The Marine Corps not only maintains its standard of excellence from one generation to the next, it magnifies it. The Marine Corps improves, because continuous improvement is a cornerstone of its ethos, and because Marines do not believe that perfection can be achieved. There is always room for improvement.

Every Marine has opinions on how the Marine Corps can be improved (just ask one). I’m no different. Recently, along with my parents, I paid a visit to a retired Marine colonel my dad served with some years ago. I listened intently as my dad and the colonel swapped sea stories — some of which I’ve been told are true — and we talked about the Marine Corps in general, including policy.

Having been enlisted myself, and convinced of the worthiness of the enlisted experience, I submitted that it might be a good idea to require officers to spend time as enlisted Marines before becoming officers. It would make the Marine Corps more meritocratic, I argued, and it would give every officer a deeper appreciation for the quality and potential of the enlisted ranks. The colonel disagreed, which surprised me since he had risen from the enlisted ranks himself. His reasoning made me reconsider my position. He gave three reasons for why we should not require enlisted service of officers:

1. Having a commissioned officer corps, recruited and trained in its current form, ensures civilian control of the military. This, the colonel surmised, has helped protect our democracy from an over militarized force that could pose a threat to the government. There are no coups in America.

2. Some intellectual people, who have the means and desire go to college out of high school, would not be interested in serving in the enlisted ranks. And, as the colonel pointed out, the Marine Corps needs these people.

3. Officer programs are available to enlisted Marines. While many Marines could not afford college before entering the Marines, those barriers no longer exist once the Marine is in active service. In this way the Marine Corps is already meritocratic. The programs are available for any Marine willing to put forth the effort regardless of previous socioeconomic status. Most of us who never served in the officer ranks just have to come to terms with the fact that we simply did not meet the requirements — not that we could not have, or that the path was closed to us — just that we didn’t.

Since we do the artwork for their platoon T-shirts, I have the honor of meeting a representative from every platoon going through OCS. My observation of OCS versus my own experience as a recruit at Parris Island is this: If you are enlisting in the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps is willing to make a substantial effort to develop you into a Marine — to shape you, and to mold you. At OCS you have to show up fitting the mold. Some fit the mold because of their upbringing or tenacity; some fit the mold because they were developed as enlisted Marines. All ways are valid as long as the high standards of becoming an officer are met.

My advice, then, for anyone who wants to be an officer of Marines is straightforward: Mold yourself into officer material. There is no reason why you can’t.

In the spirit of the post, below is one of the first designs we’re working on for Officer Candidates School: