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MarineMom5
08-20-05, 11:01 AM
My son and several young men from our area are in Boot Camp right now and others will be leaving for Boot on 8/22 and a nephew in October..... I want to send them motivation: stories, sayings, etc.
Does anyone have suggestions?

themom
08-20-05, 02:15 PM
My son graduated boot in July. While he was in training and MRP, I sent him stuff I found on Sgt. Grit's site, as well as from sites I found from googling "Marine Corps humor" or military humor". I also found a long list on the web concerning quotes of Teddy Roosevelt.

Sometimes, I would snatch stories off of the Marine Corps website. It seemed to have quite a few about young men who had overcome adversity to become a Marine.

I was into humor as a motivator to lift spirits because of all of his MRP trips. I wish I had tried this site. I think the threads they have here at Leatherneck.com concerning DI's and bootcamp stories are a hoot. I found it rather clever how some former recruits, in order to apply some sort of humanity to their DI's, would see what kind of cars they drove! It's a good thing I didn't send that suggestion to my son, however. One of his DI's drove a red-hot red Celica with the words "Evil Irish" on it. ha.

MarineMom5
08-23-05, 08:35 AM
Come On Marines: Past and Present.....
You have been through Boot.....what kind of things helped inspire and motivate you through Boot....???

Thank you "themom" for your input. I have pulled stuff off of Sgt Grit's.

jgorosco
08-23-05, 08:43 AM
MarineMom5 to me the motivation came from within and the inspiration was learning the History of the CORPS while in boot. Also while in boot (SanDiego) we walked the outside hallways and hearing our echoing of us marching and being able to see the CORPS History which brought CHILLS down my spine, just knowing I would be part of that History one day. So my advice to your son would be to soak in the knowledge from the DI's and the HISTORY that surrounds him. If he really wants it self motivation should be enough.

SEMPER FI
IYAOYAS

yellowwing
08-23-05, 08:44 AM
The letters from my mom in bootcamp were simple reminders that there was still a world outside of Parris Island.

Even a simple "Hi, how are you. Not much new here" had the desired effect.

Osotogary
08-23-05, 09:49 AM
I first looked at his training matrix (which can be downloaded from either of the MCRD web sites) Then I would write something that might relate to what he was going to be doing, or just had done, in a humorous fashion. Mostly I wrote encouraging words and made it a habit of writing absolutely nothing about the everyday strife of life at home. Above all, I tried to make it as brief and as constant as possible like one letter every 7-eight days. I remember writing a "Frikn Letter" where every other word was frikn (actual spelling...honest). That went over big, especially when reading it back to other recruits.
Well that's about all I frikn have to say for now.
Frikn adios from frikn South frikn Florida.:)

Namvet67
08-23-05, 10:16 AM
Recruits live for mail call! You tend to loose touch with the outside while in camp and letters help keep it together. Just let them know what is going on at home is really all you need to do.

MarineMom5
08-23-05, 06:21 PM
Excellent. Thank you all for the input.

I tend to mail SOMETHING everyday because (as stated above) I heard that they yearn for mail call. I write about everything: weather, current events, the shuttle.....just none of the "bummer" stuff!

Sometimes I just jot a quick note with a joke that I got online, some "Marine" story, etc.

I was just felt there was something more.

usmchauer
08-23-05, 06:27 PM
I think one feeling that almost every Marine feels is that boot camp was not as difficult as you thought it would be. Granted, Marine Corps boot camp is no picnic, but its just completely different than I had imagined. It can be explained to you by 100 different guys, and you can watch all the documentary's on the history channel. But you will never know truly how it is until you are there. The most motivating thing for me in boot was knowing that literally thousands and thousands of men and women before me made, and so could I.

SLU_fly_girl
08-23-05, 08:03 PM
When I was in training, a simple letter was all I needed. My mom was good about writing 4-5 letters/week. Nothing too long. Just a simple "Hi! How are you? Things are good here. We're so proud of you" type deal. I always enjoyed hearing how my Indians were doing so you could update your recruit on his/her favorite sports team. Let him/her know how proud you are. That always helped, too!

Really, regardless of what you say, a letter lets him/her know:
1. there is life outside MCRD
2. you still exist
3. you still care
4. you haven't forgotten him/her.

Half the time I didn't care what was in the letter. It was all about hearing my name being called.

Another idea is to have other family and friends write letters. If you get 10 other people to commit. They only have to write one letter the entire time and your recruit will get at least one letter a week (minus in-processing and out-processing).

By the way, Mail Call is one of the best parts of the day... along with Chow and TAPS! :) (aka sleep)

Gary Hall
08-23-05, 09:26 PM
Marine Mom: Pass on to your son that this time in Boot Camp will become one of the most significant of his life and for him to be determined to make the most of it by developing the wisdom to always and under any circumstances to know right behavior from wrong and display the courage to do so.

CHOPPER7199
08-23-05, 11:01 PM
MOTIVATION, JUST KNOWING YOUR ARE GOING TO BE CALLED A "MARINE" WAS ENOUGH FOR ME. THAT WAS MANY A YEAR AGO AND STILL REMEMBER THE DAYS, SOME OF THEM ANYWAYS. LOL

MarineMom5
08-24-05, 08:40 AM
Originally posted by Gary Hall
Marine Mom: Pass on to your son that this time in Boot Camp will become one of the most significant of his life and for him to be determined to make the most of it by developing the wisdom to always and under any circumstances to know right behavior from wrong and display the courage to do so.


Now that's the kind of stuff I'm looking for!