thedrifter
03-14-06, 06:54 AM
Walk a mile in their boots
Skeptics get firsthand look at being
Published Tuesday March 14 2006
By LORI YOUNT
The Beaufort Gazette
When Recruit Gerard arrived at Parris Island and stood alone on the yellow footprints Tuesday night in his heavy coat and blue jeans, he probably expected the trauma of a drill instructor snarling and yelling in his face. One thing he probably didn't anticipate was camera flashes and 12 journalists from New York and New Jersey swarming around to observe him as a specimen in the process of making of a Marine.
As they documented this intimate moment, the recruit managed to stay true to form during the drill instructor's welcome shouting, keeping his eyes straight ahead, and he scuffled into the silver doors of the receiving building without incident.
Twelve times a year the recruit depot hosts workshops for media and high school educators to allow them to witness -- and even attempt for themselves -- the daily activities of recruits.
This week recruiters and public affairs officers guided about 70 educators from the New York and New Jersey region onto the yellow footprints, into the path of drill instructor's glare, through obstacle courses and even armed them with M-16 rifles.
By the second day in the pristine late winter weather of the South, the inhabitants of the stereotypically cynical and cold North had adopted a hearty "Ooh-rah!"
"I think it's amazing training," said Nassau City (N.Y.) Police Officer Garret Fujarski, wearing neon orange ear plugs while waiting his turn on the rifle range Wednesday. "But at my age I wouldn't want to do it."
Fujarski heads up an Explorer Post, a law enforcement group for young people similar to Scouts, and said though he would probably recommend the military to students interested, he plans on being able to promote the Marine Corps more than other branches.
"I can't talk about something I never experienced," he said.
That ismusic to the Marine Corps' ears. The principal purpose of these all-inclusive trips to Parris Island, costing the government about $50,000 per workshop, is to win over the skeptics and fence-riders and bolster the enthusiasm of Marine Corps supporters in education.
"Getting exposure -- that's what it's all about," said Staff Sgt. Shawn Grant, a recruiter from New Jersey.
The program has helped him personally in his recruiting duty, Grant said. Last year he invited a guidance counselor from a high school that consistently denied access to military recruiters, and Grant said now he's actually invited to college fairs and other events at the school.
"We're on their mailing list now," he said.
When they run out of skeptics to invite, recruiters turn to rewarding helpful school officials a first-hand experience on Parris Island.
"Even if they are enthusiastic about coming out, they (haven't had) a chance to see what we do," said Staff Sgt. Chris Loveridge, who had two educators he invited on the trip.
After the Emblem Ceremony on Thursday, in which graduating recruits are officially made Marines, Trenton, N.J., math teacher Sharon Battershall appeared to have fallen for the Corps -- eagle, globe and anchor.
Fighting tears and absent-mindedly clutching a tissue, she recounted how Parris Island officials pulled strings to allow her a five-minute reunion Wednesday with her 20-year-old son, Peter, who is in his sixth week of recruit training at the depot.
"I ran up to him, and he ran up to me too," she said as she watched hundreds of parents spill onto the parade deck to see their children for the first time in three months after the ceremony. "He was crying also."
Peter won't pin the emblem on his hat for more than a month, but Sharon Battershall said she can't wait to share photos and stories with her son about the Parris Island experience.
However, Battershall said she hasn't always been such a Corps enthusiast.
"I tried to talk him out if it," she said about when her son broke the news he'd planned to enlist, remembering she was worried about his safety. "But it was the first time he had direction. I accepted it and supported him."
Though Battershall attended the workshop with the express purpose of learning about her son's life and possibly seeing him, Bill Gibney said he stumbled into the trip after some students sent in names of other students into recruiters as a joke.
Next thing he knew, the assistant high school principal from Montclair, N.J., home of the American Civil Liberties Union, found himself on an all-expense paid trip to a Marine recruit training depot in South Carolina.
"The town I live in is very liberal," he said. "But this is a way to bring back a viable option" to the 8 percent of students who don't go to college.
Robert Fowler, an adviser to school and youth programs in New York, said he considered entering the Marine Corps in 1956 until he received a college scholarship. He'd recommend the Marines to students, if they didn't have an opportunity to earn a degree.
"But with a war going on, it's a tough sell," Fowler said, snapping photos with his disposable Fujifilm camera of the recruits on the parade deck.
Ellie
Skeptics get firsthand look at being
Published Tuesday March 14 2006
By LORI YOUNT
The Beaufort Gazette
When Recruit Gerard arrived at Parris Island and stood alone on the yellow footprints Tuesday night in his heavy coat and blue jeans, he probably expected the trauma of a drill instructor snarling and yelling in his face. One thing he probably didn't anticipate was camera flashes and 12 journalists from New York and New Jersey swarming around to observe him as a specimen in the process of making of a Marine.
As they documented this intimate moment, the recruit managed to stay true to form during the drill instructor's welcome shouting, keeping his eyes straight ahead, and he scuffled into the silver doors of the receiving building without incident.
Twelve times a year the recruit depot hosts workshops for media and high school educators to allow them to witness -- and even attempt for themselves -- the daily activities of recruits.
This week recruiters and public affairs officers guided about 70 educators from the New York and New Jersey region onto the yellow footprints, into the path of drill instructor's glare, through obstacle courses and even armed them with M-16 rifles.
By the second day in the pristine late winter weather of the South, the inhabitants of the stereotypically cynical and cold North had adopted a hearty "Ooh-rah!"
"I think it's amazing training," said Nassau City (N.Y.) Police Officer Garret Fujarski, wearing neon orange ear plugs while waiting his turn on the rifle range Wednesday. "But at my age I wouldn't want to do it."
Fujarski heads up an Explorer Post, a law enforcement group for young people similar to Scouts, and said though he would probably recommend the military to students interested, he plans on being able to promote the Marine Corps more than other branches.
"I can't talk about something I never experienced," he said.
That ismusic to the Marine Corps' ears. The principal purpose of these all-inclusive trips to Parris Island, costing the government about $50,000 per workshop, is to win over the skeptics and fence-riders and bolster the enthusiasm of Marine Corps supporters in education.
"Getting exposure -- that's what it's all about," said Staff Sgt. Shawn Grant, a recruiter from New Jersey.
The program has helped him personally in his recruiting duty, Grant said. Last year he invited a guidance counselor from a high school that consistently denied access to military recruiters, and Grant said now he's actually invited to college fairs and other events at the school.
"We're on their mailing list now," he said.
When they run out of skeptics to invite, recruiters turn to rewarding helpful school officials a first-hand experience on Parris Island.
"Even if they are enthusiastic about coming out, they (haven't had) a chance to see what we do," said Staff Sgt. Chris Loveridge, who had two educators he invited on the trip.
After the Emblem Ceremony on Thursday, in which graduating recruits are officially made Marines, Trenton, N.J., math teacher Sharon Battershall appeared to have fallen for the Corps -- eagle, globe and anchor.
Fighting tears and absent-mindedly clutching a tissue, she recounted how Parris Island officials pulled strings to allow her a five-minute reunion Wednesday with her 20-year-old son, Peter, who is in his sixth week of recruit training at the depot.
"I ran up to him, and he ran up to me too," she said as she watched hundreds of parents spill onto the parade deck to see their children for the first time in three months after the ceremony. "He was crying also."
Peter won't pin the emblem on his hat for more than a month, but Sharon Battershall said she can't wait to share photos and stories with her son about the Parris Island experience.
However, Battershall said she hasn't always been such a Corps enthusiast.
"I tried to talk him out if it," she said about when her son broke the news he'd planned to enlist, remembering she was worried about his safety. "But it was the first time he had direction. I accepted it and supported him."
Though Battershall attended the workshop with the express purpose of learning about her son's life and possibly seeing him, Bill Gibney said he stumbled into the trip after some students sent in names of other students into recruiters as a joke.
Next thing he knew, the assistant high school principal from Montclair, N.J., home of the American Civil Liberties Union, found himself on an all-expense paid trip to a Marine recruit training depot in South Carolina.
"The town I live in is very liberal," he said. "But this is a way to bring back a viable option" to the 8 percent of students who don't go to college.
Robert Fowler, an adviser to school and youth programs in New York, said he considered entering the Marine Corps in 1956 until he received a college scholarship. He'd recommend the Marines to students, if they didn't have an opportunity to earn a degree.
"But with a war going on, it's a tough sell," Fowler said, snapping photos with his disposable Fujifilm camera of the recruits on the parade deck.
Ellie