The time we arrived in San Diego, it was dark, but not much
later after sunset. We were met at the terminal by an escort who would take us
to a backdoor exit that had an airport employee, a few chairs, and nothing
else. Suddenly a silhouette of a person came to the door as it opened and we
all knew exactly who it was. It could have been the posture or maybe the
uniform that gave it away but it wasn't. The image of the Drill Instructor's
hat was drilled into our head before we got there and the moment this
individual walked in, we knew who it was. What caught us off guard was that he
was not as intimidating as we were taught. He basically had everyone stand in a
single file line, called off our names like a roll call, and had us walk to the
bus. As we got on the bus, and it was a normal size school bus, they had us sit
three people to the seat filling up the front rows first. We all had one bag with us at which it really had nothing in it. When we sat down, we all put our
bags in our lap and got all snuggled in, nice and tight, with everyone else
that was going off to Marine Corps basic training. If you think this was
already not comfortable, think again, because it is about to get worse. As the
bus started, they informed us that we were not privileged to know how to get to
the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, so we were instructed to put our heads in
between our legs, or as far as we could get them. When I look back on the
experience, I believe it was because they did not want us to have the viewing pleasure
of traveling through downtown San Diego, on the way to the depot. From what I
can recall, the ride was about fifteen minutes but it felt like hours as well,
because of how uncomfortable the ride was. At the time, none of us understood
why we sat so tight, because the back half of the bus was entirely empty. I
figured, once again, they wanted to make this the most undesirable experience
that anyone would ever want to go through, and it was.
Once we arrived at the depot, we were then herded off the
bus like cattle. We were then told to find a set of 'yellow footprints' and
stand on them. Now these yellow footprints at significant meaning behind them
in a way that we cause us to never forget what these looked like or just the
idea of them. It has been close to ten years since I have seen these things and
still to this day, I can picture them like it was yesterday. Once we all got on
a set, roll call began again and apparently there were other buses there with
more recruits on them as well, about a dozen more buses. We all picked it up
quite quickly that when our name was called, we responded in ' YES SIR' as loud
as we could yell. If we didn't, well we did the next time. The next part left a
bitter sweet taste in my mouth that I will never forget. What they had me do, I
still do not agree to, to this day and I most likely will not ever or even
forgive what they had me do. It was nothing inhumane but it really hit a spot
in my heart that hurt and made me resent the experience for the last ten years.
Please leave a comment on your opinions and I will go over them. Thank you for taking the time to read about my experience in the Marines. Keep in mind this is an experience in my life I would never change because it has made me who I am today and I have no regrets. I also welcome anyone to share these blogs with anyone of their own, I am always in the mood for feedback. Please keep it respectful. Thank you!
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