Two brothers go to boot camp together, except there is a catch...

[Accord]

...One of them is a recruit, the other is a Drill Instructor.

One of them is a recruit, the other was a Drill Instructor :eek:.

Drill instructor�s brother in blood becomes a literal brother in arms
MCRD San Diego
Story by: Sgt. Ashley Unfried

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO(Feb. 3, 2006) -- Two brothers have more in common than blood today as Company K graduates.

Pvt. Harjay Lacanilao was welcomed to recruit training by his older brother, Sgt. Harvey Lacanilao, a drill instructor in his company.

When Harvey graduated from boot camp in 1999, Harjay had no aspirations to join the armed forces.

After his graduation from Pacific High School in 2004, Harjay attended San Bernardino Community College and worked for Sears. His goal was to be a professional singer.

On Jan. 17, 2005, Harjay attended his big brother�s Drill Instructor School graduation. From the stories Harvey told Harjay about his first cycle on the drill field, Harjay began to see things differently.

�I wanted to be in an elite team. I wanted the pride of the uniform, and I also wanted the stability,� Harjay said.

He chose to make this big decision for his future because he wanted a good life. He wanted a life like his brother�s.

Aside from Harvey�s stories, the only other knowledge of boot camp Harjay had was the mental aspect.

�It�s weird how I can�t talk to him since we were so close,� said Harjay.

Coming here able to do two pull-ups and 79 to 80 crunches, Harjay now does 12-15 pull-ups and more than 100 crunches.

�I didn�t want to embarrass him,� said Harjay when asked about the physical aspect of training.

Other Co. K drill instructors knew of the Lacanilao brothers, but it had no effect on Harjay�s training.

�It didn�t matter that his brother was a Marine,� said drill instructor Sgt. Carlos Weiss, Platoon 3055, Co. K. �(Harjay) was treated as any other recruit.�

Though they saw each other almost every day, there was little interaction between the brothers. Harvey did have the opportunity to inspect Harjay�s uniform however, and he would ask his brother�s drill instructors about his progress in training.

When the company traveled to Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Harvey noticed Harjay was favoring his ankle. He told Harjay�s drill instructors to make sure his little brother was all right.

Having made it through boot camp, Harjay is looking forward to life in the Marine Corps as a supply Marine. Ultimately though, he said he would like to become a drill instructor.

�Now I do want to be like my brother,� he said. �I ended up being in the elite forces of America, and I�m proud of it.�

[Rdy2gopoolie]

Nice article.

[KMichael]

i read that on the official usmc website... thought it was pretty nifty...

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

I really hope big bro got to put little bro in the pit at least once.

[lprkn]

Probably one of the coolest experiences in the Corps for the older brother and the (potentially) scariest for the younger one.

When DIs in my company heard my dad was a 1st Sgt, things sucked for awhile. Of course my Dad thought it was hilarious.

[PooleeFritz43]

Its cool that my brothers and I are all in the military but it sucks that i have little wussy brothers that both joined the Army (Aint Ready to be a Marine Yet). My older brother joined the Army about two years ago and he lives in Germany....lucky! My little bro just signed up for the Army yesterday and he leaves this summer for Basic then comes home and finishes high school. I leave on June 5th to go to the wonderful city of San Diego. Can't Wait To Hit The Prints.... ! When they both said that they were joining the Army i told them i had to be better then them and i said i was joining the USMC but they thought i was kidding and when i went to sign up they thought i was joining the Army and when i came home they found out i went to join the USMC and they started telling me how stupid i was and i told them to shove it because when i get home from Boot Camp and i can beat their A$$es then they will find out why i joined the Marines.....Ooh-Rah!

San Diego HERE I COME!!!!!!!

Poolee Jeremiah Fritz
Reddogmarine43@hotmail.com

[Brooklyn]

No motivation for joining quite like the "I'm going to beat my brothers' asses when I get out of boot" motive.

G'luck Fritz!

[Collins]

Jeremiah, I'm going to San Diego on June 5th as well! Kick Ass! That'll be bad ass if we end up in the same platoon. Holy ****, that's cool.

[PooleeFritz43]

Brooklyn I was kidding...lol I have no hopes of kicking my brothers a$$...lol my bad. Hey thats cool that you go on June 5th to dude...how many platoons are there? Well talk to you guys later. Ooh-rah

[Collins]

If my welcome aboard package is correct, there should be 6-8 platoons.

[Kaziganthi]

I had something similar happen in my company... Except the older brother wasn't a Drill Instructor but his brother's Instructor gave the older brother (a Gunnery Sgt.) a chance to uhhhh....kill his lil bro on the quarterdeck... He got to call out what excercises he wanted his bro to do in his 15 minutes of pain while shooting the breeze with his senior...

Gotta love brotherly love...

[Radiofantry]

Jeremiah, I'm going to San Diego on June 5th as well! Kick Ass! That'll be bad ass if we end up in the same platoon. Holy ****, that's cool.

I'm going to San Diego on May 22nd, so I will probably see you guys from a distance too

[Shadowman777]

I really hope big bro got to put little bro in the pit at least once.

ONCE??? My bro would put my @ss in the Pit daily! lol!