thedrifter
04-15-08, 04:06 AM
Jayne Wayne Day - A day of Marine spousal support
Published Sun, Apr 13, 2008 12:00 AM
By JONATHAN CRIBBS
jcribbs@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5517
Sgt. Esperanza Fuentes stood up at the front and gruffly projected to the back of the bus sitting in a parking lot on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on Saturday morning.
"We're running daggone 15 minutes behind daggone schedule," she said in the middle of a terse introduction that somehow included at least 15 creative uses of the word "daggone."
Then she told a busload of Marine spouses that their time with her would end with a repelling wall.
"Who's afraid of heights?" she barked. "I don't care."
It was Jayne Wayne Day, a Corps-wide event where Marines' spouses are given a shot at exercises their husbands or wives have endured and bond with other spouses. The bus took off, carrying the group -- women and one man -- to the woods where, first, they experienced some of The Crucible, a rigorous 54-hour field training exercise imposed on Marine recruits that includes sleep deprivation, harsh food rationing and intense physical and mental tests.
"The Marine Corps is very small," said Deanna Simpson, program director for family team building on the island. "The friends you make here will be friends for the rest of your life. ... This is a great way for spouses to get involved."
More than 200 spouses from local installations signed up for the event.
For them, it was about strength.
And learning about your husband's or wife's job.
And teamwork.
And, at times, reverence.
It was also kind of funny, which was kind of the point. At one point in the woods, a handful from Fuentes' team was trying to master an activity that included two long, wooden boards with a rope bolted into the board for each person standing on it. The spouses had to put their left foot on the left board, their right on the right and grasp two ropes connected to each.
Simultaneously, they had to pull their legs in the air and lift one board and then the next, one by one, walking as a team.
"On the right!," shouted Dawn Casas of Laurel Bay as the team lifted the right board in the air and moved it forward. "On the left!"
Then everything went to seed. Someone didn't lift their leg, and three women tripped and toppled to the ground. Lance Cpl. Aaron Carter Martinez, who was watching, spun around, hunched over and tried in vain to restrain his laughter. Capt. John Cadwalder saw him and leaned over.
"I don't know what you're laughing for. This was you, what, two years ago?" he said.
Carter Martinez chuckled.
Activities included a Q&A session with a drill instructor, a trip to fire M16s at the rifle range and a shot at the island's towering repelling wall.
"You get to see what your husband went through, and you appreciate it more because, I'm not going to lie, they bust their ass," said Rachel Snody, 23, of Parris Island, as the sound of rifle fire crackled over heavy wind.
"A little bit," said her husband, Cpl. Michael Snody, smirking.
At one point, they were bused to the receiving building and forced to stand on the famous yellow footprints in front of the building that represent the recruit's first Marine experience as they step off the bus. As they passed through the building's imposing metal doors, Gunnery Sgt. Arthur Foster, another drill instructor, was waiting for the Q&A session. The spouses had a host of questions.
Do some recruits really try to escape Parris Island?
Occasionally, but they aren't successful.
Do some recruits try to injure themselves to get out of service?
Occasionally, but they've either got serious issues or are just homesick and are eventually sent back to training.
Are you itching to return to Iraq?
Of course. It's what I'm trained to do.
Then, with a roomful of women, things inevitably got more personal.
"So once you sign the dotted line, it's like, 'You're mine?'" one wife asked.
Foster smiled.
"It's not 'You're mine,'" he said, carefully choosing his words. "It's like a marriage."
Then a woman asked if being a drill instructor is tough on marriages and families, momentarily stunning Foster. He compared it to the effects deployment has on military families.
"The truth? If your marriage is good going into it -- as long as nobody does anything stupid -- you should be fine," he said. "I was married 15 years before I got here. But we had our (issues) before I got here."
After a barrage of questions, he told them it was time to learn how to make a recruit's first phone call to let family know he had arrived safely on base.
"Alright. I'm going to stop this because this is turning into something it's not supposed to be," he said, chuckling.
Scott Stevenson, 45, of Beaufort, was the only man in Fuentes' group. He said his wife has been a Marine for 23 years.
"It's interesting," he said. "I'd never seen any of that back in the woods. I've wondered what goes on back there."
Casas, who said she has participated in Jayne Wayne Day several times, said it's all about the men next to you... or women, at it were.
"I enjoy just the camaraderie of the women," she said. "We come together, fresh and new, and work together as a team."
Ellie
Published Sun, Apr 13, 2008 12:00 AM
By JONATHAN CRIBBS
jcribbs@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5517
Sgt. Esperanza Fuentes stood up at the front and gruffly projected to the back of the bus sitting in a parking lot on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on Saturday morning.
"We're running daggone 15 minutes behind daggone schedule," she said in the middle of a terse introduction that somehow included at least 15 creative uses of the word "daggone."
Then she told a busload of Marine spouses that their time with her would end with a repelling wall.
"Who's afraid of heights?" she barked. "I don't care."
It was Jayne Wayne Day, a Corps-wide event where Marines' spouses are given a shot at exercises their husbands or wives have endured and bond with other spouses. The bus took off, carrying the group -- women and one man -- to the woods where, first, they experienced some of The Crucible, a rigorous 54-hour field training exercise imposed on Marine recruits that includes sleep deprivation, harsh food rationing and intense physical and mental tests.
"The Marine Corps is very small," said Deanna Simpson, program director for family team building on the island. "The friends you make here will be friends for the rest of your life. ... This is a great way for spouses to get involved."
More than 200 spouses from local installations signed up for the event.
For them, it was about strength.
And learning about your husband's or wife's job.
And teamwork.
And, at times, reverence.
It was also kind of funny, which was kind of the point. At one point in the woods, a handful from Fuentes' team was trying to master an activity that included two long, wooden boards with a rope bolted into the board for each person standing on it. The spouses had to put their left foot on the left board, their right on the right and grasp two ropes connected to each.
Simultaneously, they had to pull their legs in the air and lift one board and then the next, one by one, walking as a team.
"On the right!," shouted Dawn Casas of Laurel Bay as the team lifted the right board in the air and moved it forward. "On the left!"
Then everything went to seed. Someone didn't lift their leg, and three women tripped and toppled to the ground. Lance Cpl. Aaron Carter Martinez, who was watching, spun around, hunched over and tried in vain to restrain his laughter. Capt. John Cadwalder saw him and leaned over.
"I don't know what you're laughing for. This was you, what, two years ago?" he said.
Carter Martinez chuckled.
Activities included a Q&A session with a drill instructor, a trip to fire M16s at the rifle range and a shot at the island's towering repelling wall.
"You get to see what your husband went through, and you appreciate it more because, I'm not going to lie, they bust their ass," said Rachel Snody, 23, of Parris Island, as the sound of rifle fire crackled over heavy wind.
"A little bit," said her husband, Cpl. Michael Snody, smirking.
At one point, they were bused to the receiving building and forced to stand on the famous yellow footprints in front of the building that represent the recruit's first Marine experience as they step off the bus. As they passed through the building's imposing metal doors, Gunnery Sgt. Arthur Foster, another drill instructor, was waiting for the Q&A session. The spouses had a host of questions.
Do some recruits really try to escape Parris Island?
Occasionally, but they aren't successful.
Do some recruits try to injure themselves to get out of service?
Occasionally, but they've either got serious issues or are just homesick and are eventually sent back to training.
Are you itching to return to Iraq?
Of course. It's what I'm trained to do.
Then, with a roomful of women, things inevitably got more personal.
"So once you sign the dotted line, it's like, 'You're mine?'" one wife asked.
Foster smiled.
"It's not 'You're mine,'" he said, carefully choosing his words. "It's like a marriage."
Then a woman asked if being a drill instructor is tough on marriages and families, momentarily stunning Foster. He compared it to the effects deployment has on military families.
"The truth? If your marriage is good going into it -- as long as nobody does anything stupid -- you should be fine," he said. "I was married 15 years before I got here. But we had our (issues) before I got here."
After a barrage of questions, he told them it was time to learn how to make a recruit's first phone call to let family know he had arrived safely on base.
"Alright. I'm going to stop this because this is turning into something it's not supposed to be," he said, chuckling.
Scott Stevenson, 45, of Beaufort, was the only man in Fuentes' group. He said his wife has been a Marine for 23 years.
"It's interesting," he said. "I'd never seen any of that back in the woods. I've wondered what goes on back there."
Casas, who said she has participated in Jayne Wayne Day several times, said it's all about the men next to you... or women, at it were.
"I enjoy just the camaraderie of the women," she said. "We come together, fresh and new, and work together as a team."
Ellie