thedrifter
04-03-04, 08:52 AM
Semper fi, for a day at least
PARRIS ISLAND: Fifteen eighth-graders find out what it takes to become a U.S. Marine.
Erinn McGuire
Carolina Morning News
A blast of hot drill instructor breath was Bucky Bustard's wakeup call Wednesday morning outside the recruit receiving center on Parris Island.
Standing on the same yellow footprints where real recruits receive their first set of instructions, Bustard, 14, was told to stop smiling by a snarling drill instructor only two inches from his face.
"That was so amazing," Bustard said later. "We thought it was going to be a regular field trip, but it was boot camp. I didn't have time to think, we just ran off the bus. It was really nerve-racking. My heart was pounding."
Bustard and 14 other Beaufort Middle School students were on Parris Island as part of Beaufort Junior Leadership. They were hoping to experience a small dose of what real recruits must endure once they arrive on Parris Island for their 12-week training.
As soon as the students arrived in front of the processing building, swarms of barking drill instructors descended on the eighth-graders' bus.
"You get off this doggone bus right now," said Staff Sgt. Tyrone Crutcher.
The students were told to hurry up, shut their mouths and not to smile.
"You're stuck here now, I promise," he said. "If you think this is a joke, you're dead wrong."
Wednesday's excursion was one of several trips the junior leadership group makes to learn about the surrounding community, said Margaret Rushton, the students' chaperone and community liaison for the middle school.
"We really want them to have a better understanding of their community and a behind-the-scenes look at Beaufort," she said.
Besides visiting Parris Island, the students have explored the area's healthcare system, government and economy.
The Parris Island trip was unlike any other.
Once shuffled into the recruit receiving building, the middle-schoolers were lined up before a row of phones. They had 30 seconds to call home and say they had arrived.
Crutcher counted down.
"We need to develop a sense of urgency," said Capt. Jamie Nott, spokesman for Parris Island.
Directions must be followed without question, he said. This continues for the majority of the recruits' training to ensure there is discipline and respect.
With phone calls made, the teenagers were herded into a long, narrow room with metal cubby holes - an area where real recruits shed their civilian garb and belongings and receive military-issued supplies.
Crutcher jumped up on top of the shelving unit and paced back and forth, demanding the mock recruits' complete attention.
"You will live, eat, sleep teamwork," he said. "There is no I anymore."
Within minutes smiles melted from students' faces and were replaced with serious looks.
"It gets more serious and starts to seem real," said Courtney McElveen, 13.
That reality continued at the base pool where survival swimming is taught.
Weighed down by 50 pounds of gear and clothing, soggy recruits in their fifth week of training marched by the leadership class standing on the pool's deck.
Sgt. Michael Batton, a drill instructor who teaches combat water survival, said each day of their five-day water training becomes increasingly more difficult.
In addition to swimming with their gear on and learning to use their clothing as floatation devices, recruits must jump off a 10-foot platform as if abandoning a ship.
Out in the field, the students watched as simulated machine gun and mortar fire filled the air surrounding an old World War II airfield.
A group of female recruits in their 11th week of training crawled on their bellies in the dirt and under barbed wire.
The Crucible is a 54-hour field exercise, beginning at 2 a.m. Tuesday and lasting until 8 a.m. Thursday. Recruits survive on four hours of sleep a night and three meals a day.
"It's fast and furious and there's not a whole lot of rest," Crutcher explained. "To be able to wear this uniform, you have to earn it. You have to have willpower. If you come down here with a little spirit ... you can be a doggone Marine."
Reporter Erinn McGuire can be reached at 837-5255, ext. 107, or erinn.mcguire@lowcountrynow.com
http://www.lowcountrynow.com/stories/032504/LOCusmc.shtml
The Drifter's Wife
Ellie
PARRIS ISLAND: Fifteen eighth-graders find out what it takes to become a U.S. Marine.
Erinn McGuire
Carolina Morning News
A blast of hot drill instructor breath was Bucky Bustard's wakeup call Wednesday morning outside the recruit receiving center on Parris Island.
Standing on the same yellow footprints where real recruits receive their first set of instructions, Bustard, 14, was told to stop smiling by a snarling drill instructor only two inches from his face.
"That was so amazing," Bustard said later. "We thought it was going to be a regular field trip, but it was boot camp. I didn't have time to think, we just ran off the bus. It was really nerve-racking. My heart was pounding."
Bustard and 14 other Beaufort Middle School students were on Parris Island as part of Beaufort Junior Leadership. They were hoping to experience a small dose of what real recruits must endure once they arrive on Parris Island for their 12-week training.
As soon as the students arrived in front of the processing building, swarms of barking drill instructors descended on the eighth-graders' bus.
"You get off this doggone bus right now," said Staff Sgt. Tyrone Crutcher.
The students were told to hurry up, shut their mouths and not to smile.
"You're stuck here now, I promise," he said. "If you think this is a joke, you're dead wrong."
Wednesday's excursion was one of several trips the junior leadership group makes to learn about the surrounding community, said Margaret Rushton, the students' chaperone and community liaison for the middle school.
"We really want them to have a better understanding of their community and a behind-the-scenes look at Beaufort," she said.
Besides visiting Parris Island, the students have explored the area's healthcare system, government and economy.
The Parris Island trip was unlike any other.
Once shuffled into the recruit receiving building, the middle-schoolers were lined up before a row of phones. They had 30 seconds to call home and say they had arrived.
Crutcher counted down.
"We need to develop a sense of urgency," said Capt. Jamie Nott, spokesman for Parris Island.
Directions must be followed without question, he said. This continues for the majority of the recruits' training to ensure there is discipline and respect.
With phone calls made, the teenagers were herded into a long, narrow room with metal cubby holes - an area where real recruits shed their civilian garb and belongings and receive military-issued supplies.
Crutcher jumped up on top of the shelving unit and paced back and forth, demanding the mock recruits' complete attention.
"You will live, eat, sleep teamwork," he said. "There is no I anymore."
Within minutes smiles melted from students' faces and were replaced with serious looks.
"It gets more serious and starts to seem real," said Courtney McElveen, 13.
That reality continued at the base pool where survival swimming is taught.
Weighed down by 50 pounds of gear and clothing, soggy recruits in their fifth week of training marched by the leadership class standing on the pool's deck.
Sgt. Michael Batton, a drill instructor who teaches combat water survival, said each day of their five-day water training becomes increasingly more difficult.
In addition to swimming with their gear on and learning to use their clothing as floatation devices, recruits must jump off a 10-foot platform as if abandoning a ship.
Out in the field, the students watched as simulated machine gun and mortar fire filled the air surrounding an old World War II airfield.
A group of female recruits in their 11th week of training crawled on their bellies in the dirt and under barbed wire.
The Crucible is a 54-hour field exercise, beginning at 2 a.m. Tuesday and lasting until 8 a.m. Thursday. Recruits survive on four hours of sleep a night and three meals a day.
"It's fast and furious and there's not a whole lot of rest," Crutcher explained. "To be able to wear this uniform, you have to earn it. You have to have willpower. If you come down here with a little spirit ... you can be a doggone Marine."
Reporter Erinn McGuire can be reached at 837-5255, ext. 107, or erinn.mcguire@lowcountrynow.com
http://www.lowcountrynow.com/stories/032504/LOCusmc.shtml
The Drifter's Wife
Ellie