thedrifter
08-09-07, 06:18 AM
Corps tears young men down and builds them into Marines
Some recruits have never really been yelled at before
By Calvin Hall
The Gresham Outlook, Aug 8, 2007
The beginning of a life-changing experience for about 136 young men started in a waiting room in the San Diego International Airport on Monday, July 30.
As more young men, mostly in their late teens and early 20s with long hair and dressed in jeans and band T-shirts, slowly walk into the waiting room, Marines Staff Sgt. Chaunce Anderson gives them their first orders: sit down, be quiet and face the large television screen in the front of the room.
In less than an hour the men, most of whom have been awake for at least 24 hours, will receive orders to board two buses outside and leave for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot just next door, where they will spend eight of the next 12 weeks training, being broken down and rebuilt as a U.S. Marine.
The glimpse at boot camp was part of the Marine Corps’ Educators Workshop, a five-day program that allows school administrators, teachers, counselors and members of the media see what boot camp life is like from the perspectives of recruits and officers.
Monday’s men are some of the first batches of the 705 new recruits, representing every state west of the Mississippi River, expected to arrive at the depot that week, with the rest arriving on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. The depot’s busiest time is usually during the summer months because that’s when most of the high-school graduates arrive.
The first phase of boot camp is receiving the recruits, which lasts four days and consists of getting their uniforms and platoon assignments, learning the basics of responding to commands, carrying out orders and making the transition from civilian to military life.
At 9:15 p.m., Anderson, in a booming voice, orders the recruits to grab their luggage and walk outside to the curb and line up alongside the two busses outside.
“Aye aye, sir!” the recruits shout in unison, the mandatory acknowledgement of a drill instructor’s order.
When the recruits finally arrive at the recruiting depot at 10:05 p.m., they are ordered to line up outside the receiving station on rows of yellow footprints. Unless they want to anger the stern-faced drill instructors who are waiting for them, they stand straight and at attention, not talking and staring at the ground.
The drill instructors, dressed in olive green pants, tan shirts and large, flat campaign hats, walk up and down the rows of recruits, barking orders and chastising them for not standing up straight, not responding to questions with “Yes, sir!” or “No, sir!”, not being loud enough when they answer and not following an order fast enough.
“Every time you do something, it will be done with speed and intensity,” yells Gunnery Sgt. Rafael Vargas, the main drill instructor for the night.
After Vargas reads out the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the recruits are then marched into the processing building, passing under an entrance sign in yellow letters that reads, “Through This Portal Walks the Future of the United States Marine Corps.”
The recruits then enter the contraband room, where they are instructed to put all their valuables – wallets, compact disc players, cell phones, cigarettes, playing cards, books – into small green bags and into lockers where they will be kept for the rest of boot camp.
The drill instructors continue their merciless shouting at the recruits, with some bluntly telling the slower ones to stop wasting their time and drop out.
Before the night is over, the recruits will be in uniform with all their hair shaved off, assigned to a platoon based on their last names and waiting for more directions. They will be awake for the next 24 to 48 hours.
Vargas says the processing phase is meant to take away the recruits’ individuality, expressed by their hair, money and clothes, and make them equal with each other. Processing is the easiest but scariest part of training because it’s the time when recruits, many of whom have never even been yelled at, realize what they have gotten themselves into, he says.
It usually takes about 30 days for recruits to get used to the Marines’ rigorous lifestyle, although Vargas estimates that between 7 and 10 percent of recruits drop out before that.
Pfc. Jeffrey Gordon, a Gresham resident, says he was lonely and nervous at first when he arrived at the depot. But he got used to the long days, which usually consist of physical training, marching, cleaning weapons and the occasional night cleaning, after three weeks.
Milwaukie resident Erik Merklin says he was a shy and laid back person before he followed his dream to join the Marines last July at age 17. Already in his sixth week at boot camp, Merklin says it has been what he expected.
“I have a propensity for thinking of the worst scenario, but it hasn’t been as bad as I thought,” Merklin says.
Vargas says it’s difficult to know who will adjust to boot camp and who will drop out. Sometimes the ones who have the most trouble at first are the one’s who end up surprising everybody, he says.
Pvt. Michael Weaver says the most difficult challenges for him were getting used to the drill instructors’ strict treatment and learning not to question orders. He also missed his family, including an older sister and mother in Gresham and a father in Roseburg.
Weaver says his older sister and mother cried over his decision to join the Marines while his father, who served as a Marine in Vietnam, said he would only support Weaver’s decision if he aspired to become an officer. So far, he’s honestly enjoyed boot camp and it’s exceeded his expectations.
“I don’t think I’ve made a better decision,” Weaver says. “It’s a real honor to be a part of this organization.”
The Marine Corps believes Marines are forged through shared hardship and training, which builds strong moral and physical codes and camaraderie within the troops, according to the Marine Corps’ Web site.
“There’s a brotherhood that’s instilled in us that we don’t see up front, but it’s there,” Weaver says.
Ellie
Some recruits have never really been yelled at before
By Calvin Hall
The Gresham Outlook, Aug 8, 2007
The beginning of a life-changing experience for about 136 young men started in a waiting room in the San Diego International Airport on Monday, July 30.
As more young men, mostly in their late teens and early 20s with long hair and dressed in jeans and band T-shirts, slowly walk into the waiting room, Marines Staff Sgt. Chaunce Anderson gives them their first orders: sit down, be quiet and face the large television screen in the front of the room.
In less than an hour the men, most of whom have been awake for at least 24 hours, will receive orders to board two buses outside and leave for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot just next door, where they will spend eight of the next 12 weeks training, being broken down and rebuilt as a U.S. Marine.
The glimpse at boot camp was part of the Marine Corps’ Educators Workshop, a five-day program that allows school administrators, teachers, counselors and members of the media see what boot camp life is like from the perspectives of recruits and officers.
Monday’s men are some of the first batches of the 705 new recruits, representing every state west of the Mississippi River, expected to arrive at the depot that week, with the rest arriving on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. The depot’s busiest time is usually during the summer months because that’s when most of the high-school graduates arrive.
The first phase of boot camp is receiving the recruits, which lasts four days and consists of getting their uniforms and platoon assignments, learning the basics of responding to commands, carrying out orders and making the transition from civilian to military life.
At 9:15 p.m., Anderson, in a booming voice, orders the recruits to grab their luggage and walk outside to the curb and line up alongside the two busses outside.
“Aye aye, sir!” the recruits shout in unison, the mandatory acknowledgement of a drill instructor’s order.
When the recruits finally arrive at the recruiting depot at 10:05 p.m., they are ordered to line up outside the receiving station on rows of yellow footprints. Unless they want to anger the stern-faced drill instructors who are waiting for them, they stand straight and at attention, not talking and staring at the ground.
The drill instructors, dressed in olive green pants, tan shirts and large, flat campaign hats, walk up and down the rows of recruits, barking orders and chastising them for not standing up straight, not responding to questions with “Yes, sir!” or “No, sir!”, not being loud enough when they answer and not following an order fast enough.
“Every time you do something, it will be done with speed and intensity,” yells Gunnery Sgt. Rafael Vargas, the main drill instructor for the night.
After Vargas reads out the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the recruits are then marched into the processing building, passing under an entrance sign in yellow letters that reads, “Through This Portal Walks the Future of the United States Marine Corps.”
The recruits then enter the contraband room, where they are instructed to put all their valuables – wallets, compact disc players, cell phones, cigarettes, playing cards, books – into small green bags and into lockers where they will be kept for the rest of boot camp.
The drill instructors continue their merciless shouting at the recruits, with some bluntly telling the slower ones to stop wasting their time and drop out.
Before the night is over, the recruits will be in uniform with all their hair shaved off, assigned to a platoon based on their last names and waiting for more directions. They will be awake for the next 24 to 48 hours.
Vargas says the processing phase is meant to take away the recruits’ individuality, expressed by their hair, money and clothes, and make them equal with each other. Processing is the easiest but scariest part of training because it’s the time when recruits, many of whom have never even been yelled at, realize what they have gotten themselves into, he says.
It usually takes about 30 days for recruits to get used to the Marines’ rigorous lifestyle, although Vargas estimates that between 7 and 10 percent of recruits drop out before that.
Pfc. Jeffrey Gordon, a Gresham resident, says he was lonely and nervous at first when he arrived at the depot. But he got used to the long days, which usually consist of physical training, marching, cleaning weapons and the occasional night cleaning, after three weeks.
Milwaukie resident Erik Merklin says he was a shy and laid back person before he followed his dream to join the Marines last July at age 17. Already in his sixth week at boot camp, Merklin says it has been what he expected.
“I have a propensity for thinking of the worst scenario, but it hasn’t been as bad as I thought,” Merklin says.
Vargas says it’s difficult to know who will adjust to boot camp and who will drop out. Sometimes the ones who have the most trouble at first are the one’s who end up surprising everybody, he says.
Pvt. Michael Weaver says the most difficult challenges for him were getting used to the drill instructors’ strict treatment and learning not to question orders. He also missed his family, including an older sister and mother in Gresham and a father in Roseburg.
Weaver says his older sister and mother cried over his decision to join the Marines while his father, who served as a Marine in Vietnam, said he would only support Weaver’s decision if he aspired to become an officer. So far, he’s honestly enjoyed boot camp and it’s exceeded his expectations.
“I don’t think I’ve made a better decision,” Weaver says. “It’s a real honor to be a part of this organization.”
The Marine Corps believes Marines are forged through shared hardship and training, which builds strong moral and physical codes and camaraderie within the troops, according to the Marine Corps’ Web site.
“There’s a brotherhood that’s instilled in us that we don’t see up front, but it’s there,” Weaver says.
Ellie