In light of the recent news that my nephews, Nathaniel and Jed, are shipping to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, SC on 2 September, I’ve decided to publish a definitive guide on surviving Marine Corps recruit training.
This guide serves as a cheat sheet of sorts, bulging with tips and tricks proven to impress, [...]
I’ll admit I’ve taken my last eleven years as a United States Marine somewhat for granted. And now, as a drill instructor charged with making Marines, I see now more than ever that becoming a Marine goes well beyond a paltry twelve week recruit training cycle, follow-on occupational schooling, and even the first enlistment.
The [...]
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Published: May 3rd, 2008The platoon recently wrote their first love letters. Love letters are anonymous letters written by recruits concerning likes and dislikes about the Drill Instructors. They’re used by the SDI as a gauge for platoon morale as well as identifying strengths and weaknesses (positive or negative trends) of each member of the Drill Instructor team. I [...]
Published: February 27th, 2008“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 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, 2007
