To all you poolees and wannabes:
I know y'all are eager to get to Recruit Training and become a United States Marine, and I'm sure some of you are a bit nervous of what's ahead. I just want to say you don't have to be. I was told many times before I shipped that Boot was 90% mental and 10% physical. Guess what? They were right! Imagine that. Those Marines knew what they were talking about. Unbelievable. I say that because you may be thinking you won't make it because it's going to be so hard physically. Well, the physical part is the easy part. Your body can go on much longer than you think it can. You're gonna be on the quarterdeck, sweat pouring off your face and pooling around your hands as you mountain climb, and your mind is going to tell you that you can't, that you have to quit. Don't listen to your mind, because if you take a mental step back and look at yourself, you'll see your body still climbing, even though your mind has given up. So never give up. The body can take a lot.
The most difficult part of Boot is just shuttin' your fat mouth, turning off the analyzers in your grape, and doing as your told. Sounds simple, right? Just do what your told. You'd be surprised at how hard that seems to end up being. You want to know why, or you want the person next to you to do it because you did it last time, or something, and you don't just do it. Well, life will be easier if you just do it. That's another of those unbelievable truths I'd been told before Boot.
Recruit Training will most likely be the best thing to happen to you. Unless you're perfect, then you will improve. You'll learn more knowledge than you ever thought possible, you will be in the best physical shape you've ever been in, you will meet some of the greatest Marines in the world (your motivated Drill Instructors), you will make some of your best memories, and you will make life long friendships. Recruit Training will be what you make of it. It can be a totally crappy experience, or it can be one of a new beginning, of a new life, of a new and exciting existence.
I had a great Boot experience. I love having so much knowledge stored in my brain housing group. It's just cool to be able to spout off answers that the majority of the world has no clue about. I love being so physically fit (I lost 16 pounds and improved my run from 26:35 to 22:21). My Drill Instructors are the most awesome, motivated, dedicated Marines I've ever met, and I can only hope to take and learn from them and do them proud. I have some good and bad memories (trips to the Pit, "parties" on the quarterdeck, ambushing other teams on the Crucible, and more) that will forever be with me. I have sisters that will always be there for me, and that I'll always be there for. I'm a Marine, and I look forward to what the Marines have in store for me.
So stay motivated. Don't ever give up because there is more strength in you than you know. Recruit Training is just the fire that clears away the old nastiness and lets the raw, new steel stand forth, strong and ready to go. And no one said fire doesn't hurt, but it sure does aa good job of cleaning.