Accused drill sergeant only doing job, lawyer says

SAN DIEGO – A Marine Corps drill instructor being court-martialed on suspicion of abusing recruits was doing his job by toughening them up for war, his defense lawyers said Tuesday.

Lawyers for Sgt. Jerrod M. Glass said other drill instructors accused of abusing recruits told Glass that recruits needed to be prepared for combat, even if getting them ready meant violating military policies.

“His job was not to be nice, but to instill discipline and toughness,” defense attorney Capt. Patrick J. Callahan told the jury in his opening statements. “Why are we here? The other three drill instructors. They felt the platoon would not be prepared for combat, which in today’s Marine Corps is not some fanciful idea but a daily reality.”

Prosecutors disputed Callahan’s account, telling jurors that Glass, once a star student, abused an entire 40-member platoon during training last winter, from dumping water canteens over their heads and destroying their hygiene kits to hitting recruits with flashlights and tent poles.

“He continued to torment and bully the recruits of that platoon for two months, not just one or two recruits, but nearly every member,” said Capt. Christian Pappas, a military prosecutor, who listed injuries suffered by recruits from black eyes to bruises and bloody scalps.

Glass, 25, pleaded not guilty earlier in the day to charges of abuse and violating lawful orders after prosecutors consolidated the 225 counts he initially faced into just 10.

Glass is being tried on two counts of assault, two counts of failure to obey a lawful order, two counts of cruelty and maltreatment, and four counts of destruction of personal property, covering 110 incidents that allegedly occurred between Dec. 23 and Feb. 10.

He faces as many as 11 years’ confinement, dishonorable discharge, reduction in rank, and forfeiture of pay and benefits if he is found guilty. The case will be judged by a jury of three enlisted Marines and three officers.

Glass faced as many as 269 years’ confinement on the original charges. According to a Marine Corps statement, the counts were consolidated in “the interest of judicial economy.”

More than 70 witnesses are scheduled to be called in the case, which is expected to last about two weeks.

Glass is one of three drill instructors charged in the case at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot near downtown San Diego. Two other drill instructors – Sgt. Robert C. Hankins and Sgt. Brian M. Wendel – have pleaded not guilty to related abuse charges. A fourth drill instructor, whose name was not released, was disciplined and reassigned to administrative duties.

Marine prosecutors say they veered from their roles as rigid disciplinarians tasked with breaking down recruits before building them back up into troops prepared for the rigors of war.

Glass is accused of ordering a recruit to jump headfirst into a trash can, then pushing him farther into the container. He is also accused of striking recruits with a tent pole and a heavy flashlight. None of the recruits was seriously injured.

Glass, who volunteered for two tours in Iraq, had worked as a drill sergeant for less than a year when the suspected mistreatment occurred. He was relieved of duty as a drill instructor in February.

He joined the Marines in October 2001 and trained as a handler for drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs with the military police.