Mr. Arieson

I have a fairly decent job, one that we get a lot of hopeful applicants for.

We had a co-worker who was a female who always seemed to take the job for granted. She arrived late, left early, and usually called in sick. She was overly emotional and very easily offended. She had been promoted, and later demoted because she could not make it to important meetings. She had some opportunites that a lot of unemployed people would really like to have themselves.

When I found out she was resigning to join the USMC, I was shocked. I did not think this person would ever pass basic, and was making a sad and tragic mistake, as this is the kind of job we have that ex-military usually try to get. She was leaving a great job that others really wanted. I believed at the time she was thinking of the military as some kind of x box game, or even as a paintball experience on steroids. I had no doubt the running, and shooting, the war games would not be a problem for her. It was the sleep deprivation and millions of mundane tasks that I thought she would not be able to handle. How can you get up at "oh-dark thirty" (4:30 am for you non vets) when you can't even make it to a civilian job by 9? There are no relaxed mornings in basic training, reading the paper and drinking coffee. There is no time for relaxing. Really, no time for "you". It's hard (especially when you are not a 19 year old person anymore) Probably the hardest thing a person can sign up for.

We had not heard from her, so I assumed she had bolo'd out and had done the "duffel bag drag" (Not passed basic-returned home).

The other day, she showed up at our worksite in her uniform.

I was floored.

What a difference in EVERYTHING she exuded. My first thought was "My god, she actually looks humble!" Humble? This person was arrogant before, and had few friends as a result. The person I now saw before me had changed. Completely.

She stood tall and proud in her uniform, but the arrogance was gone. Instead, I saw a mature, proud (yet humble) person who has undergone a hard task, and completed it. Confidence instead of arrogance.

I was so freaking proud of her. I told her that no matter what, she could always look at this experience as her defining moment. The moment she grew up.

I am happy to say I was wrong about her. My respect level went up 2000% for her.

She is a Marine.

That's probably the best compliment I can give her.

whitebelt

I know some will take offense but that just goes to show that USMC is watered down from the days of Iwo and Nam................

Mr. Arieson

Watered down?

Have you ever been to basic training of any kind?

I would imagine things are just as hard as ever in boot camp. They are preparing people for the meat grinder that is Iraq. I would imagine if anything they have increased the level of training, to prepare for IEDs and other things they have there like they had in Nam.

I am not sure I get your point, but I do find it offensive. You minimize this persons accomplishment, like so many others in this country do. Always choosing to focus on the negative regarding our troops.

The experience of boot camp turned this young lady from a lazy and arrogant know- it -all, to an excellent human being and warrior. I could see it in her eyes.

This is traditionally the effect basic training has on people. Which anyone who has been there would know.

Like me.

whitebelt

My boot camp was so rugged that not everyone made it through. It wasn't something they gave you because of a shortage of troops; you had to earn that boot camp certificate and the right to call yourself a soldier. We recycled sorry asses and when you graduated AIT you were a mean SOB not some watered down version like they are turning out now.

Mr. Arieson

So the modern troops in our military currently defending your ass are "watered down"??

Man, I am about to go Jubaji on this guy!!

Mr. Arieson

You know, reading this post really gives me some ideas.

First off, in Vietnam they were taking a lot of people (like ex-criminals and Juvenile delinquents) that they would not normally take. Then, a lot of them were drafted and did not make a personal choice of joining.

I don't remember them ever issuing any kind of boot camp "certificate", I could be wrong, but the only thing I got was a short parade and the joy of hearing a speech from the post commander. Of course, I was not a Vietnam era soldier. I served in the peacetime, when Reagan was president and the whole world was afraid of us.

Furthermore, when people graduate from AIT (it could be anything from infantry to laundry and bath specialist, you idiot.) they are not automatically a "Mean SOB". That comes after being in combat, not working in the motor pool for a couple of weeks.

My friend is surely going to Iraq, where the entire place is one big front line. That makes her a mean DOB as far as I am concerned. She chose this. She was not drafted. That takes balls, right there, just to even do that.

whitebelt

See you took it personal. I was just talking from an intellectual point of view. The training and recruits back then were much tougher. How many times do you think Parris Island recycled some recruits? Yea there is a shortage of troops thus the standards are lowered; Some people called Marines now days could not even carry the Sword of some past Marines. All they care about is Marksmanship and technical skills. Not much on Physical and Mental Grit. Yea, It takes Mettle to be a Marine and your friend deserves credit for volunteering but I'd rather be in Combat with someone much more Hardnose than what you describe. It takes more than Mettle, It takes skills also. The Corps will give her the skills but you have to have the Mettle deep inside. So in closing, don't take my remarks personal--I just have an image of Marines being much more Hardnose than what you are describing.

Toudiyama[NL]

Sorry but where does it show that, in fact if that would have been the case would it have changed the person so much

Now I don't think they were better prepared for the job at hand in the days of Vietnam( Isn't "Nam"reserved for who server in it?)

Tom Yum

Either way, good stuff Mr. Arieson! And this woman should be held to high esteems.

Talking with veterans who have come back from Iraq, they get greeted by indifference or worse from people around them who have no idea what they've gone through or care for that matter, while following the highest orders of the very same man they voted into office.

Making it to a civillian job at 9am is nuthin'.

Try 7am classes on a Saturday morning for two semesters back to back with a full load of classes while supporting one's self with graveyard shift work (or which ever else), cooking, cleaning, doing one's own laundry while trying to keep a regular excercise schedule to balance it out all the while letting personal relationships sliiiide down the hill...

I'd wager most adults would have a tough time with that...well, seeing that some 19 year olds don't have to pay rent, cook, clean, wash their own clothes, support themselves or the institutions which give them the greatest returns on their investments (I mean in non-financial ways).

Many 19 year old service men have done so for 1-2 years by then.

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