Sam BrandtEnglish I

The Summer That Changed My LifeSeventy-two days of pure hell would change my life forever. It was Monday August

24th 2009, when I awaited for the bus to arrive at the Radisson hotel in Harrisburg,

Pennsylvania. My fellow recruits and I were headed to the salty, marshy and alligator

infested place called Parris Island, South Carolina. My recruits and I say our last goodbyes

to our friends and family that we wouldn’t see for seventy-two days. The bus finally arrived

and we began our 12-hour drive to boot camp. We had plenty of time to ponder and think

about the decision we all made to put our life on the line as we fight for our country and its

values. Most of the time on the bus was spent watching movies and talking about what

training would be like. Then bus made a sudden right turn into Ryan’s steakhouse,

everyone was happy to have one last good meal.

It was getting late, probably around 11pm. I thought we would have been there by

now. As I drifted off into a nice sleep, a man got on the bus and suddenly awakened me with

the stomping his boots and the intimation of a drill instructor hat. He yelled, “ Get off this

bus now and line up on the yellow foot prints!” I said to my buddy, as everyone looked

disgruntled, “tonight is going to be a long night.” The ‘fun’ began as we started filling out

paper work, checking in, and making last minute phone calls to family by reading a typed

up message and hanging up.

Everything was total chaos. There were drill instructors yelling left and right.

Luckily for me I got the 411 about what to expect from my cousin’s husband who was

already in the Marine Corps. Knowing that information helped me keep calm through all

the craziness. Keith, my cousin’s husband, told me, “Don’t be intimated by the drill

instructors, they’re just doing their job. Give it 100% effort in all that you do and you’ll be

fine.”

Day number two of training finally arrived. I felt exhausted from not having proper

sleep. I said to myself, “man, I hope we get a chance for a nap today.” We went from place to

place getting all of our gear and uniforms to earn the title we wanted most; a United States

Marine. On some down time I was able to meet some of my fellow recruits. One guy I met

was from Greencastle, Pennsylvania, about 40 minutes away from me. Luckily, my wish

came true that day about getting good night’s sleep as the temporary drill instructor let us

go to bed at 8pm.

Day three came in like a roaring lion. We sat and waited on the floor of our barracks

building for the drill instructors to arrival. I heard a sudden “boom” as the doors swung

open. It was our senior drill instructor, which, in other words, was the boss of all the other

drill instructors. He introduced the three other drill instructors. The senior drill instructor

gave examples of what the drill instructors could do to us throughout boot camp. He then

gave the command and said, “drill instructors: you got them.”

In a hurry, we moved all of our sea bags and gear to another building while getting

yelled at in the hot South Carolina sun. I could not wait to get to the new building. My arms

were numb from carrying all 3-sea bags. I thought to myself, ‘if only I could expedite this

line to pick our bunk beds.’ Finally, we arrived in the building and were assigned to bunk

beds in alphabetical order. We picked up our sheets and were shown how to properly make

a bed- boot camp-style with a 45 degree fold on the corners. Right off the bat I realized that

fold was going to be hard to do to their standards.

A new week has dawned as we headed into phase one of boot camp. Here, the main

purpose was to mentally strip recruits down from their civilian ways of life. In my opinion,

I felt this was the hardest phase for everyone because of the culture shock to a completely

new environment. You have some of these men and women trying to find a new light in life

and this training and the opportunity is all they had. The recruits I talked to took this

challenge on for different reasons: money, benefits, college, or wanting to serve the

country. We all had different motives, but we all came to serve the same purpose of fighting

and defending our country on foreign and domestic lands even if it came down to

sacrificing our lives. While in phase one, I began learning how to march, dress properly,

greet properly, practice mixed marshal arts, clean weapons, and to swim. The most exciting

part before I went to bed was getting mail from my family and friends. They all supported

me greatly. I received at least one letter every single day I was there.

Soon enough, we headed into phase two of training. My fellow recruits were

counting down the days, but I didn’t have time to think about that. I was focused on my

marching, which was struggle for me. My drill instructor paired me up with another recruit

to work on it. There were a couple of times we both spent time on the quarter-deck

(punishment area) doing push-ups, crunches, planks and other exercises. The drill

instructors really get in your face and try to break you down by saying you’ll never be

anything in life, or that you’re not going to make it through boot camp. I was strong-

minded. I had climbed hurdles in my life and wasn’t going to let a couple of words bring me

down. In fact, one time, I was getting punished up at the quarter-deck for somebody else’s

mess up and I was sweating like crazy. My drill instructor stood in front of me with a plastic

zip-lock bag as he held it under my chest and said, “give me some of your soul, boy”.

Most of our times in phase two we were on the range. Grass week was the kick of

part of the range. For an entire week we did nothing but sight our rifles in on targets. This

entailed not shooting the guns, but prepping mentally and following the fundamentals of

good shooting positions, breathing and slow trigger pull. Ultimately you and your weapon

must become one to be your very best. We then headed into firing week, where we had a

day of pre qualification and qualification day. The pressure is on to preform. If a recruiter

failed at this, he or she could get held back if they couldn’t pass the remedial course the

following week.

Phase three was the most crucial part. It entailed the crucible, also known as the last

major test to become a United States Marine. The crucible was a 54-hour non-stop training

exercise where we had to prove our skills that we learned over the pervious weeks of

training. There were no drill instructors there to guide us or get in our face. We were out

there as a team to simulate what it would be like in combat. I can remember when we had

to go find a helicopter that was down and rescue the pilot. Guess who had to carry the pilot

for a half-mile? Recruit Brandt did! Other exercises we did involved solving problems,

overcoming obstacles, and combat assaults. My teams hardest obstacle was trying to get

our whole team across a section of obstacle course only by swinging from rope to rope. We

couldn’t let our feet touch the ground or we would have to start over. It took us 10 times to

finally get everyone across. At this point we were 36 hours in. Everyone was exhausted.

It was a long march back to the barracks. I was motivating everyone on my team by

telling them “guys- you only have the march back and we have made it!”

Morale started to build as we pushed each other, even when the packs were heavy

on our backs and our whole bodies were tired from sleep deprivation. As we got closer to

the barracks I saw our squad bay. There was a sudden tear filled joy that hit me. My fellow

brothers and I did it. I was so thankful to have stayed in good health though the crucible

and the other weeks of training. We marched over to the Marine Corps memorial to receive

our Eagle Globe and Anchor (EGA). The emotion started building of the weeks of hell we’ve

all been through to earn the title of a United States Marine. The drill instructor placed the

EGA in my hands and said “Congratulations Private Brandt”.

It was all down hill from here. We were officially marines! We spent the last few

days before our families came on graduation day, handling administrative paperwork and

taking a combat fitness test. The fitness test consisted of the following for a perfect score of

300: 20 pull-ups, 100 crunches in 2-minutes, and an 18-minute 3-mile run.

The day finally arrived to see our families and leave this sand flea island. It was and

exhilarating experience to see my family again! As I walked back to grab my sea bags and

head back to Pennsylvania for 10 days, my drill instructor said to me, “Private Brandt your

going to be a good marine at whatever you do in the Marine Corps.” Going through this

training and experience changed my life and gave me a new perceptive and outlook on life:

never back down or quit, no matter how hard things are push through for the victory, for

victories aren’t bought with money, they are earned with blood, sweat and tears.