What does it take to be a Marine
The United States Marine Corps. What does that statement mean to you? Do think of someone brave? Someone that is tough? Someone that has honor?
There are two versions of what the USMC is, one that a prior Marine know and the image that the public sees. What does it take to become a Marine? Do you have what it takes? I was never a recruiter. Actually, most Marines will tell you to join another branch. I was a combat Marine. I don't want to try to convince you to join. Only you can decide that. I spent my first enlistment with a combat battalion in the helo-assault unit. I fought in Africa and the Middle East between the years of 1993 and 1995. I reenlisted and was sent to an artillery unit. I guess the war gods thought I had seen enough because I didn't have to deploy again (although I would have with no problem).
You do not have to be strong to join the Marines. They will make you strong. Before you think that doesn't sound to bad, read on. Boot camp is easy. Although it is the toughest and longest of any of the American military branches, all you really have to do is obey orders. Boot camp teaches you the history, how to march and instantaneous obedience to orders. This is the brainwashing everyone talks about. It probably is, but I can state for a fact from experience, it will save your life. When you have been conditioned over and over again to follow an order, any order it is second nature. When someone yells DOWN, you drop. You don't question or look around. If you do, you may find a 7.62mm bullet (what the AK-47 fires) in your brain. Your real training isn't in San Diego or at Parris Island. It is once you get to your unit in the fleet. In boot camp you are required to be fed 3 times a day. You get a certain amount of sleep. Once you are a real Marine those rules don't exist. You eat when you get a chance, and sleep on the way to the mission.
What about the myth that Marines are dumb? While it is true you have to have higher test scores to get into other branches, you must have the ability to rapidly absorb endless amounts of knowledge all the time in an ever changing environment. Marines are not big dumb brutes. They are survivors that adapt to any situation. They learn weapons, tactics and those of any potential enemy. Many Marines are recruited from vary specific places. There is a method to this madness. I am only speaking of the enlisted, the officer world is entirely different. Many recruits come from poor neighborhoods in the inner city and small towns out in the country. Usually they come from a place where there is no future. The Marine Corps gives them what they lacked. A lifelong bond with other Marines and a sense of purpose.
What about being brave? What is bravery? Marines are not stupid. They will not throw away their lives. They will (every time) risk their own to save a companions. If you doubt that, consider this. There is a unit referred to as a TRAP team. It is the Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel. I was on the all volunteer team. If one pilot goes down, you will have no problem finding volunteers to go and recover them. What does this mean? For one man, 13 or more will put their lives at risk. That is the Marine way.
Marines are fanatical, fanatical about being Marines. They have proven their honor, endurance, strength, speed, intelligence, adaptability more times than can be counted. The Marine Corps is usually the first group in. You are always out numbered, have the worst equipment yet do the job. You do not stop until you have accomplished the mission. Even it seems impossible, their is a way. In Somalia, the high command thought casualties would be so high that every man carried his own body bag in his pack. Can you handle the fact that you are going into a situation that is so dangerous that logistically speaking it is easier to give you the bag before the mission? If this thought bothers you, try the Air Force because that is the reality of the Marines.
Are Marines killers? Yes and no. If you fight in a war, you will probably have to take a life. That is not all that happens in war. While I did take human life in Somalia, I also guarded many convoys of food to starving people. The warlords were stealing the food and selling it. Our job was to stop that. If someone shoots at you, you shoot back. In the Marine Corps, it is a safe bet that you will be trained better than whoever you are fighting.
One of the most important questions you have to ask yourself before you attempt to become one of the Few, the Proud, consider this: How much do you want to learn about yourself. No matter how tough you think you are, they will break you. Then build you into something even stronger. It will be the hardest job you will ever do. You will cover miles and miles on foot in a day. Weather, the Marines have a wonderful twist on that. If it is the kind of weather you wouldn't want to be out in, in the Marines you will be conducting nonstop training missions.
I can tell you this, but it won't mean anything unless you have experienced it. The mind controls the body. If you control your mind, you can push your body to limits you never thought possible. When most people stop because they are tired, you keep going. When people feel pain, they stop. Marines learn to ignore it. There are two sayings that have been used for decades. Pain is your brain telling you are still alive and Pain is weakness leaving the body. Sounds silly doesn't it? Once again, from experience I can tell you, those philosophies will save your life.
I didn't join the Marines for the uniform, I didn't join because I thought I was tough. I joined to prove to myself that I had what it took. It is not an easy road. Many have done it and they will always be your brothers, if you can make it down that road.
Now the question is, Do you have what it takes to learn the truth about yourself? To be in so much pain there are tears in your eyes, yet still go on? If you have the inner strength that it takes to train both your mind and body to go beyond limits you ever thought possible, then you might have what it takes. How much punishment can you take? That is the question. It will change your life for ever.
