“These recruits are entrusted to my care.
I will train them to the best of my ability.
I will develop them into smartly disciplined, physically fit, basically trained Marines, thoroughly indoctrinated in love of Corps and country.
I will demand of them, and demonstrate by my own example, the highest standards of personal conduct, morality and professional [...]
From “Rite of Passage: Making Basic Training Tougher” by Jim Garamone, 23 February 2004.
Images meticulously selected and edited by yours truly.
“We have two missions in the Marine Corps — to win battles and make Marines,” said Col. Bob Hayes, assistant deputy chief of staff for operations and training at the recruit depot here. “The Crucible [...]
Get Together by The Youngbloods
The #10 song in the country in 1969.
After two and a half months of aimlessly wandering the halls of Drill Instructor School, I noticed this poem for the first time today. It was sandwiched between a couple of Vietnam-era uniforms and assorted memorabilia in a display case, set back far enough [...]
I’ve decided to outsource the transcription of my Lewis and Clark Bicycle Tour journals. But rather then mail my precious notebooks to some seedy service in Bangladesh, I’m going to keep this job in-house. Hence, I now appeal to the American public and jaymekohler.com readers nationwide.
I have two journals that need typing. My first journal [...]
I had a nice little sit down chat with a military psychologist this morning. It was apparently in response to some paperwork I had filled out in the early days of DI school. I was one of fourteen Marines interviewed. Out of seventy-two.
The conversation dealt specifically with my disclosure of physiological and psychological “abnormalities” following [...]
How does two weeks pass without much to say about them? Maybe that means I’ve settled into the routine?
The only real thing of note was BWT last week, which translated to a few days “in the field” smeared in cami paint and charging around the woods like a bunch of ROTC pinheads on a field [...]
The picture you’re seeing to the right is the actual size of the cockroach that awoke me from my peaceful slumber at 2:00am this morning. He may not seem like much, but wait until the little bastard crawls into your ear and then tell me you’re not envisioning a thousands eggs being laid in your [...]
Published: November 5th, 2007I was browsing PostSecret.com when the Marine Corps emblem in this postcard caught my eye.
I wish it hadn’t.
Published: October 31st, 2007I’ve got two loads of clean laundry piled on my rack to fold and put away, Drill Card 1 to practice, a movement or two to memorize out of Book II, Individual Movements Without Arms, uniforms to prep, garbage to take out, my PT Pack to ready for the morning, and I’m wasting entirely too [...]
Published: October 21st, 2007It’s DI school, class 1-08, Parris Island, South Carolina folks, and tomorrow is the official kick off.
I arrived Friday morning after a sixteen hour drive from Corunna, MI and basically wasted the weekend away working on this website and screwing off. It wasn’t a mistake, necessarily. There’s really nothing a man can do to prepare [...]
