Brentwood Press - Index

Brentwood Press - BrentwoodPress_08.15.08 - Index

12A | THEPRESS.NET COMMUNITY AUGUST 15, 2008
Marines from page 1A
ed to escape problems.
“If you have problem kids, don’t send
them to me, because I don’t want them,” Salinas
said she tells parents. “I’m not going to
change a thief in 12 weeks when they couldn’t
do it in 18 years.”
Nevertheless, the transformation the
Corps achieves is dramatic and thorough. It
begins on the yellow footprints and moves
quickly to the “contraband room,” where recruits’
pockets are emptied and, as one drill
instructor told the educators, “I take away
everything I told them not to bring in the fi rst
place.” Gum, airline tickets, notebooks and
myriad other items are fl ung to the fl oor to be
disposed of. Also soon to hit the fl oor is the
recruits’ hair: one barber boasted that he was
the base record-holder, having shorn a recruit
in six seconds.
Workshop participants, too, got a taste
of the fi rst few moments of boot camp –short
of the haircut. They were taught by drill instructors
how to stand at attention, and told
the proper way to march was with 40 inches
between their chest and the back of the person
in front of them.
It turns out that, among the educators,
the term “40 inches” was open to wide interpretation,
a fact that the drill instructors occasionally
gently pointed out. Real recruits
would not be so fortunate.
The myth of the wild-eyed, nearly apoplectic
drill instructor, apparently ready to
burst out of his skin with rage at the smallest
infraction, is, in fact, understated. They freely
admit that much of it is an act, because it
doesn’t matter. When recruits are confronted
with a torrent of volcanic fury erupting inches
from their face and delivered by the supreme
master of their immediate future, they don’t
give much thought to whether the tirade is
genuine. They learn to do exactly what they’re
told without hesitation, and acquire the rigid
discipline that is the backbone of the Marines’
effectiveness.
The recruits’ transformation is not just
achieved through bombast, however. Indeed,
the vitriol quickly does its job, and tapers off
as training progresses. Should the experience
become too much for some recruits, the chief
drill instructor steps in, taking the role of a father
fi gure, helping them get over the hurdles
that must be cleared before becoming a Marine.
And the hurdles are high. There’s relentless
physical conditioning, instruction in fi eld
maneuvers and marksmanship, and training in
the Marines’ own brand of martial arts (“This
is not sport,” said the instructor. “The prize for
winning is that you get to stay alive.”) Practical
problem solving and unit interdependence
are instilled through endless repetition using
tried and true methods honed over the course
of the Corps’ 232-year history. Educators who
were veterans of the other branches of service
said they never had to endure what they saw
the Marine recruits going through.
While making recruits into warriors is
paramount (every Marine, male or female,
receives exactly the same training, although
females are trained only at Parris Island, S.C.),
the Corps also places a high value on education.
Ninety-fi ve percent of all recruits already
have a high school diploma, and the rest must
have a GED from an accredited school. Once
enlisted, tuition assistance of $750 per term
see Marines page 13A
Above left, grimy recruits receive congratulations
and the coveted eagle, globe and anchor emblem
that marks their transformation from recruit to
Marine immediately after completing the 54-hour
marathon exercise known as “the crucible.” Above
right, a recruit struggles to carry his buddy while
moving from one station to station to another on
the conditioning course. At right, educators crawl
their way through increasingly narrow tunnels while
running the grueling bayonet assault course.
Photos by Rick Lemyre
At left, Antioch
High School teacher
David Koch
reaches for an
ammo box during
a problem-solving
exercise at the
workshop. Below
left, fresh off the
bus he arrived in,
a recruit scurries
past a screaming
drill instructor
during his fi rst
few seconds of
boot camp. Below,
Liberty High
School District’s
Jerry Black throws
an uppercut at the
Marines’ martial
arts program
training center.
Photos by Rick Lemyre