Leadership Stories - My Marine Corps Boot Camp Experience?These Leadership Stories are about my experience as a Marine and will continue on through my entire Boot Camp experience. This is just for your reading pleasure. GET OFF THE BUS! GET OFF THE BUS! GET OFF THE BUS! HURRY UP! HURRY UP! HURRY UP! That was the way my Marine Corps experience started. Just like it does for every Marine. That night we drove up in the bus from the airport was a very eye opening and life changing experience. As we pulled through the main gate of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, my heart began to beat faster and faster. Here I finally was on a journey that started several months earlier when I had enlisted under the delayed entry program with the Marine Corps. When I enlisted I was still in High School and only seventeen years old. Leadership Stories - I was still wet behind the ears... I had originally wanted to join the Air Force but through fate or dumb luck, not sure which, I ended up in the Marine Corps. So here I was, the year 1975, about to start my career with the Marine Corps still only seventeen years old. Still wet behind the ears. Well that was all about to change. When the bus was almost to a stop I saw the Marine Drill Instructor in his traditional campaign hat slowly walking in a very deliberate way toward our bus. Now my heart was racing. I mean really racing. I was wondering if I had made a tremendous mistake.Could I still change my mind, I was wondering. Was it possible? Leadership Stories - He was glaring at us... The bus stopped. Everyone stayed very still in their seats. I was sitting about three quarters of the way back in the bus. The driver open the door quickly and the Drill Instructor walked up the steps and stood glaring at all of us. Then he began to speak. Oh my God, this must be some kind of mistake he said. I can't believe they let you pukes into My Marine Corps. You all have made a huge mistake. None of you will make it one day in My Marine Corps. On my command you have fifteen seconds to make it from this bus to those yellow foot prints and standing at attention. No one hear wants to be the last one, trust me! GET OFF THE BUS! GET OFF THE BUS! GET OFF THE BUS! HURRY UP! HURRY UP! HURRY UP! I came to life like no other time in my life. All I knew was I was not going to be the last one to those yellow foot prints. I climbed over and through people and got to those foot prints. Now there must have been fifteen or twenty Drill Instructor's now. They were everywhere and in our face. Yelling is all I remember. Leadership Stories - The didn't care if we had gotten a bit to eat.. They were not asking or wondering how our trip to the facility went. They didn't care if the flight was good. They didn't even care if we had a chance to grab a bite before we arrived. There only motivation was to scare the crap out of us. Guess what? It was working. Now I was sorry I didn't go into the Air Force like my father. I had to be challenged by his statement that he didn't even think I would make it through Marine Boot Camp. Was he going to be right? They were constantly in our faces. Letting us know that our life would end if we didn't respond to their every demand. We were herded into a building where we were processed through a barber shop. They told us to point to any parts on our heads that had moles or anything else that might be cut while shaving our heads. I couldn't think of any, but now I was beginning to wonder. I never had to think about that before. Too late. I was in the chair and seconds later my head was bald. I suppose it was a lot like shearing sheep. The only difference was that sheep were treated better. As a Marine I really recommend the book ”Parris Island Daze: My Drill Instructor Was Tougher Than Yours”, by Bob Shirley. He takes you through a very detailed trip from start to finish. You almost feel like your part of the experience. Get a new or used copy today from Amazon. You will not regret it. My Marine Corps Boot Camp Experience - Page 2
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