This book describes the history of a tragic event in USMC history and of how its impact led to reforms. In 1956 a Marine drill instructor led his recruit platoon on a punitive night march across Ribbon Creek, a tidal stream at the Parris Island, South Carolina, recruit depot. Six men drowned, and the resulting court-martial became a national media sensation putting the future of the corps into question. Written by a senior historian at the Marine Corps Historical Center, ""The U.S. Marine Corps in Crisis"" explores the social, political, and historical context of this tragic moment in U.S. military history as a case study in how bureaucratic institutions undertake internal reform and offering a valuable vantage point on tensions in American society during the 1950s.