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thedrifter
04-10-09, 08:01 AM
Marine Recruits Get Taste of Boot Camp
By ART LIMANN
POSTED: April 10, 2009

Orders like "Move, move, move!" and "Faster, faster, faster!" gave local Marine Corps applicants a taste of what they will encounter at the Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot at Parris Island, S.C.

The commands were part of a demonstration offered during Family Night at the Marine Corps Reserve Station in Moundsville on Thursday.

The event for parents and friends of recruits in the Corps' delayed entry program was designed to educate attendees about the transformation the new Marines will soon undergo. It also was aimed at better preparing applicants for what they can expect.

"We're not here to weed out the weak. We're here to make Marines," said Capt. Mark Morgan of the Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Cleveland. "Our standards are very high."

He also told the audience the Marines have the "most challenging recruit training."

Morgan and local Marine recruiters answered questions to help dispel myths, fears and rumors concerning the basic training experience.

"Everything they do has a purpose," Morgan said of the new recruits' basic training. "It instills discipline, and it helps them respond to orders."

Drill instructor Sgt. Matthew Gore, who traveled to Moundsville from the Parris Island Recruit Training Depot, gave a demonstration about what can be expected. He had a group of applicants line up at the front of the room while he barked orders at them to move from the center of the room to the side and back again, demanding a better response when his orders were not obeyed quickly enough.

Mary Danaher of Steubenville, who has a son and daughter preparing to enter the Marine Corps, said the commands were familiar to her.

"My husband was a Marine, so I've heard this before," she said. "We've been warning them."

Recruit Robert Hammond, a 2007 graduate of Shadyside High School, said the presentation helped him know what to expect.

"I'm a little more comfortable with it now," he said. "I'm still a little nervous. I pretty much had all the information they gave us."

Jack Larter of Wellsburg, a senior at Brooke High School, noted serving in the Marines will be an adjustment.

"Drill instructors are intimidating. It's different," he said, admitting he also is a little nervous.

The recruiters told the prospective Marines to "get in shape" and "learn to drink a lot of water."

But Morgan stressed they are not alone and that thousands have been through the process before.

"You can do it," he told them. "Keep your eye on the prize."

Ellie