Making Marines: Part 1

[thedrifter]

Making Marines: Part 1

Posted: 6:12 PM Feb 6, 2008
Last Updated: 7:13 PM Feb 6, 2008

Last week, the United States Marine Corps took a group of educators from the southeast to Parris Island, South Carolina to experience the process of boot camp up close and personal.

News 4's Patrick Claybon went along for the trip and shares the first of his three part series, Making Marines.


Parris Island, South Carolina; over the course of the year, thousands of young men from everywhere east of the Mississippi River travel down this causeway with hopes of becoming a Marine.

I, along with educators from Alabama and Tennessee had the opportunity to experience an authentic re-enactment, of recruit receiving. Including a phone call; the one phone call that a recruit makes when they arrive stating that they are there safe and simply to not send any large items. It’s the first of many things to take recruits out of their comfort zone.

Claybon asked one recruit, "What [was] the first thing you thought when you came in?”

Recruit Zorn responded, “November 27th sir, this recruit hit the yellow footprints and wondered what he had done sir."

Did you catch that? Zorn and many other recruits we talked to on the trip had a hard time using things like ‘I’ and ‘me’, only referring to themselves as ‘this recruit’; a large part of the discipline here is to lose the sense of the individual and focus on the team.

Brigadier General Paul Levefebre is the commanding general of the Eastern Recruiting Division, and he spoke with educators on day one about the emphasis the Marine Corps places on teamwork. "That character development piece starts with a focus on teamwork; what we do here is we take the ‘I’ away and we replace it with ‘we’ and that's the first step in this process."

Every Marine is held to a very high standard of marksmanship. During their training they have plenty of opportunities to become acquainted with their M16A2 assault rifle in a high tech indoor training center.

“One shot, one kill”: that's the motto and recruits will eventually be rated at distances up to 500 yards. Along with the educators, I had a chance to take a few shots.

If things go on schedule for recruits, they will spend 13 weeks on Parris Island with around 70 of those days being actual training.

Making Marines: Part 1 Video
http://www.wtvynews4.com/home/headlines/15371446.html#

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Making Marines: Part 2
Posted: 6:00 PM Feb 7, 2008
Last Updated: 4:59 PM Feb 7, 2008

A former naval station that was eventually given to the Marine Corps in 1915, the wet swampy Parris Island has seen over one million young men and women go from recruit to Marine in the 13 week metamorphosis that is boot camp.

Physicality is premiere in that process, and that's why they train intently on different physical topics.

Fighting fire with fire is one thing, but just in case, the recruits are placed in bayonette training and marshal arts training as a physical tool to get them ready for war.

Sgt. Thomas Ochoa, who teaches Martial Arts Training said, "We show them basic techniques; later on they learn a lot more advanced techniques, which is some of the stuff the teachers we had use right now. They basically just learn a feel for it, how to maneuver the stick."

There are several different levels of Marine martial arts training. Once an instructor reaches a certain level of belt, he is then able to train a recruit up to that level.

There are also levels of swimming training, which is something every recruit must go through in order to graduate. And, facilitating future Marines who have never been in the water is done almost every week.

Swim Instructor Sgt. Joe Marshall said, "The first thing we're gonna’ do is have them swim one of the five strokes down in the shallow end. Big thing about swimming is being comfortable in the water and if you've got someone behind you, then you're comfortable."

Along with swimming and martial arts training, there is a large regiment of running, and other physical fitness activities including the obstacle course, also known as the confidence course. Educators took a crack at a few of the different set ups.

The confidence course is used to provide Marines with many things, most notably confidence to know that they can make it over any obstacle.

While these Marines make some of the obstacles look easy, for many who come to Parris Island, it takes quite a while to become good at them. And, injuries definitely become a factor.

Panama City Recruit Phillip Sappington said he is, "Training to become a Marine, so three weeks in how's your body holding up other than today. I got a slight injury to my ankle, but other than that, pretty well.”

Commanding General Brig. Gen Paul E. Lefebvre said, "If you have it in your heart to be a Marine, we can adjust the physical pieces to get you where you need to go to. That's not a lowering of the standard, that's accommodating the young person today that wants to be a Marine."

Video

http://www.wtvynews4.com/home/headlines/15408236.html

Ellie