Infantry Unit Leader

This MOS does not start here. If you are reading the 0369 entry at Pvt-LCpl, you are looking at the background of a MOS that was built for senior infantry leaders, not junior ones.

The 0369 Infantry Unit Leader MOS is a lateral-move and reclassification designator, not a starting MOS for junior enlisted Marines. A Pvt or LCpl does not hold 0369 as their primary occupational specialty through a normal accession pipeline. If a Marine at this pay grade carries the 0369 designator, it is almost certainly the result of an administrative action, a record-keeping transition, or an edge case in the reclassification system — not a career path that starts at boot camp and runs through ITB. The real career in this MOS starts at SSgt or above, when a Marine with 10-15 years of 0311, 0331, 0341, 0351, or 0352 experience makes the deliberate decision to move into the senior infantry leadership track through the channels MCO 1300.8 describes. What follows at this tier is context: the background that a Marine who eventually holds 0369 was building before the lateral move happened.

• 01Build the 03xx infantry skill foundation that 0369 will later be built on — 0311, 0331, 0341, 0351, or 0352 competency drilled to expert level before the senior leadership lateral move is relevant.
• 02Understand that the Infantry Unit Leader designator is an earned credential for senior NCOs, not a junior starting point — and read the SSgt and above tiers to understand the career this MOS is actually describing.
• 03Maintain the physical and professional standards that keep the path to a senior infantry leadership billet open — PFT, CFT, MCMAP progression, clean conduct record.
• 04Complete the junior enlisted infantry prerequisite training that future reclassification will require as a baseline: Corporals Course, weapons qualifications, T&R event currency per NAVMC 3500.44.

• —MCO 1300.8 — Marine Corps Lateral Move and Reclassification policy: the controlling document for how a senior Marine moves into the 0369 designator from their source 03xx MOS.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R Manual: the training standard that defines competency in the 03xx field the 0369 Marine is expected to have mastered before the reclassification.
• —NAVMC 1200.1 — Military Occupational Specialties Manual: the authoritative MOS description for 0369, including grade range and prerequisite conditions.
• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: promotion mechanics and composite score construction for the 03xx path a Marine builds toward the 0369 reclassification.

• —0369 is not a junior-enlisted starting MOS — if you are at Pvt-LCpl, you are in the source MOS (0311/0331/0341/0351/0352) building the foundation that makes a senior leadership reclassification possible later.
• —Expert rifle qualification, 1st-Class PFT and CFT, and MCMAP Green Belt are the baseline standards that will be assumed as prerequisites when a lateral move to 0369 is eventually considered.
• —No adverse conduct, financial, or legal flags on the record — the reclassification board that reviews a senior NCO's 0369 package reads the entire career and a page-11 entry from the junior years does not disappear.

• —Treating 0369 as a title or identity rather than a functional reclassification for senior NCOs — the Marine who introduces themselves as "an 0369" at LCpl is describing a MOS that does not apply to them and signaling unfamiliarity with how the system works.
• —Ignoring the source-MOS work at the junior level because the goal is a senior billet. The 0369 Marine at SSgt is only as credible as the 0311/0331/0341 career they built before the reclassification, and gaps in the foundation are visible.

There is no representative junior enlisted 0369 career because junior enlisted Marines do not hold 0369 as a functioning primary MOS. The Marine who will eventually earn this designator is building a 0311, 0331, 0341, 0351, or 0352 career right now — probably at a rifle company somewhere at Lejeune, Pendleton, or Okinawa — doing the work that makes a senior infantry leader worth reclassifying.

Still not the typical 0369 story. A Cpl in the infantry 03xx field is building the foundation that 0369 is eventually built on — not holding the senior leadership designator itself.

The 0369 MOS is not assigned to Corporals as a starting or primary MOS through normal Marine Corps accession or career management. A Cpl carrying 0369 is an administrative edge case. The real substance of this MOS tier is the 0311/0331/0341/0351/0352 Cpl who is executing the fire team leader role — running PCCs and PCIs, briefing squad-level orders, writing proficiency and conduct marks, and building the infantry NCO credibility that a future 0369 senior leadership reclassification will rest on. The career the 0369 SNCO brings to a battalion operations sergeant billet was built entirely in the 03xx field at the Cpl and Sgt level, and the Cpl who coasted through the fire team leader tier shows up in the 0369 SNCO's professional resume whether they notice it or not.

• 01Execute the fire team leader role in the source 03xx MOS to the standard the squad leader can point to during the company's MCCRE evaluation.
• 02Brief a five-paragraph order from a terrain model, run a genuine PCC/PCI, and mentor the junior Marines under a Cpl's charge — the leadership credibility the 0369 SSgt will rely on was earned here.
• 03Build the composite score and Corporals Course completion that keeps the Sgt board path open — the 0369 reclassification requires the candidate to have successfully competed through the NCO pipeline first.
• 04Maintain the professional record that a senior leadership reclassification will require: qualified weapons, MCMAP currency, clean page-11, and a FitRep record the reporting senior can defend.

• —MCRP 3-10A.3 — Marine Rifle Squad: the doctrinal authority for the fire team leader billet the 0311 Cpl is executing before any reclassification is relevant.
• —MCO 1300.8 — lateral move and reclassification policy: the document that will eventually govern the move into 0369.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R Manual: Cpl-level collective tasks in the source 03xx MOS.
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: FitRep mechanics the Cpl is building their record against.

• —Corporals Course completed and composite score current for the Sgt board — the reclassification to 0369 at the senior level requires a demonstrated NCO pipeline completion.
• —Green Belt MCMAP minimum; 1st-Class PFT and CFT; Expert rifle qualification — the physical and technical floor that will be assumed as given when a senior infantry leader's 0369 package is reviewed.
• —0369 is not a Cpl-level MOS in practice; the meaningful career content at this tier belongs to the source MOS (0311/0331/0341/0351/0352) entry for the specific infantry subspecialty the Marine is actually executing.

• —Treating the future 0369 designation as a career shortcut or senior leadership bypass. The reclassification board reads the source-MOS NCO record, and a weak Cpl tier is a weak foundation for a senior leadership billet claim.
• —Neglecting the fire team leader work because the eventual goal is a staff billet. The battalion operations sergeant who cannot run a squad attack has a credibility gap that the regiment notices faster than the Marine does.

A Cpl who will eventually become an 0369 SNCO looks like a very good 0311/0331/0341 fire team leader — the one the squad leader trusts with the pointman slot, the one whose Cpls Course packet went in on time, and the one whose fire team has the squad's lowest MCCRE error rate. The 0369 story starts here; it just does not use that MOS designator yet.

The Sgt who will eventually hold 0369 is the one running the squad so well that the company gunny is already talking to the battalion SgtMaj about their SSgt profile. The designation does not come until SSgt; the credential is built here.

The 0369 designator is not the typical primary MOS for infantry Sgts — they are serving in 0311, 0331, 0341, 0351, or 0352 billets, running squads, writing FitReps on Cpls, and building the NCO leadership record that makes a senior leadership reclassification at SSgt plausible. A Sgt who carries 0369 as a primary MOS is in an administrative or transitional situation, not a standard career path. The real work at this tier is the squad leader billet in the source MOS: scheme of maneuver development, FitRep writing, mentoring Cpls, and building the professional profile that a battalion operations sergeant must have earned before being trusted with the billet. The 0369 SNCO at battalion level is credible because they ran squads well at Sgt — not because they held the designator early.

• 01Run a 12-13 Marine rifle squad (or crew-served or heavy weapons equivalent) to the standard the platoon sergeant can defend at the battalion MCCRE evaluation.
• 02Write FitReps on three Cpls per cycle that the reporting senior can sign without editing the Section A — observable leadership behavior, action-result-impact, honest relative value.
• 03Brief a squad scheme of maneuver in the platoon back-brief that the platoon commander does not have to rewrite — graphics, control measures, fire support, sustainment.
• 04Build the Sergeants Course completion, Brown Belt MCMAP, and composite score record that keeps the SSgt board path — and eventually the 0369 reclassification path — open.
• 05Mentor Cpls toward Corporals Course readiness and the fire team leader standard the company gunny is evaluating at the MCCRE.

• —MCRP 3-10A.3 — Marine Rifle Squad: the doctrinal authority for the squad leader billet the 0311/0331/0341 Sgt is executing.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R Manual: Sgt-level collective tasks and training standards in the source 03xx MOS.
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: FitRep policy at the Sgt level; you write FitReps on Cpls now.
• —MCO 1300.8 — lateral move and reclassification policy: the governing document for the eventual 0369 designator.
• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: SSgt board mechanics and composite score construction.

• —Sergeants Course completed; required for SSgt board eligibility and the gateway the 0369 reclassification will expect as a completed credential.
• —1st-Class PFT and CFT under MCO 6100.13; the infantry Sgt who is not physically at standard is not a competitive SSgt candidate, and the 0369 reclassification board reads the record including the physical scores.
• —Source-MOS FitRep relative value above battalion average in consecutive cycles — the 0369 career is only as strong as the infantry NCO career it is built on.
• —0369 is rarely the functioning primary MOS at Sgt level; the meaningful standards at this tier belong to the source MOS (0311/0331/0341/0351/0352) entry the Marine is actually executing.

• —Treating Sergeants Course and the SSgt board as administrative hurdles rather than the career gates that the 0369 reclassification will require already passed and documented.
• —Letting squad FitRep writing quality drift because "the platoon sergeant will fix it." The Section A that the platoon sergeant has to rewrite is the FitRep that the Sgt did not earn the right to submit.
• —Believing that strong individual technical skills in the source MOS substitute for the leadership record the 0369 senior infantry billet requires. The 0369 SNCO at battalion level was hired for what they built, not for what they could personally execute.

The Sgt who will earn the 0369 designator at SSgt is the squad leader the platoon sergeant uses for the most difficult lane in the MCCRE and the one whose Cpls go to Corporals Course ready to run fire teams without the Sgt in the room. The FitReps are written on time, the squad average PFT score is above the company average, and the company gunny has already mentioned the name to the battalion SgtMaj.

This is the MOS. The 0369 designator means you are the senior infantry NCO trusted with a staff or operations billet where your entire 03xx career history is the credential. Do not arrive here having coasted through anything.

The 0369 Infantry Unit Leader MOS is alive at SSgt. You reclassified from 0311, 0331, 0341, 0351, or 0352 — either through a lateral move per MCO 1300.8 or through a direct assignment to a senior infantry leadership billet that carries the 0369 designator — and you are now the senior infantry NCO in a battalion or regimental operations element, a staff section that requires deep 03xx expertise, or a senior leadership billet where your MOS history is the primary qualification. Day-to-day you advise the battalion S-3 or regimental operations officer on employment doctrine, training standards, and the infantry tactical problems the staff is solving at the planning table. You write the training input for the battalion's infantry T&R program, you review and critique the rifle company and weapons company training plans against NAVMC 3500.44, and you are the senior enlisted voice at the planning table who has actually done the thing that the officer is about to order. You are also building your Career Course packet and managing the GySgt board profile — because in a small, senior-heavy MOS, the FitRep pool is narrow and the competition for the next tier is visible.

• 01Advise the battalion S-3 or regimental operations officer on infantry employment doctrine — scheme of maneuver, crew-served integration, fire support, and the tactical limitations the doctrine does not fully describe — based on direct experience, not manual recitation.
• 02Review battalion and company-level infantry training plans against NAVMC 3500.44 T&R standards and provide written feedback that improves the plan rather than just approving it.
• 03Write FitReps on two to three Sgts per cycle — SSgt FitReps in an operations billet must describe observable tactical and advisory outcomes, not just administrative performance.
• 04Lead an infantry planning effort at the battalion level — from mission analysis through back-brief — as the senior enlisted representative whose tactical input shapes the plan before the orders go out.
• 05Build the battalion's infantry subject-matter-expert resource base: current doctrinal references, T&R event calendar, pre-deployment training milestones, and the standards documents the rifle company SSgts call the 0369 billet to interpret.
• 06Mentor junior SSgts and Sgts from the line companies in the battalion tactical planning process — the infantry NCO who has been through the battalion COC is more valuable to the rifle company than the one who has only seen it from the squad.

• —MCRP 3-10A.3 — Marine Rifle Squad and MCRP 3-10A.4 — Marine Rifle Platoon: the ground-level doctrinal authorities your advisory function rests on.
• —MCRP 3-10A.5 / MCRP 3-10A.6 — Marine Rifle Company: the company-level operational framework you are advising at and reviewing training plans against.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R Manual: the training standard source document you use to review and critique battalion and company T&R programs.
• —MCO 1300.8 — Marine Corps lateral move and reclassification policy: the governing framework for your own 0369 designator.
• —MCWP 3-10 — MAGTF Ground Combat Operations: the higher-level operational framework that places the battalion's infantry employment in MAGTF context.
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: FitRep mechanics for the SSgt level; you write on Sgts now and the advisory performance descriptions require precision.

• —Career Course (SNCO Academy) enrolled or slated; required before competing for GySgt and the seat fills fast in a small senior-focused MOS.
• —Source MOS qualifications current: weapons qualifications, T&R event currency from the source 03xx MOS do not lapse just because the billet has changed to an operations seat.
• —1st-Class PFT and CFT under MCO 6100.13 — the battalion S-3 shops watch the senior infantry SNCO's physical scores the same way the line companies do.
• —FitRep relative value above battalion average in consecutive cycles; the 0369 MOS is a small, experienced pool and the GySgt board reads narrow comparison groups.
• —At least one full battalion-level training event planned and executed in an advisory or lead-planner role before competing for the GySgt board — the billet exists to produce advisory outcomes, not to manage paperwork.

• —Treating the operations billet as a retirement from the tactical work. The 0369 SSgt who has not run a squad in four years but is advising the S-3 on company-level employment has a credibility gap the rifle company SNCOs will notice within the first training cycle.
• —Reviewing training plans and approving them without critique because the company is busy and the battalion S-3 wants the calendar cleared. The 0369 billet exists to add value to the infantry training program; approval without critique is not value.
• —Writing FitRep Section A language that describes the Sgt's administrative work in the S-3 shop rather than the tactical advisory performance that the 0369 billet is supposed to produce. The GySgt board is reading 0369 FitReps for infantry expertise, not staff management.
• —Letting source MOS qualifications lapse because the current billet does not require range scheduling. The 0369 SNCO who cannot qualify Expert on the M4 is advising on a standard they are not holding themselves.
• —Missing the Career Course slot because the battalion is in a training deployment. The SNCO who is "too busy" to take the school slot that the billet requires for promotion is not managing their career; they are managing the immediate problem at the expense of the long-term one.

The good SSgt 0369 is the Marine the battalion S-3 brings to the planning session when the rifle company commanders are pushing back on a training event standard, because this NCO can cite the NAVMC 3500.44 task, describe what the standard looks like when it is actually met, and explain why the shortcut the company is requesting will show up as a gap at the MCCRE. The FitReps are on time, the source MOS qualifications are current, and the Career Course packet is in.

You are the senior infantry expert in the battalion or regimental operations element. The CO and the S-3 officer ask what the doctrine says — you tell them what the doctrine says and what the doctrine gets wrong.

You are the senior 0369 SNCO in a battalion or regimental operations section — the infantry operations chief, the senior enlisted advisor on ground combat doctrine and training, or the regimental SNCO whose job is to synchronize infantry T&R standards across multiple subordinate battalions. You advise the battalion commander, the regimental operations officer, and the S-3 on employment doctrine, training program design, and the infantry tactical problems that require a practitioner's input rather than a doctrine-reader's summary. You write FitReps on two to three SSgts per cycle in the operations element, you are accountable to the battalion SgtMaj for the quality of infantry training planning advice you provide, and you are beginning the 1stSgt / MSgt conversation — because the 0369 GySgt who has not made that decision explicitly before the board cycle is the one who arrives at the board having made the choice by default. You are also the senior SNCO the rifle company GySgts call when the S-3's training plan does not make sense tactically, and your credibility in that role is the direct product of whether you are still willing to put boots in the field to verify your advice.

• 01Build and defend the battalion infantry training program at the regimental review — T&R task coverage, event scheduling, resource bids, pre-deployment evaluation milestones — as the senior enlisted infantry expert in the battalion.
• 02Advise the battalion CO and S-3 on the tactical employment of infantry — scheme of maneuver construction, combined arms integration, fire support coordination — with the authority of a GySgt who has run squads and platoons, not just planned from a COC.
• 03Write FitReps on two to three SSgts per cycle with the specificity and relative-value honesty that the MSgt / 1stSgt board requires from a small MOS pool.
• 04Identify training standard drift in the battalion's rifle and weapons companies — NAVMC 3500.44 T&R event completion gaps, composite evaluation failures, qualification rate trends — and brief the battalion SgtMaj on the findings before the pre-deployment inspection.
• 05Synchronize infantry training planning across multiple battalions at the regimental level, ensuring the regiment presents a consistent T&R standard to the MEF evaluation team.
• 06Mentor SSgts in the operations billet into the battalion planning process proficiency that makes them credible as future 0369 GySgts rather than staff administrators who happen to have an infantry MOS.

• —MCRP 3-10A.3 through MCRP 3-10A.6 — Marine Rifle Squad through Marine Rifle Company: the ground-level doctrine the GySgt enforces at the company and battalion level.
• —MCWP 3-10 — MAGTF Ground Combat Operations: the operational context the GySgt uses to place battalion infantry employment in the MEF and joint framework.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R Manual: the training standard authority for every T&R task assessment and training plan review the GySgt provides.
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: FitRep mechanics at GySgt; you write Section A for SSgts now and the relative-value ranking shapes the MSgt / 1stSgt board outcome.
• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: MSgt / 1stSgt board mechanics and the FitRep impact in a small, experience-heavy MOS community.
• —MCO 5354.1 / MCO 1000.9 — SAPR and Equal Opportunity: the GySgt in an operations billet enforces these for the section with the same accountability as the company gunny in a line unit.

• —SNCO Academy Advanced Course completed; Senior Course slated before competing for MSgt or 1stSgt board.
• —Battalion infantry training program defensible at the regimental G-3 review without a sprint to clean it up — the T&R task coverage report the GySgt produces should match what the MEF inspector finds.
• —1st-Class PFT and CFT sustained; the formation watches the senior infantry SNCO's physical performance and the standard the GySgt models is the standard the SSgts in the section will model.
• —Source MOS qualifications current: the infantry operations GySgt who has let weapons qualifications or T&R task currency drift is an advisor who no longer holds the standard they are advising against.
• —FitRep relative value above battalion average in consecutive cycles; the MSgt / 1stSgt board in a small MOS reads a narrow comparison group and the average GySgt in 0369 is not a safe position.

• —Providing tactical employment advice based on how the unit did it on the last deployment rather than on current MCRP 3-10A series doctrine and the battalion METL. The doctrine gets updated; the GySgt whose advice is a deployment narrative and not a current doctrinal argument loses credibility at the planning table.
• —Allowing battalion infantry training plans to slide through the review cycle without substantive critique because the battalion is entering an exercise rotation and the calendar cannot absorb changes. The T&R standard that gets waived at the planning stage gets failed at the MCCRE evaluation.
• —Confusing being the senior infantry expert with being the only infantry expert. The GySgt who does not build advisory capacity in the SSgts beneath them is leaving the battalion dependent on a single point of failure when the GySgt PCSs.
• —Writing Section A FitRep language that describes the SSgt's administrative performance in the S-3 shop rather than the infantry advisory outcomes the 0369 billet is supposed to produce. The MSgt board reads the MOS designator and expects infantry expertise to be visible in the narrative.
• —Making the 1stSgt versus MSgt decision by default because the conversation with the SgtMaj was delayed until the board cycle. The GySgt who arrives at the decision without deliberate mentored input is the one who ends up in the wrong track for their skill set.

The good GySgt 0369 is the SNCO the battalion SgtMaj sends to the rifle company whose training plan is being rejected at the regimental review, because this GySgt can sit across from the company gunny, read the T&R gap in the plan, and fix it in two hours in a way that the rifle company can actually execute. The battalion training program is defensible at the regimental inspection, the SSgts in the section are building advisory skills rather than just managing calendars, and the 1stSgt / MSgt decision has been made deliberately and briefed to the SgtMaj.

You are the institutional memory for what the infantry battalion or regiment should look like. The service's credibility in ground combat rests partly on whether the senior enlisted infantry leaders are honest about what the force can actually do.

As MSgt in the 0369 community you are the senior infantry occupational expert at a major command, a Monitor billet at HQMC managing 0369 career paths, or a combat development and integration role shaping the next generation of infantry employment doctrine at the Warfighting Center. As 1stSgt you are running a rifle or weapons company — the full enlisted leadership load — and your 0369 infantry depth is the technical credibility that makes you different from a first sergeant who came up through a support MOS. As SgtMaj you advise the battalion or regimental commander on infantry employment and the health of the battalion's ground combat training program across all subordinate companies. As MGySgt you are the occupational practitioner the doctrine writers and force structure analysts call when they need to understand what the 03xx infantry field actually looks like from inside it. At every level in this tier, the work is simultaneously occupational expert and senior enlisted leader — and the 0369 Marine who tries to separate those two functions has misunderstood the job.

• 01Advise the battalion commander or flag-level staff on the ground combat training program — T&R task completion rates, qualification currency, deployment readiness, and the honest gap between the training record and what the unit can actually execute in contact.
• 02Run the 1stSgt's call for a rifle or weapons company with the infantry technical depth that lets you advise the company commander before a training event, not just manage the formation after one.
• 03Write FitReps on four to six GySgts and SSgts per cycle with the specificity and honest relative-value ranking the MSgt / SgtMaj boards require from a small MOS pool.
• 04Shape infantry doctrine and T&R standards through Monitor billet decisions, Combat Development and Integration assignments, or direct input to NAVMC 3500.44 revision cycles — the practitioner input that keeps doctrine grounded in what battalions are actually executing.
• 05Brief the commanding general on the infantry battalion or regiment's ground combat readiness — what the metrics show, what the metrics do not show, and what the command would need to close the gap honestly.
• 06Mentor the GySgts below in the 1stSgt / MSgt decision with the honest read on who belongs in troop-leadership and who is the occupational SME the infantry community needs to sustain its doctrine and training standards.

• —MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual: MSgt / 1stSgt / MGySgt / SgtMaj board mechanics and the FitRep inputs that drive a small MOS's leadership pipeline.
• —MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System: at this rank you are the senior rater or reviewing official on the FitReps that decide the next generation of 0369 community leaders and the source-MOS infantry SNCOs the community draws from.
• —NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry T&R Manual: the standard you hold the infantry community against; at MGySgt you have direct input to the next revision cycle.
• —MCRP 3-10A-series and MCWP 3-10 — you teach and enforce these, not consume them; at this level you are also the practitioner the doctrine writers bring to the revision review.
• —MCO 1900.16 series — Separation and Retirement: the senior enlisted resource for Marines transitioning from the 03xx and 0369 community.
• —Commandant's Planning Guidance and Marine Corps Concepts and Programs: the senior infantry leader who does not understand where the Corps is trying to take the ground combat element cannot give the commanding general the advice the billet requires.

• —SNCO Academy Senior Course completed before competing for command SgtMaj slate.
• —Zero senior-enlisted-level integrity incidents — the infantry community is visible and close; a conduct incident at this rank and this MOS is career-terminal and the Corps does not keep it quiet.
• —Personal FitRep profile that the reporting senior can defend at HQMC — the metric at MSgt / 1stSgt / SgtMaj is whether the GySgts you rated got selected for their boards and whether the infantry training programs you oversaw improved.
• —Post-service transition plan initiated 24-36 months before EAS or retirement — VA claim filed pre-EAS, SkillBridge slot identified, federal civil service, defense contractor, or law enforcement pathway in motion.
• —Honest assessment of the infantry battalion or regiment's training readiness briefed to command — not the version that protects the current CO's deployment narrative but the version that tells the commanding general what the unit can do and what it cannot.

• —Treating the senior infantry billet as a position that earns respect automatically. The MGySgt or SgtMaj whose infantry credibility has atrophied because they have been in staff billets for four years is advising from a position of institutional rank, not earned authority — and the battalion's GySgts notice the difference.
• —Going public with a disagreement about infantry doctrine or T&R standards. The disagreement goes to the commanding general's staff or the doctrine writer's office with data — not to the regiment as a signal that the chain of command is wrong.
• —Confusing the warm-up to retirement with the job. The infantry battalion whose training standards drifted in the SgtMaj's final 18 months deployed with the gap the SgtMaj allowed and the Marines paid for it.
• —Using the Monitor billet or MCU assignment to shape the 0369 community in ways that benefit the administrative ease of the MOS rather than the operational effectiveness of the infantry field it is supposed to serve.
• —Failing to document the institutional lessons from a combined arms exercise or MCCRE failure in a format that survives the rotation. The knowledge the SgtMaj takes to retirement is the knowledge the next accident will have to rediscover without a head start.

The good MSgt / SgtMaj 0369 is the Marine the commanding general names in the pre-deployment brief as the formation's senior ground combat readiness authority — not because the rank demands it, but because the battalion training programs improved under this leader's oversight, the FitReps are honest, and the rifle company GySgts pick up the phone and ask this SNCO for the doctrinal answer before they ask anyone else. When this Marine leaves the Corps, the infantry T&R program at their last command is tighter than when they arrived, the GySgts they mentored are winning GySgt-to-MSgt boards, and the doctrine they contributed to NAVMC 3500.44 is in the version that the next generation of infantry NCOs is being trained against.