Today is June 16th 1999. Two weeks ago I graduated from UMass Dartmouth with a BA in English. It took me five years because I'm a bit of a screwup. I'm 23 years old. I don't think that I'm stupid, but I do lack motivation and direction. So here I am on a bus at One O'Clock in the morning, excuse me, at 0100 in South Carolina headed to Parris Island. Yes that's right, I enlisted in the Marine Corps and I'm headed to boot camp. Now that my journey is underway, I am extremely apprehensive: Did I make the right choice? Can I actually do this? Do I really want to do this? What if we go to war while I'm on active duty? Do I really want to be one of the few and the proud? Why didn't I just get a job near home? What the hell was I thinking?!?! I'm sitting in the front seat of the bus staring out into the darkness. We're on an unlit highway and there is nothing but trees to the left and the right. Every light on the horizon might be the gates of PI. I look around the bus and see some guys trying to get some sleep and others looking around with the same WTF look as I'm sure I have.. This all seems so surreal...
I said that I don't think that I'm stupid, but at this moment I'm not only questioning my intelligence but my sanity. In late February I got two phone calls, one from a Navy Officer Candidate Recruiter and one from a Marine Corps Recruiter. I spoke with the Navy OCR first and he said he'd get back to me. Two weeks went by when I got a call from the Marine Recruiter. His name was C.L. Scarfo. Gunnery Sergeant Scarfo worked out of the Fall River Massachusetts Recruiting Office. Gunny Scarfo asked if I was willing to come in and talk with him. Now here's the thing and there is no getting around this. I was getting ready to graduate and I was scared to death about it. I was already in my fifth year at UMass and still didn't really know what I wanted to do. So I figured I'd humor this guy and make myself feel like I was examining all options at the same time. At least that is the line I sold myself.
If you have never sat in a military recruiting office, or more specifically a Marine Corps recruiting office, then you might need a description. The setup is simple. A couple desks, a few posters on the wall and probably two, maybe three Marine recruiters in their dress deltas. When you sit down with a recruiter at one of the desks, he or she will hand you a ring with different colored dog tags on it. Imprinted on each tag is a character trait. The recruiter will ask you to look through and pick the three that you like the most or want to develop the most. Then he/she will tell you how the Marine Corps can give you that. This is the pitch. It is that simple. If they hook you then there are steps after this. If they don't, then they will see if they can get you to come back. In the simplest terms they are selling the Corps and you are thinking about buying. However, this is not entirely what is going on. You are also the seller and the recruiter is the buyer. You are considering selling your heart, mind, body and soul to the USMC and the recruiter is trying to get you at a discount. He's also trying to get you quickly. If he can get you to sign up and leave within a week, he will.
I don't tell you this out of malice or hatred. I don't hate my recruiter, although at this moment he's not my favorite person in the world. I signed the contract. This is entirely of my doing. I'm terrified about what's going to happen when this bus gets to its destination. I find myself wishing that I was still in Boston. For some reason, it occurs to me that I won't talk to my dad or any of my friends or have a beer for 13 weeks. 13 WEEKS!?!?! What the hell was I thinking? As that last thought lingers in my head, I see the bright lights of the entrance to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in front of me. The bus pulls up to the gate and drives through it. Quickly and quietly everyone on the bus sits up and/or wakes up. As the bus pulls up to the receiving building, there is a large black Drill Instructor marching toward the bus... this bus.. the door is opening and he's stepping on... WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING!?!?!
