CH-53 helicopters that was among the deadliest Marine aviation accidents in years.
That toll has prompted Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller to suspend operations at all non-deployed units for a day of training that focuses on how to prevent Marines from getting hurt and killed.
"We are losing too many Marines to avoidable death and injury," Neller wrote in ALMAR 037/16 released Tuesday.
While the great majority of Marines are doing an outstanding job, "in our pre-deployment training and garrison activities, we are falling short," Neller wrote in the Corps-wide message.
Photo Credit: Capt. Justin Jacobs/Marine Corps
"We have a culture of combat excellence, but we have to guard against complacency and a lack of focus at home station," he wrote. "When we lose a Marine, you are the ones who feel it most -- they are your friends; they are your roommates in the barracks; you know their parents and loved ones. I need your help. The strength of our Corps is in our small unit leaders. Problems get solved by NCOs, SNCOs, and company grade officers."
Neller is ordering non-deployed Marines to take a one-day pause to "reflect, discuss, learn, and get better before they have problems that are beyond their control," he wrote.
Active-duty Marines have until Dec. 1 and reserve component Marines have until mid-February to take the pause, said Lt. Col. Eric Dent, a spokesman for Neller.
Of the 152 Marines who died in fiscal 2016, one was killed in combat and the rest died from accidents, illness, suicides and other causes, Dent said.
In one particularly deadly accident, two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters collided off Hawaii on Jan. 14, killing all 12 Marines on board.
While the number of deaths due to accidents and suicides has remained consistent in recent years, Neller believes "if there is one, it's too many," Dent said.
"It's not really about: Is it higher or lower," Dent said. "It's that there are Marines getting hurt, Marines getting killed in training. Are we managing risk in an appropriate way?"
Neller has spoken strongly about the need for the Marine Corps to do everything in the service's power to prevent suicides. So far this calendar year, 34 active-duty Marines have taken their own lives, compared with 39 in all of 2015 and 35 in 2014, Dent said.
During the daylong pause, Marines can talk about case studies of suicides to learn when a unit should intervene, Dent said. Headquarters Marine Corps has also provided 16 training scenarios for units, ranging from leadership at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War, to resiliency and combating alcohol abuse, he said.
Neller is also concerned that hazing still exists in the Marine Corps, Dent said.
A command investigation into the March 18 death of recruit Raheel Siddiqui at the service's East Coast training depot at Parris Island, South Carolina, uncovered allegations of widespread abuse and hazing.
Up to 20 Marines at Parris Island could be charged or face administrative punishment for allegations that they abused Siddiqui and others.
"Gen. Neller has mentioned the manner in which we join Marines to units as one of the important times for us to demonstrate professionalism," Dent said. "If you are coming into a new unit, you should be welcomed as a vital member of the team from day one.
"There's no initiation, no additional 'try out' or test. If you are sent to a unit, you are in. You earned the title 'Marine' and if there are specific standards needed to be assigned to a unit or billet and you've met them, you are in. End of discussion."
The pause will also provide a chance for small unit leaders to talk to Marines about how they can improve at their jobs, Dent said.
"It's not just about deaths," he said. "It's about operational excellence: How can we get better at doing the things that we do across the board."
Neller has stressed that the Marine Corps must continue to strive to get better or it will be surpassed by its enemies, Dent said.
"We can't be content," Dent said. "We have to keep working to get better, and it's in every area."
