From a New Marine
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  1. #1
    Marine Free Member AmyG's Avatar
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    From a New Marine

    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.


  2. #2
    Marine Free Member jinelson's Avatar
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    Thank you Amy, what outstanding advice!

    Semper Fi

    Jim



  3. #3
    It's absolutely amazing how some of us old goats actually manage to say or do something right once in a while. You are so right about bootcamp being 90% mental. Once you get past that everything else is relatively easy.

    Semper Fi and Good luck to all of the new Marines who joined the ranks this last week...

    Dave


  4. #4
    She is absolutley correct about everything she said. Although boot camp is hard, it is so much more mentally hard than physical. Just remember that almost every time they are playing games they are just trying to see who they can break. Dont let them break you, they will never forget the day that you broke. Expecially your kill hat. Our kill hat was still bringing up recruits that cried back in phase one on graduation morning. Dont let what they say to you get to you. Never, ever talk back to a Drill Intructor and always sound off at the top of your lungs. They will leave you alone almost imediatley if you just blast them back when there screaming at you. Boot camp is as hard as you make it. It can be alot of fun and fly by if you give 100 % all day long. It also can be a very, very long three months. Just remember to have fun and soak in everything your drill instructors tell you. Everything they do is for a reason and will help you out one day. And the friends that you make in boot camp will probally be some of the closest friends you have. Most of the Marines graduated with in my platoon would trust my life with them. Just stay motivated and focus on Earning that Eagle, Globe and Anchor. And believe me, you will earn it and you will feel the chills running down you whole body when your Senior Drill Instructor hands it to you and shakes your hand and says "Good job Marine, I am proud of you." I will never forget that day.

    Semper Fi


  5. #5
    Amy thats very encouraging, I hope many others read that and want to join, I suggest you try to go to some high schools and talk about joining the Corps because you sound like you would be able to convince quite a few people


  6. #6
    Marine Free Member rb1651's Avatar
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    Very well put, Amy. Makes me want to go back!!! With such passion in your writing, I see a potentially successful Recruiter somewhere down the road.


  7. #7
    Marine Free Member Marine84's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AmyG

    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.

    There are some folks that REALLY need to pay attention to THIS part - nobody will ask you what you think or how you feel about doing something - it's not important in the grand scheme of things WHAT you think or how you FEEL about it.


  8. #8
    never give up. The body can take a lot.

    I totally agree with Amy here, even if I am just a poolee. I had cancer twice in four years. She hit the nail right on the head when she said that. Your body can take a walop.


  9. #9
    I'm going to have a hard time I think not smiling when I'm hurting ( i don't know why I do this, some people call me sadistic because I like the pain, lets you know you're alive )

    Also I'm known for having a quick tounge, just a question to any Marines, did any Recruit ever say some snotty remark to a DI? and what happened to this Recruit?


  10. #10
    Quick tongue, huh? My suggestion is that you set the proper expectation the minute you step off the bus and engage that quick tongue and set those DI's straight right from the get go. Come back and tell us how it went.


  11. #11
    LOL Sgt. Brent, I'm not saying I will, HELLLLLLLZZZZZ NO!!!!!!! Those to me are some of the scariest men/women alive who can kick my ass from here to mars lol...

    I will definitely not saying squat, I'll probably sound like a pre-puberty boy sounding off I'll be so scared sh!tless lol, I'm asking did anyone do this? And what did the D.I. do to him/her?

    My apologizes for the misinterpreted writing I have lol...


  12. #12
    I personally did not and I was quite the smart a** when I went to boot camp. I also did not witness it. Going in I thought "I am the man and I aint scared of nothing". Guess what...my first memory of MCRD is when the bus stopped and that DI came on the bus screaming "get your a**es off my bus and in my footprints" was..."what the hell have I gotten myself in to?" From that moment forward they had my attention! And I'll tell you something else. If I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I would do the same thing. Maybe some day I will forget certain parts of boot camp. I doubt it, but maybe. The 3 days I know will stay with me forever are getting off the bus, meeting our DI's and they day we were called Marines.


  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by skaterjon89
    Also I'm known for having a quick tounge, just a question to any Marines, did any Recruit ever say some snotty remark to a DI? and what happened to this Recruit?
    I always kept my mouth shut, but there were a few girls in my platoon who thought they were hot ****. None of them every actually went off on a D.I, but they did get attitudes, make ignorant remarks, or simply ignore a D.I.. Those girls got what they deserved (3 very ****ed of D.I.'s in their face making their day a living hell). Even if a recruit was caught giving an attitude to other recruits, she still got disciplined. One time when me and about 5 other recruits were on the quarterdeck, this one girl told us to all shut the **** up. The D.I. let the rest of us go, and contined to have fun with that recruit for being selfish and whatnot.


  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by SGTBrentG
    Quick tongue, huh? My suggestion is that you set the proper expectation the minute you step off the bus and engage that quick tongue and set those DI's straight right from the get go. Come back and tell us how it went.

    Yeah, & while your at it, oh never mind.


  15. #15
    That was motivating. I've never heard so much jargon come out at the cyclic rate like that before. Congragulations Marine and Welcome to the Family


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