thedrifter
02-09-06, 08:48 AM
Posted on Thu, Feb. 09, 2006
THE BOOT CAMP EXPERIENCE
Full Metal Morphosis
By Jan A. Igoe
The Sun News
Send your kid to summer camp and you may get a letter complaining about poison ivy. But when Amber Flowers of Murrells Inlet spent the summer in Army boot camp at Fort Jackson, her father got this letter:
"Yesterday we did field testing.
We got gassed and had to navigate our way thru the woods w/an azimuth compass. Then at 9 p.m. last night we donned our body armor, vest, our Kevlars we had full BDUs on our ammo pouches and canteen belts. Then we got into a bunker w/our rifles, crawled out of it, and low/high and back crawled thru sand the length of a football field under barb wire while live fire was going over our heads!
It was so cool!"
The challenges of military life may not be everyone's dream for their son or daughter, sibling or spouse, especially as casualties mount in Iraq and Afghanistan. But some people wouldn't trade the sound of reveille for any other wake-up call.
Despite increased likelihood that volunteers will deploy to a war zone, all active-duty services exceeded their December recruitment goals, according to the Department of Defense.
Whether they enlist to carry on family tradition, finance an education or see the world, for service men and women, the opportunities and rewards offered by the military easily eclipse the hardships.
But the entry to every armed forces career - from supply clerk to surveillance expert - cuts through boot camp, or basic military training. And it's no place for wimps.
Recruits will forfeit individuality for shared purpose and indestructible team bonds. The thinking goes: If they collapse under the physical and mental stress of basic training, they won't fare well in a hostile environment. Soldiers must be ready to conquer obstacles civilian life never threw in their paths.
'Culture shock'
For Marines, basic training lasts three months - the longest basic training of any military branch.
"I was having too much fun here and didn't see myself going anywhere," said Lance Cpl. Michael Huffman, 19, a native of North Myrtle Beach. "I walked out of [college] down to the recruiter's office. If I was going to be in the military, I wanted to go all the way."
Huffman, who once spent two days in ROTC before deciding no one would ever make him wear a uniform again, said boot camp was total "culture shock." "No one is used to having someone yell at you all the time," Huffman said. "I used to play with my car and sit on my butt. ... Every bit of that changed in boot camp. It really made me grow up - and showed how much family means to you. You don't realize how important something is until it's gone."
Huffman's recruiter warned him: '"Two weeks after you get there, you're going to hate me.' They push you as hard as you can be pushed," he said.
Without faith, daily letters from his wife and support from fellow Marines, Huffman said he wouldn't have made it. "It's not just a single effort. It's your whole platoon. When you fall, there's always someone there to pick you up."
John Kennedy of Conway has relatives in the Air Force and Army but opted to join the Marines in 1999. "I went in so I can give my dad my Eagle, Globe and Anchor [Marine Corps emblem]. Dad went in, but he didn't make it because he walked and talked in his sleep."
Kennedy said basic training was tough, but it turned him around.
"[Some guys] can't take the stress, the exercising. I reckon they just can't stand [drill instructors] screaming and cursing in their face," Kennedy said. "They do that to break you down to nothing, and then they build you back up."
Kennedy described himself as "violent and drunk" before joining the Corps. "I came out physically fit, respectful and good with my manners."
Deni Gibbs' grandfather, two uncles and former husband were Marines, but she didn't want that life for her son, Nicholas Trevathan.
"His dad lived nearby and told him stories," she said. "He went in one month before he turned 18. I was totally devastated."
When recruiters laid out statistics about service deaths, war casualties and the likelihood of being deployed, Gibbs faced every parent's worst fear: something happening to your child.
By the time Trevathan graduated from Parris Island in October 2004, Gibbs barely recognized him.
"His whole personality changed. We were just living our normal lives [when he told us], '[You all] live like a bunch of pigs,'" she said. "He's the one who left home with all his clothes on the floor. This is not the same child that left his room a disaster."
Trevathan will probably stay in the Marine Corps, but Kennedy left rather than return to Iraq. After almost 10 months overseas, "I didn't recognize my son," he said. "My wife sent me pictures, but he didn't look the same."
Huffman, who recently married, said more than half the guys who graduated Parris Island with him in April have already been to Iraq and back. "We're not afraid to go," Huffman said. "Once I go over there, that means another Marine gets to go home and see his family."
'He grew up'
Army National Guardsman Ross Morris entered basic training a few months after graduation from Socastee High School. Attracted by the half-soldier, half-civilian concept, he spent 15 weeks training at Fort Knox, Ky. Until his unit leaves for Iraq in 2007, he'll be home in Conway and will train one weekend a month.
"I love the honor and respect that soldiers get. I wanted to defend something that was bigger than me," he said. "The biggest draw was paying for the education."
Morris said basic training was like starting life over again. "You didn't get no privileges at all. You wake up at 4 a.m., have two minutes to get dressed and to show up in formation. We'd stretch, do warm-up exercise and start running. We never knew how far."
"When he left, he wasn't very mature," his fiancee, Chelsy Harris of Myrtle Beach, said. "When he came back, he grew up. Little things matter to him that didn't matter before. I can't even leave my shampoo and conditioner in the shower. I have to dry it off and hide it in a drawer."
Don Flowers suspects his daughter Amber joined the Army just to annoy him. He and his dad, Cecil Flowers of Conway, are both Navy veterans.
During Amber's basic training, her father sent her a copy of "The Little Engine That Could." When her drill sergeant found it and read it to the entire platoon, her nickname became "Private Choo Choo."
Choosing a military branch
Military people sometimes switch branches during their careers for better job opportunities. Others try civilian life only to find they prefer military discipline and ethics. Staff Sgt. Michael Cornelius, a former Marine and small-business owner, now recruits Army Reserve personnel.
"The military is like ice cream," Cornelius said. "One person likes strawberry, another likes vanilla."
About 50 percent of a recruiter's job today is mentoring, he said.
He urges recruits to prepare before basic by learning drill and ceremony movements, general orders, phonetic alphabets, courtesies, marching and getting in shape. "So when they walk in, they have some familiarity," Cornelius said. "Some kids chose not to study."
The question every recruiter hears is: What about Iraq? "There's no way any recruiter is going to guarantee [recruits] won't go to a foreign land. It's not possible in this day and time," he said. "That's why we have a military."
Contact JAN A. IGOE at jigoe@thesunnews.com or 626-0366.
Ellie
THE BOOT CAMP EXPERIENCE
Full Metal Morphosis
By Jan A. Igoe
The Sun News
Send your kid to summer camp and you may get a letter complaining about poison ivy. But when Amber Flowers of Murrells Inlet spent the summer in Army boot camp at Fort Jackson, her father got this letter:
"Yesterday we did field testing.
We got gassed and had to navigate our way thru the woods w/an azimuth compass. Then at 9 p.m. last night we donned our body armor, vest, our Kevlars we had full BDUs on our ammo pouches and canteen belts. Then we got into a bunker w/our rifles, crawled out of it, and low/high and back crawled thru sand the length of a football field under barb wire while live fire was going over our heads!
It was so cool!"
The challenges of military life may not be everyone's dream for their son or daughter, sibling or spouse, especially as casualties mount in Iraq and Afghanistan. But some people wouldn't trade the sound of reveille for any other wake-up call.
Despite increased likelihood that volunteers will deploy to a war zone, all active-duty services exceeded their December recruitment goals, according to the Department of Defense.
Whether they enlist to carry on family tradition, finance an education or see the world, for service men and women, the opportunities and rewards offered by the military easily eclipse the hardships.
But the entry to every armed forces career - from supply clerk to surveillance expert - cuts through boot camp, or basic military training. And it's no place for wimps.
Recruits will forfeit individuality for shared purpose and indestructible team bonds. The thinking goes: If they collapse under the physical and mental stress of basic training, they won't fare well in a hostile environment. Soldiers must be ready to conquer obstacles civilian life never threw in their paths.
'Culture shock'
For Marines, basic training lasts three months - the longest basic training of any military branch.
"I was having too much fun here and didn't see myself going anywhere," said Lance Cpl. Michael Huffman, 19, a native of North Myrtle Beach. "I walked out of [college] down to the recruiter's office. If I was going to be in the military, I wanted to go all the way."
Huffman, who once spent two days in ROTC before deciding no one would ever make him wear a uniform again, said boot camp was total "culture shock." "No one is used to having someone yell at you all the time," Huffman said. "I used to play with my car and sit on my butt. ... Every bit of that changed in boot camp. It really made me grow up - and showed how much family means to you. You don't realize how important something is until it's gone."
Huffman's recruiter warned him: '"Two weeks after you get there, you're going to hate me.' They push you as hard as you can be pushed," he said.
Without faith, daily letters from his wife and support from fellow Marines, Huffman said he wouldn't have made it. "It's not just a single effort. It's your whole platoon. When you fall, there's always someone there to pick you up."
John Kennedy of Conway has relatives in the Air Force and Army but opted to join the Marines in 1999. "I went in so I can give my dad my Eagle, Globe and Anchor [Marine Corps emblem]. Dad went in, but he didn't make it because he walked and talked in his sleep."
Kennedy said basic training was tough, but it turned him around.
"[Some guys] can't take the stress, the exercising. I reckon they just can't stand [drill instructors] screaming and cursing in their face," Kennedy said. "They do that to break you down to nothing, and then they build you back up."
Kennedy described himself as "violent and drunk" before joining the Corps. "I came out physically fit, respectful and good with my manners."
Deni Gibbs' grandfather, two uncles and former husband were Marines, but she didn't want that life for her son, Nicholas Trevathan.
"His dad lived nearby and told him stories," she said. "He went in one month before he turned 18. I was totally devastated."
When recruiters laid out statistics about service deaths, war casualties and the likelihood of being deployed, Gibbs faced every parent's worst fear: something happening to your child.
By the time Trevathan graduated from Parris Island in October 2004, Gibbs barely recognized him.
"His whole personality changed. We were just living our normal lives [when he told us], '[You all] live like a bunch of pigs,'" she said. "He's the one who left home with all his clothes on the floor. This is not the same child that left his room a disaster."
Trevathan will probably stay in the Marine Corps, but Kennedy left rather than return to Iraq. After almost 10 months overseas, "I didn't recognize my son," he said. "My wife sent me pictures, but he didn't look the same."
Huffman, who recently married, said more than half the guys who graduated Parris Island with him in April have already been to Iraq and back. "We're not afraid to go," Huffman said. "Once I go over there, that means another Marine gets to go home and see his family."
'He grew up'
Army National Guardsman Ross Morris entered basic training a few months after graduation from Socastee High School. Attracted by the half-soldier, half-civilian concept, he spent 15 weeks training at Fort Knox, Ky. Until his unit leaves for Iraq in 2007, he'll be home in Conway and will train one weekend a month.
"I love the honor and respect that soldiers get. I wanted to defend something that was bigger than me," he said. "The biggest draw was paying for the education."
Morris said basic training was like starting life over again. "You didn't get no privileges at all. You wake up at 4 a.m., have two minutes to get dressed and to show up in formation. We'd stretch, do warm-up exercise and start running. We never knew how far."
"When he left, he wasn't very mature," his fiancee, Chelsy Harris of Myrtle Beach, said. "When he came back, he grew up. Little things matter to him that didn't matter before. I can't even leave my shampoo and conditioner in the shower. I have to dry it off and hide it in a drawer."
Don Flowers suspects his daughter Amber joined the Army just to annoy him. He and his dad, Cecil Flowers of Conway, are both Navy veterans.
During Amber's basic training, her father sent her a copy of "The Little Engine That Could." When her drill sergeant found it and read it to the entire platoon, her nickname became "Private Choo Choo."
Choosing a military branch
Military people sometimes switch branches during their careers for better job opportunities. Others try civilian life only to find they prefer military discipline and ethics. Staff Sgt. Michael Cornelius, a former Marine and small-business owner, now recruits Army Reserve personnel.
"The military is like ice cream," Cornelius said. "One person likes strawberry, another likes vanilla."
About 50 percent of a recruiter's job today is mentoring, he said.
He urges recruits to prepare before basic by learning drill and ceremony movements, general orders, phonetic alphabets, courtesies, marching and getting in shape. "So when they walk in, they have some familiarity," Cornelius said. "Some kids chose not to study."
The question every recruiter hears is: What about Iraq? "There's no way any recruiter is going to guarantee [recruits] won't go to a foreign land. It's not possible in this day and time," he said. "That's why we have a military."
Contact JAN A. IGOE at jigoe@thesunnews.com or 626-0366.
Ellie