2 top recruit training leaders at Parris Island fired. Marines cite ‘loss of trust’
The two officers who run recruit training for the U.S. Marine Corps on the East Coast have been fired.
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, where the officers are based, issued a statement saying the commanding officer and sergeant major of the Recruit Training Regiment were “relieved” on Wednesday, July 5, for “loss of trust and confidence.”
They did not release the names.
No additional information was provided.
The Marine Corps Times reported the men who were relieved were Col. Bradley Ward and Sgt. Maj. Fabian Casillas.
Ward had been commander of the regiment since July 2021, and Casillas had been his senior enlisted adviser since sometime in 2022, the Marine Corps Times said.
The regiment’s new commander is Col. Christopher McArthur, and the new sergeant major is Sgt. Maj. Michael Brown, said Maj. Philip Kulczewski, a Marine Corps spokesman at Parris Island.
Recruit Training Regiment provides for reception, processing and training of enlisted personnel when they enter the Marine Corps. It also develops drill instructors and officers responsible for recruit training.
About 20,000 recruits come to Parris Island annually.
The news was released the same day as a negligent homicide trial of Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley began at Parris Island. Smiley is charged with negligent homicide in the June 4, 2021, death of Marine recruit Dalton Beals during the Crucible, the final physical and mental test all recruits must pass before becoming Marines.
On Monday, Smiley pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and chose to have a jury, not a judge, decide the case.
