Boy to Marine

Since 1924, tens of thousands of Marines have started their transformation from young boy to Marine by taking their place on the yellow foot prints in the courtyard shown above at MCRD (Marine Corps Recruiting Depot) in San Diego. But first, they have to get off of the bus and meet their first drill instructor.

How Does a Marine Act

After these recruits, many that appear to still be boys, get off the bus, they receive their first instruction on how to be a Marine. How to stand, how to address others, and that every command must be obeyed quickly and without hesitation.

All through the Night

Four to six waves of buses come in each Monday night filled with young men wanting to become Marines about 43 weeks out of the year. These new recruits will not sleep for 48 hours while they are processed and taking their first steps to becoming a Marine. For the drill instructors, this process goes all night as new recruits keep rolling in on buses from the San Diego airport arriving from anywhere west of the Mississippi River.

The training to become a Marine is considered some of the hardest in the world; even so, 95% of the recruits that arrive to training camp end up graduating. The Marine Corp does not train people to fail.

The average age of Marine recruits is 19; however, recruits are allowed to join at 17 with their parents permission if they have their GED and 15 college credits completed. It is likely that one or two of the young men here are 17.

Follow SweetwaterNOW’s Creative Content Director, Abe Larsen, as he spends a week with the United States Marines.