Making a Marine: From top story to top of The Reaper

The Examiner’s Jennifer Johnson was granted a first-hand look at the making of a Marine when she attended the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) Educator Workshop in San Diego, California. The following is a first-hand account of the adventure in celebration of Veteran’s Day and the birthday of the Marine Corps this week.

Pulling up to MCRD San Diego, a bus full of Marine hopefuls have no idea what’s in store for their next hours, days, weeks, months... Before exiting the ride, the young recruits are already being engulfed into a world that is universes apart from the civilian life they previously enjoyed.

“Do you want to go home?” they’re asked. No one taking up the offer extended by the buff man now barking orders, teenage boys begin to file off the bus and align themselves on painted footprints where many a Marine has likewise taken their first step into service.

As an observer, my morning consisted of a bountiful breakfast buffet and coffee – the Marines are very generous hosts. The recruits, however, would feast on the fresh air afforded by PT (physical training) before beginning the rigorous agenda of the day’s business.

It’s the wee hours of the morning that the sun can’t be bothered to show up for, but the intake facility at the training camp is already bustling with activity. There are uniforms to be allotted, heads to be shaved, rules to be imparted, and phone calls to be made. For every step of the way, there are plenty of tears to be shed, as well.

“Hi, mom. I miss you.” Each recruit is allowed a single, VERY brief call, dozens of young men clamoring for their turn on one of the few landlines. Everyone knows it will be a long time before they have this chance again. Some cry. Actually, most cry.

Sobs subside into resolve soon thereafter. There is too much to do, too much to learn, too much invested to give up now. It’s time to march on to the next – oorah.

The sun is still hitting the snooze button.

For 13 solid weeks, recruits prepare for one of the most daunting physical challenges known to man. Recruits practice marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat, trench warfare, mental challenge exercises, buddy rescue techniques, and so much more – from before dawn until after dusk – in preparation for “The Crucible,” a physical and mental challenge like no other.

As someone completely unprepared for the rigors of “12 Stalls,” a particularly precarious portion of the Crucible trek, I can’t tell you how I survived. I also can’t tell you how many times I had to run laps with ammo containers; but I can tell you that, after a few banishments from the beams due to faulty footwork that would have certainly killed me and most of my team in the real world, those metal boxes of bullets weighed somewhere close to 20,000 pounds (give or take).

My time at MCRD San Diego culminated in the excruciating, yet rewarding, hike to the summit of the Crucible, aka the summit of “The Reaper,” a 700-foot hill that is home to Merritt A. Edson’s Medal of Honor citation from the Battle of Edson’s Ridge. My journey to the tip of the mount was markedly less harrowing, yet the young men earning their EGA (Eagle, Globe and Anchor) emblem would only accept the accoutrement after enduring the trials of boot camp, along with 54 straight hours of a constant barrage of obstacle courses to be mastered amid food and sleep deprivation, 45 miles of marching, exposure to the elements and rugged terrain.

Filthy, famished and floundering at the outer edges of human capability, faces streaked with days of dirt begin to break the horizon. A few can still run, but most are barely breaking a stride; one arrives on makeshift crutches and the arm of a friend who wouldn’t leave another behind. All are proud – and all of them deserve to be.

“Always Faithful” and “Always a Marine:” mottos uttered before, during and after training consistently rang more true in the ears, mouths and actions of the young men budding into full-blown Marines. Whereas these teenagers culled from all crevices of the country came in as a motley crew of boys, they peaked at the tip of the summit as a team of men among thousands – as a team of warriors who weathered the first of myriad challenges that lie ahead with support from the persons to the right and left.

And, oh, the challenges that lie ahead.

But, first, we celebrate. At a grand affair announcing matriculation into “The Few, The Proud,” family, friends and fellow Marines gather to commemorate the commitment each new enlistee makes to the their country, their countrymen, and to their fellow Marines.

Lt. Gen. James Bierman, born on a Marine Corps base in North Carolina and currently commanding general of III Marine Expeditionary Force, is at the graduation ceremony to welcome the new Marines and their families into a new family.

“I wish I could make you a promise your Marine would always be safe,” Bierman says to parents gathered to witness the momentous event, “but it wouldn’t be true.

“Your Marines are warriors now.”

Bierman does make another promise, however: “Whatever your Marine does, they will be well-led, well-trained, and never alone.”

From the depths of the training trenches where this old reporter left her left knee, to the tip of The Reaper where this same reporter left in utter amazement at the human accomplishment of every single person at the pinnacle, the overwhelming commitment each Marine made to each other was in full view. Even more amazing, the commitment each made to the American public – to people they’ll never know. In the words of President Ronald Reagan, “Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don’t have that problem.”

This Veterans Day, in saluting all who have served in America’s Armed Forces, we remember the words of yet another U.S. president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”