thedrifter
11-29-03, 06:36 AM
Parris Island : Female Recruits
PARRIS ISLAND, S.C., Nov. 4 - It's a hard choice few high school graduates make. Enduring Marine boot camp on Parris Island isn't easy.
But if you want to serve your country as a Marine, there's no other choice. It's a decision more and more females make each year. Just ask Jessica Hereford from New Market.
She's one of a few hundred female recruits that train here. Parris Island trains all females recruited from across the US.
"(It takes a female) that's not scared of anything, you have to be in some kind of physical shape," Jessica Hereford said.
"They might come here as girls but they're going to leave here as United States Marines and that's on a whole different level," Staff Sgt. Tanya Jackson said.
Marine Corps Brigadier General Joe McMenamin understands the importance of male and female recruits.
"We're looking for the same young man and young woman that IBM wants, Coca-Cola wants, that any of the large corporations want," Gen. McMenamin said. "The twelve week process at recruit training takes all those motives molds them into one functioning team and makes them all, as we say, brands them into United States Marines forever."
Regardless of gender all recruits must complete twelve challenging weeks.
After doing so, comes graduation and the title of Marine.
At graduation, families pack the stands. They're armed with cameras and binoculars. When the ceremony is over, families hug their new Marines.
"I've never felt anything like it. It was the proudest day of my life to see my baby out there today," Shelia Brewster of Sylvania said.
Brewster drove 430 miles from Jackson County, Ala. to see her son Robert become a Marine:
"It was well worth it. I thought high school was something to be proud of. But this is really something to be proud of," Pvt. Robert Brewster said.
"I've cried a lot...a lot. I cried everyday because I didn't know what was going on with my son," Brewster said.
A tearful but joyous reunion for Shelia and her son. A story replicated every Friday of the year on Parris Island. It's a place short of a resort - but famous for training Marines. A place known to change young men and women forever.
http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=1541898
The Drifter
:marine:
PARRIS ISLAND, S.C., Nov. 4 - It's a hard choice few high school graduates make. Enduring Marine boot camp on Parris Island isn't easy.
But if you want to serve your country as a Marine, there's no other choice. It's a decision more and more females make each year. Just ask Jessica Hereford from New Market.
She's one of a few hundred female recruits that train here. Parris Island trains all females recruited from across the US.
"(It takes a female) that's not scared of anything, you have to be in some kind of physical shape," Jessica Hereford said.
"They might come here as girls but they're going to leave here as United States Marines and that's on a whole different level," Staff Sgt. Tanya Jackson said.
Marine Corps Brigadier General Joe McMenamin understands the importance of male and female recruits.
"We're looking for the same young man and young woman that IBM wants, Coca-Cola wants, that any of the large corporations want," Gen. McMenamin said. "The twelve week process at recruit training takes all those motives molds them into one functioning team and makes them all, as we say, brands them into United States Marines forever."
Regardless of gender all recruits must complete twelve challenging weeks.
After doing so, comes graduation and the title of Marine.
At graduation, families pack the stands. They're armed with cameras and binoculars. When the ceremony is over, families hug their new Marines.
"I've never felt anything like it. It was the proudest day of my life to see my baby out there today," Shelia Brewster of Sylvania said.
Brewster drove 430 miles from Jackson County, Ala. to see her son Robert become a Marine:
"It was well worth it. I thought high school was something to be proud of. But this is really something to be proud of," Pvt. Robert Brewster said.
"I've cried a lot...a lot. I cried everyday because I didn't know what was going on with my son," Brewster said.
A tearful but joyous reunion for Shelia and her son. A story replicated every Friday of the year on Parris Island. It's a place short of a resort - but famous for training Marines. A place known to change young men and women forever.
http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=1541898
The Drifter
:marine: