Leadership Stories - My Marine Corps Boot Camp Experience - 2

This is a continuation of leadership stories on my experience in Marine Corps Boot Camp. I will continue them through my entire experience in Marine Corps Boot Camp.

Immediately after they shaved my head in about twenty to thirty seconds, we were herded off to a large room. I use the term herded because they continued to tell us we were not capable yet of any form of organize movement.

Sad to say they were right!

As I looked around it was harder to identify guys that just moments ago had hair. In a sense we all looked somewhat alike now. Keep in mind this was during a time long hair was the thing to have. A person's identify was kind of in the way they looked.

Well now that was all gone. Now our old identity was being stripped away piece by piece so that it could slowly be developed into something new. That something “new” was a United States Marine. We were not honored yet with that title, but we were at the beginning stages of earning it.

Leadership Stories - Nothing could have prepared me..

For those that have not experienced Marine Corps Boot Camp, it is so hard to describe. I have seen the movies, and read the books, but it's more than that. It is not only the change that happens on the outside, but your inner being is Changed. You think you know who you are before you arrive at boot camp, but you change ever so slowly each and every minute you're there.

Bald heads were all around me. We were still in our civilian clothing. We looked ridiculous.

The Drill Instructors were relentless. They were in our face constantly. No matter what we said, it was never right, or loud enough. Picture for a minute someone yelling directly in to your ear from about half and inch away, I Can't Hear You! There campaign hat would bang into the side of your head as they screamed into your ear!

To them you were the lowest form of life known to mankind. Nothing you could do or say was going to change that. Even if you did exactly what they requested, it was not going to be good enough. They remained in your face.

Leadership Stories - It wasn't a dream..

I kept thinking to myself this can not be happening. I must be having a very, very bad dream. Why would I ever volunteer for this!

Well I did and it wasn't a dream!

Prior to arriving I knew it would be bad. As a matter of fact I envisioned the Drill Instructor's yelling and screaming, but never did I imagine it was going to be like this.

There mission was to tear us down to nothing. To make us believe we were dirt and lucking to share the same space with cow dung. We were no longer thought of as humans. We were constantly reminded that we were not fit to be Marines.

In the larger room we were told to stand at attention in front of these tables that were all along the walls. The tables were higher than normal. They came up to about our stomachs. We were at attention facing the wall. Why we were standing at attention in front of the tables I still don't know, but guess what, I did! I would have sat under the table, on the table, inside the table if that was what they had told me to do.

While standing at attention in our civilian clothes, with our bald heads, and our pride left at the front gate, we were called out, by name, to the head for a urinalysis. In layman's terms, a Piss Test! By the way, the term head is a naval term for restroom.

Leadership Stories - My life went from bad to worse..

Now if there is one thing I am not good at, it is pissing in front of someone. The second thing I am not good at, is doing that on demand. The third thing would be doing all of that while a Drill Instructor is standing beside you breathing down your neck, telling you that you are a piece of dung.

Needless to say, because I was unable to piss on demand in front of a yelling Drill Instructor, my life turned from bad to worse in no time at all. Now they were scaring something out of me, and it wasn't piss.

I became the center of their world. And their world was full of torment. I was accused of being a drug addict, because I wouldn't, no I couldn't, urinate into a bottle on demand in front of them.

I was tormented for over an hour. I was humiliated. I was abused in almost every way possible, until I finally was able to piss into the bottle. I was close to being broken. But I wasn't going to let them break me!

This was just one more piece of myself I had to give up, on my way to being transformed into the end goal, which was a United States Marine. As I look back now, I am comfortable with what happened, and know that all of it was part of the process.

Call it brainwashing if you wish. But I call it “The Making of a Marine.”

Thank you!

The information contained in these Leadership Stories or any article provided by Good Leadership Skills in our website Leadership-Skills-for-Life.com, has not been prepared, endorsed, or reviewed by any form of licensed legal professional including but not limited to an attorney. Nothing on the Leadership-Skills-for-Life.com website should be taken as legal advice, but instead should act as a useful resource in providing general information that may be useful to members of the general public. All visitors are encouraged to consult with a licensed attorney/lawyer in all legal matters. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information on this web site. This information does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice.

Return to the Main Page of my Leadership Stories of My Marine Corps Boot Camp Experience.