How I Got Through Marine Corps Boot Camp

The sound of a violently thrown corrugated steel trash can hitting and tumbling across a concrete floor is one you can't forget.  

And, one you can't ignore.

Before the trash can came to stop by crashing into some poor guy's bunk the lights came blazing on.

And, then immediately the yelling began.

There was no time to think.  You didn't have to.  We knew what we needed to do.

Get on the line and count off.  We rolled out of the rack and still half asleep stumbled to the line .  One by one each recruit enthusiastically yelled a number.  One, two, three, etc.  I was last as the Series Scribe and finished with sixty-eight.

I had the rare privilege of announcing the count.  In my loudest voice I said, "Sir!! The count on deck is 68 highly motivated, truly dedicated, rompin, stompin, ass-kickin', Miller Light drinking, woman chasing, lean, green, amphibious killing machines, Sir!"

The rest of the platoon repeated the phrase.  

Our day had begun.

Marine Corps Boot Camp is a unique experience.  Tough is an understatement.  Difficult is the norm.  Challenging is the status quo.

We started with 80 and lost about half that either quit, washed out or fell behind schedule and joined other platoons.  We picked up some recruits that fell behind their platoons and joined ours when they were ready.

The wash outs simply went home.  They were escorted out in the middle of the night while you slept exhausted from the day.  We never heard a thing.  We would just get up the next day and they'd be gone...

The ones who fell behind and left went to the Physical Conditioning Platoon or PCP for short.  This was more humorously referred to as the Pork Chop Platoon.  They were handling boot camp mentally.  But, they couldn't meet the physical requirements.  Or, they were fat.  

PCP was a holding pattern.  You kept up your studies while doing two-a-days in a steamy Quonset hut until you were fit enough to rejoin a platoon in training. But, by that point your original platoon was well beyond where they got off.  So, they joined a new one to resume training where they left off.

So, in the process we lost 40 but picked up 28.  We lost 50%.  I never knew how many we lost to the PCP.  But, I do know it was not even close to 40.  Not even half. The mental challenge was the hard part and the reason most recruits did not make it.

Most of the recruits were 18 and 19 year old's.  Raw and wet behind the ears.  How prepared could an 18 year old really be? Physically they should be okay unless they were overweight or weak.  But, the real challenge was mental.

Enormous mental pressure is placed on a recruit as soon as they arrive. It starts with the arrival itself.

It is always the middle of the night.  Total darkness.

The new recruits already have an idea of what to expect.  They watched the videos on YouTube.  They heard the stories.  But, nothing can truly and fully prepare you for your first encounter with a Marine Corps Drill Instructor.

The bus ride from the airport where the big mouths had lots to say now have nothing to say. Eerie silence.  Eyes start getting wide. Palms start sweating.

The bus goes over a bridge.  The legendary only way on or off the island.

Then you arrive, disembark the bus and take your place on the infamous yellow footprints.  The mental pressure has begun.

The atmosphere is totally new.  The sounds are different. The smells are different.  The weather is different.  You have entered another world where you know a personal transformation of monumental proportions is about to take place.  If you survive...


You have no idea what you are going to do next.  You have no idea if you will even make it.  Doubt creeps in your mind...

You just do what they say and hope you do not become the butt of an insult because of the way you look or where you're from. 

You hope to make a good impression.  A virtual impossibility.  No impression would be better.  Invisibility would be best.

From this point and beyond the challenge mentally and physically is difficult.  You will have a good chance if you had a tough parent, coach or teacher. All three being tough would be better. But, nothing can guarantee success.

There will be a lot to learn in a short period of time.  There will be physical and mental stresses placed upon you that you have never encountered before.  

This is how Marines are made.

What is the key to succeeding in this situation?  How do you succeed in any high challenge situation?  Whether it is a lofty financial goal, career goal or personal goal like losing weight? 

The answer is to have a compelling reason to do it. You have to have a Why.

For me going to Parris Island and becoming a Marine was a stepping stone to where I wanted to go.  I wanted to fly. The Marines gave me that chance.  They were the only branch of the military that would.  I had no choice.  So, if I wanted to fly, I had to become a Marine (other branches of the military fly too, but it was not an option to sign up for with the recruiter). Flying was my compelling reason.  That was my Why.

According to leadership expert Simon Sinek, "it’s not enough to know what you do and how you do it. At our essence, we are most motivated by knowing why we do things."

Getting through boot camp was the How to getting to my Why. Under no circumstance would I advocate looking past boot camp. No way. That would have been an enormous mistake.  Instead, I embraced it. I rose to the challenge with the attitude that I had to succeed. Failure was not an option. As soon as I completed Boot Camp I would be on to flight school. And, it was in that attitude that I found success.

Flight school was my compelling reason.  Flight school would be my challenge.  Boot camp was a step to getting to that challenge.  

Boot camp was certainly a challenge too.  But, the difference was that I never thought that I wouldn't get through it. As Gene Krantz of Apollo 13 fame stated, "Failure is not an option."  Failure did not cross my mind.

I never asked questions around failure.  I never thought what if I can't do it or what if I don't have what it takes to be a Marine? I asked success oriented questions.  What do I have to do to be a Marine? What do I have to do to succeed? When you ask questions like this, the answers are the actions you need to take and then you simply execute.

Simply may be an understatement.  It was hard to do. But, what to do was simple. And, Why I was doing it was clear to me.

So, when you are faced with an enormous challenge.  Find a compelling reason.  Find your Why. Keep your eye on the prize and execute on the actions that will take you there. Ask the success oriented questions that point you in the direction of success.

You never know, you may find you have what it takes too...