thedrifter
08-11-07, 08:06 AM
A boot camp education
Teachers and administrators watched, and sometimes participated, in Marine training recently
By Calvin Hall
The Gresham Outlook, Aug 10, 2007
This is the second story in a two-part series that looks at the training and ideas of the U.S. Marine Corps. Outlook Intern Calvin Hall traveled to San Diego as a guest of the Marines to write about the boot-camp experience. Wednesday’s story concentrated on United States Marine recruits, including some from East County, surviving the rigors of boot camp.
As Ben Colson, dressed in a camouflage Army helmet and carrying an M-16 A2 rifle, ran through the U.S. Marines’ Bayonet Assault Course, all he could think was that he couldn’t believe he was doing this at his age and size and that he just wanted to make it.
Colson, a high school teacher from Anchorage, Alaska, joined three other teachers on a team that raced through the course usually reserved for recruits, crawling through tunnels, balancing on a rope bridge over a gravel pit, jumping into foxholes and attacking target dummies with their rifle butts.
“I was teasing the instructor that ‘I bet you there hasn’t been a 300-pound guy on this course in years,’ and he said, ‘Nope,’ ” Colson said.
After every participant finished the course, Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey Johnson, one of the two drill instructors assigned to lead the group, asked if anyone regretted running the course. No one raised his or her hands. Is anyone who needed extra persuasion to run the course proud that they did it? A few hands rose.
For thousands of yearly recruits who attempt the assault course at the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, 38 miles north of San Diego, it’s one of the many grueling tests in the first of three training phases of boot camp.
For the 28 educators who volunteered to run the course, it was another chance to see how the Marines train more than 17,000 new recruits at the camp every year.
The 2007 Educators’ Workshop, held June 30 through Aug. 3, brought 65 schoolteachers, administrators, counselors and members of the media from recruiting stations around San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif., Oregon and Alaska to the U.S. Marine Corps training centers in San Diego.
The program hosts educators from around the United States so they can get a week’s glimpse at the 12-week training that recruits endure before they graduate and become Marines.
The idea is to spread education and awareness about the Marines and the options that it gives to students and people, said Brig. Gen. Angela Salinas, commanding general of Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and the Western Recruiting Region.
“So many people, I think, are confusing what’s going on in our political arena with an opportunity,” Salinas said.
The workshop, which often began at 6:30 a.m. for the educators, included demonstrations of the amphibious assault vehicles, tours of the bases, lunches with recruits from their areas, lessons on hand-to-hand combat and weapons and information on the Marines’ educational resources.
The educators were encouraged to ask officers and recruits about every aspect of boot camp and the Marines, including recruiting methods and the Iraq war.
But none of the recruits on base will be deployed to the war because they require years of training before they are combat-ready, says Lt. Col. Robert Jones.
Gresham High School teacher Tim Ramstad said he was expecting a meet-and-greet tour of the bases, but the workshop gave him an idea of what the recruits go through at boot camp.
That experience included having drill instructors Staff Sgt. Michael Naranjo and Gunnery Sgt. Johnson instruct them on how to march and respond to orders, often with varied success.
“Just watching the way the drill instructors barked at the teachers, I got a kick out of that,” Ramstad said. “It’s a very intimidating experience. I think if I was 18 years old, I’d be shaking in my boots.”
For some educators, it was a much different experience from when they went through at the Marine Corps’ training years ago.
Umpqua Community College Board Member Neil Hummel said it was a surreal experience for him to be back in boot camp, decades after he had served as a Marine in Vietnam.
Luis Rosales, the dean of a private Catholic school in Sonoma County, Calif., said he noticed there was more emphasis on safety than when he went through basic training as a 20-year-old man in 1981.
“They’re constantly finding ways to improve things for the better,” Rosales said.
On the final two days, the educators attended the graduation ceremony of Golf Company, joining the family and friends of 305 recruits from six platoons.
The graduating recruits receive an Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem, symbolizing their transition from recruit to basically trained U.S. Marine.
Gresham resident Jesse Haack came down to see his brother, Luke, in the ceremony. After seeing Luke march by in Platoon 2150, Jesse said he was proud but surprised at how small he looked.
The recruits are allowed to spend 10 days at home before they return to Camp Pendleton for additional weapons and field training. Then they are sent to one of 36 specialty schools for job training, ranging from field artillery and vehicles to intelligence and computer programming.
Pfc. Luke Haack, 26, said he was happy to be able to do whatever he wanted for the next few days. Afterward, he planned to train as a tank crewman at Fort Knox, Ky.
Colson said he was happy to see one of his former students graduate in the ceremony.
“Just to see him graduate this program as a private first class, I’d put in the top 10 events of my teaching career,” Colson said.
Salinas said about 70 percent of Marines leave after finishing their four-year contract.
“We want these young people to come learn discipline, lay down a foundation for education, get out, go back to the community and be leaders,” Salinas said.
Ramstad said the trip was like traveling to another culture because of the Marines’ language and tradition. He would attend the workshop again if there was room for him, he said.
Sharon Bean, the career center director at Sam Barlow High School, said it was a great experience for her. Although she admitted she wouldn’t do the workshop again, she would be interested in seeing how the other armed forces, such as the Navy and Air Force, recruit and train.
“It’s one of those things that you need to experience at least once,” she said.
Ellie
Teachers and administrators watched, and sometimes participated, in Marine training recently
By Calvin Hall
The Gresham Outlook, Aug 10, 2007
This is the second story in a two-part series that looks at the training and ideas of the U.S. Marine Corps. Outlook Intern Calvin Hall traveled to San Diego as a guest of the Marines to write about the boot-camp experience. Wednesday’s story concentrated on United States Marine recruits, including some from East County, surviving the rigors of boot camp.
As Ben Colson, dressed in a camouflage Army helmet and carrying an M-16 A2 rifle, ran through the U.S. Marines’ Bayonet Assault Course, all he could think was that he couldn’t believe he was doing this at his age and size and that he just wanted to make it.
Colson, a high school teacher from Anchorage, Alaska, joined three other teachers on a team that raced through the course usually reserved for recruits, crawling through tunnels, balancing on a rope bridge over a gravel pit, jumping into foxholes and attacking target dummies with their rifle butts.
“I was teasing the instructor that ‘I bet you there hasn’t been a 300-pound guy on this course in years,’ and he said, ‘Nope,’ ” Colson said.
After every participant finished the course, Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey Johnson, one of the two drill instructors assigned to lead the group, asked if anyone regretted running the course. No one raised his or her hands. Is anyone who needed extra persuasion to run the course proud that they did it? A few hands rose.
For thousands of yearly recruits who attempt the assault course at the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, 38 miles north of San Diego, it’s one of the many grueling tests in the first of three training phases of boot camp.
For the 28 educators who volunteered to run the course, it was another chance to see how the Marines train more than 17,000 new recruits at the camp every year.
The 2007 Educators’ Workshop, held June 30 through Aug. 3, brought 65 schoolteachers, administrators, counselors and members of the media from recruiting stations around San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif., Oregon and Alaska to the U.S. Marine Corps training centers in San Diego.
The program hosts educators from around the United States so they can get a week’s glimpse at the 12-week training that recruits endure before they graduate and become Marines.
The idea is to spread education and awareness about the Marines and the options that it gives to students and people, said Brig. Gen. Angela Salinas, commanding general of Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and the Western Recruiting Region.
“So many people, I think, are confusing what’s going on in our political arena with an opportunity,” Salinas said.
The workshop, which often began at 6:30 a.m. for the educators, included demonstrations of the amphibious assault vehicles, tours of the bases, lunches with recruits from their areas, lessons on hand-to-hand combat and weapons and information on the Marines’ educational resources.
The educators were encouraged to ask officers and recruits about every aspect of boot camp and the Marines, including recruiting methods and the Iraq war.
But none of the recruits on base will be deployed to the war because they require years of training before they are combat-ready, says Lt. Col. Robert Jones.
Gresham High School teacher Tim Ramstad said he was expecting a meet-and-greet tour of the bases, but the workshop gave him an idea of what the recruits go through at boot camp.
That experience included having drill instructors Staff Sgt. Michael Naranjo and Gunnery Sgt. Johnson instruct them on how to march and respond to orders, often with varied success.
“Just watching the way the drill instructors barked at the teachers, I got a kick out of that,” Ramstad said. “It’s a very intimidating experience. I think if I was 18 years old, I’d be shaking in my boots.”
For some educators, it was a much different experience from when they went through at the Marine Corps’ training years ago.
Umpqua Community College Board Member Neil Hummel said it was a surreal experience for him to be back in boot camp, decades after he had served as a Marine in Vietnam.
Luis Rosales, the dean of a private Catholic school in Sonoma County, Calif., said he noticed there was more emphasis on safety than when he went through basic training as a 20-year-old man in 1981.
“They’re constantly finding ways to improve things for the better,” Rosales said.
On the final two days, the educators attended the graduation ceremony of Golf Company, joining the family and friends of 305 recruits from six platoons.
The graduating recruits receive an Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem, symbolizing their transition from recruit to basically trained U.S. Marine.
Gresham resident Jesse Haack came down to see his brother, Luke, in the ceremony. After seeing Luke march by in Platoon 2150, Jesse said he was proud but surprised at how small he looked.
The recruits are allowed to spend 10 days at home before they return to Camp Pendleton for additional weapons and field training. Then they are sent to one of 36 specialty schools for job training, ranging from field artillery and vehicles to intelligence and computer programming.
Pfc. Luke Haack, 26, said he was happy to be able to do whatever he wanted for the next few days. Afterward, he planned to train as a tank crewman at Fort Knox, Ky.
Colson said he was happy to see one of his former students graduate in the ceremony.
“Just to see him graduate this program as a private first class, I’d put in the top 10 events of my teaching career,” Colson said.
Salinas said about 70 percent of Marines leave after finishing their four-year contract.
“We want these young people to come learn discipline, lay down a foundation for education, get out, go back to the community and be leaders,” Salinas said.
Ramstad said the trip was like traveling to another culture because of the Marines’ language and tradition. He would attend the workshop again if there was room for him, he said.
Sharon Bean, the career center director at Sam Barlow High School, said it was a great experience for her. Although she admitted she wouldn’t do the workshop again, she would be interested in seeing how the other armed forces, such as the Navy and Air Force, recruit and train.
“It’s one of those things that you need to experience at least once,” she said.
Ellie