Why I joined the Corps

[ABDULA]

Yes you are right
good post

[Cpl Heglar]

When I was a youngin I had no mentor and basically was longing for a Grandfather figure so I hung out with a Marine Charles Bertram. Col. Bertram had a 1 acre garden when he was 86, Still to this day I try to have a 1 acre garden. Charles looked at me one day and strayed from his many stories in the military and stated he had been in WWI WWII and the Korean war. I said really. He said look at my eye. I looked and it did not move with the other it was glass. He stated when he and his driver was going back to the base in Korea a mortar hit a tree and shrapnel hit his driver killing him instantly hitting him in his forhead and peeling his skull back. He put his skull back on like a hat and moved his driver over and drove 1.5 miles to the hospital where he got umpteen hundred stitches and his new eye. I was so inspired by this old guy I joined right after high school.

Thinking of you Col. Bertram

Cpl. Kev

[LuisMatos]

I joined the Marines in 1989 because my cousin was a Marine and my boss at work was a Marine and I was sick and tired of them two telling me, " They are going to kick your butt and you wont make it " I took that to the heart started running and join the Marines a month later. It was true, they kicked my ass me coming out of NY but I did make it and Loved it. Got out in 1993 and to this day I regret that move. In boot-camp out instructors always said you going to see some action soon and you better get your arses in shape!! WE did in, we went to the Gulf War.

[boby12]

I like this forum ,because I learn some knowledge before I never know.
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[tmoquin]

one half was john Waynes fault,,, The other half was my Azz Hole brother saying I couldn't make it. I guess that is 100%. "Cept for I loved my momma, apple pie, and my country. Thats the other half of the 100%.

LONG LIVE THE MAGNIFICENT BASTARDS AND THANKS FOR YOUR SREVICE.

[jannypan]

Now in 1991 the ONLY reference that I ever had to Marine Corps Boot camp was Full Metal Jacket and Horror stories of those who have been through it....Plus our Marine Corps recruiters were great, their attitude was "Don't waste our time if your not serious" Best decision I ever made was going in the Marine Corps.....worst was getting out in '96.....Semper Fi!................By the way, My best friend got out of his enlistment to the Army and joined the Corps 6 months after I went to boot camp...He was impressed about something when we were hanging out after my graduation from Parris Island!Buy Tera Gold
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[blockhead5]

My brother was in the Marines and I just thought if he could do it so could I. In my later years I've come to realize that maybe I just enlisted for myself if no other reason.

[Range Coach]

Christmas Day of 1984 was -20 degrees, 18" of snow on the ground, frozen water lines and over 100 head of cattle that needed water. I was tired of college, tired of farming, tired of being cold, and tired of carrying five gallon buckets of water to the water trough. I went to the recruiting station on January 8th and the only office that was open was the Marines. I told the recruiter that I wanted to go somewhere warm and, the day after my last day of college, I was shipped off to San Diego.

[vets rep]

I walked into the USMC Recruiting Office.

The first thing the Recruiter says to me is.

"Hello, welcome to the Marine Corps Recruiting Office...Before we begin, I want you to take a look over at that wall"

(He points to a USMC T-shirt that has been pinned to the wall)

On the t-shirt is a picture with a large open hand. And in the hand there were two large steel balls. Underneath the hand there was this written message. "It takes a pair of these to become a Marine"

Well After I looked at the picture the recruiter says to me. "Well, if you don't got a pair of those, you might as well leave this office and go to see the Army Recruiter across the hall."

Damn! There was no way I could leave that office, he got me. A few weeks later I was standing on the yellow foot prints.

True Story -- F-U if you don't believe me.

[montana]

didnt join...was drafted

[Carpshooter]

didnt join...was drafted

You were not alone , but after all these years , I got to admit that it was a good thing as it would set the way I lived , rather than be a career retired drunken womanless old doggy with no offsprings with my last name , who made alot of overseas tours to Germany !

[AnthonyMurphy]

Well different people different ideas. Someone asked me last few days ago why did you join marine when there is lot of different interesting career opportunity outside. I feel about my career prospects, and I feel yes there is lot of career opportunity outside but in my career i have a thrill, adventure, chill and status. And this is something different from the world. I always feel I made a correct decision to choose it.Get it more white kitchen cabinets

[LCplQuiznos]

Growing up I always idolized two people, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and any Marine. I saw the commercials as a child and would always say to my sister "I'm gonna wear that one day it's so cool!" As I got older I learned more about Dr. King and saw that he wasn't just about turning the other cheek, in fact my favorite quote of his is

"A man not willing to die for something is not fit to live."

and I started to see that the Marine Corps was all about that. So I started living my life as much like that as i could, always helping people and putting their needs before my own. When I graduated high school I was already enlisted and left in September of 2005 for boot camp. During the basic warrior training I smashed my knee into something while crawling under barbed wire and I heard a crack. I had two options, I could tell my kill hat what happened or I could keep going. I thought about what it meant to me to be a Marine and how long I have wanted this so i stayed quiet and pushed on, establishing certain safeguards for myself so noone would notice my injury. (icy hot at night, marched in the middle of the formation so the DI's couldn't see me limp, etc) This was about half way through the program and to my surprise I made it. I graduated on Nov 23, 2005, but my knee finally gave out the very next morning.

I went to the ER by my house and the surgeon I was assigned was a Naval Reservist and he took very good care of me and showed me pictures of the inside of my knee. It was black with scar tissue and he said I might not be able to walk again. So to sum up the rest I busted my ass in physical therapy and after four surgeries I can walk and jog, and was honorably discharged on Sept of 2006. I may have destroyed my knee with my silence but I feel that it was well worth it because I always saw Marines as warriors whoo never gave up, so that's what I did.

I found out much later that I was awarded the Good Conduct medal VERY early (the requirements say 3 years of service and I had 1) So despite my slowly degrading knee, I am proud of what I did and would do it all over again because now I can call myself a Marine and noone can ever take that from me.

Semper Fi

[kabar1]

i was raised Marine Corps my mama was a E-5 Woman Marine,my uncle was a E-4 on a gun crew during WW2,Tarawa,Tiapan,Guadelcanal.my old man was a Corpsman with Marine unit during Korea.hell my mama use to sing the Marine to me to get me to go to sleep.i spent 10yrs. with Uncle Sams Misguided Children. i was born a Marine i will die a Marine.SEMPER FI Due or Die

[kaelobo]

for me it was the only doorway where there was not a line down at the court house.