Personal Narrative Analysis

The first week at his military school, Wes tried several times to went home. He had access to do a phone call to whoever he wanted to talk, if he would be able to convince that person in five minutes, then he could go back to home. On the phone his mother said, “Wes you don’t go anywhere until you give this place a try” (Moore 95). Wes wasn’t persuaded at first, but the words his mother told him must have stuck. He started doing better in school because he realized what his family has sacrificed in order for him to be there. Gradually, he became sergeant of platoon, a cadet master sergeant, and the youngest senior noncommissioned officer in the entire corps. Even though he was forced to stay in military school; slowly he changed his outlook in military school.

The non-fiction novel Making the Corps follows sixty-three boys into one of the harshest boot camps in the world, Parris Island, South Carolina; furthermore, it also gives a brief history of the Marines while explaining their role in the United States military. The book was written by “…The Washington Post’s senior Pentagon correspondent,” as well as a member of two Pulitzer Prize winning teams—for national reporting—Thomas E. Ricks (Ricks cover). Not all of the recruits made it to the end of the eleven week long “living hell;” however, the ones that did successfully earned the title, “marine.” Thomas E. Ricks narrates the true stories of the diverse men in platoon 3086 who prevailed the harsh Marine Corps training and moved on to deployment

Caputo goes to Quantico, in Virginia, to complete basic training. He and a number of other men go through many ordeals from four in the morning till nine at night. They spend hours marching in the sun. Drills were designed to eliminate the weak. These “unsats” were not fit to withstand combat. Philip Caputo is driven to succeed because he does not want to go home to his parents and tell them that he failed. By passing the first trial Caputo must return to Quantico two years later for the advanced course. This time they practice hand to hand combat and learn the codes marines live by.

David Coalson decided to enlist in the Marines only a month after his eighteenth birthday. “I wanted to be able to choose what I was going to do, rather than be told”, there was no end of the school year celebration this year. Coalson was going to something much worse, bootcamp. Bootcamp seemed to be forever but ended up flying by and before he knew it, he was shipped to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There was problems going down in Cuba however nothing to what he was about to face. All these events, graduating, turning eighteen, bootcamp, and Guantanamo Bay went by as fast as they were listed to Coalson. The real challenge was on the horizon, a deadly jungle, Vietnam.

Quickly, I make my way to the waiting Blackhawk helicopter. Even with my full combat load strapped to my back the rotor wash threatens to push me over. My face is pelted with grass and other debris; motivation and determination makes me run harder. As I reach the Blackhawk the Black-shirt directs me to one of four repel lines anchored to the aircraft. I wrap the line through my d-ring and climb into the cabin. I wait, crouched in the doorway, for my three other comrades to finish their hookup. The Black-shirt completes his check of our hookups and gives the pilot the thumbs-up. Abruptly, the helicopter lifts into the air leaving my stomach somewhere below.

In the summer of 2015, I attended an encampment called Devil Pups. Devil Pups is a ten day long program in Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton that teaches American youth the values of discipline, teamwork, and motivation. The ten day encampment heavily resembles Marine Corps boot camp, though it is not meant to be a recruiting program for the Marine Corps. When I heard about the program, I signed up for the physical fitness test and left without knowing too much of what to expect, aside from the small details that I had heard from my peers. The instant you exit the bus at Devil Pups, you are greeted with the shouting of young Marines. Quickly, you learn that these Marines’ words are law and that you must follow them. The cycles of going to bed

Captain O’Hara – US Navy and Captain Luxon – USMC, plan to train Sailors and former Soldiers, Marines was in full swing. The first class, all Sailors, was set to graduate from the Navy’s Advance Combat Course. After a brief stint in the field with the Marines they would be returned to the school to take over the training of the Sailors. The first class of prior service Soldiers and Marines had three more weeks of training to go through, although they started at the same time, their knowledge of infantry skills and tactics was far greater than what was needed by the Navy.

The subject of this book has affect my life by serving as a reality check of what my Marine predecessors went through in order for me to be able to obtain the deep-rooted fighting tactics today. I will never have to deal with and survive the adversities that the Marines of Fox Company did. It also affected me by teaching me that as a Marine, no matter what struggles may present themselves, I will always thrive and keep fighting.

In one’s life, there is that one place that is the more memorable than any other place in the world. For the men and women who service their country, deploying would be the most memorable place. Before the long, vigorous months in the closest place to hell, these man and woman share the same place that of the ones who have not deployed called boot camp. In the Marine Corps, recruits go through 13 weeks of physical and mental challenges aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD). But through all 13 weeks of being push to the limits, every Marines who came from San Diego MCRD could say the most memorable part of the depot would be meeting the Drill Instructors, getting their meal from the chow hall, and completing the final challenge as a recruit, the Reaper.

Many people have experienced the worst time of their life once. Some of them could say how football practice was bad, or how college calculus destroyed whatever brain cells they had left. Well there is a small number of people who experienced an event that no one else could ever experience. This event is something occurs only if you’re willing to sign up for the military. The day you fly out or ride to boot camp it’s a tradition and procedure that happens with every military all over the world. This tradition that makes people fear the military and the dreaded drill sergeants. No one will ever know the experience of shark attack like I have experienced it.

As the plane lands in Atlanta, Georgia two hundred others and I are escorted by Drill Sergeants to the buses. Several hours go by and finally I arrive at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. I glance at my watch, it’s three o’clock in the morning. The Drill Sergeants are screaming “MOVE PRIVATES! WE DON’T HAVE ALL DAY!” I run as fast as I can to formation just to stand at the position of attention for three hours. The morning sun is beating me in the face and the Drill Sergeants are still yelling.

The first part of this movie is an accurate representation of recruit training, enforcing the well known mantra “tear down then build up.” Present in this leadership style widely in use still today, is the idea of a ‘rite of passage’ in the journey from boyhood to manhood; as the subject becomes ‘worthy’ of a more masculine title. Leonard, “Private Pile,” falls victim to Gunnery Sergeant Hartman who is tasked with

I gradually slowed from a run to a walk before coming to a complete stop. I started to listen to my heart instead of my mind as it was corrupted by a fear so profound that it made my blood run cold every time the thought arrived in my head. I never should have left my platoon. It was a mistake. They had always been there for me even when I didn’t think I needed them, but now when they needed me I let them all down. I knew I was weak and that’s why I had run away but it wasn’t my fault that I was here. It wasn’t my decision but the government and its conscription policy. What did the government know about fighting in a war? Why don’t they allow any of their children fight instead of someone else’s? I turned around and started heading back deeper into the jungle that I had come from.

As Mark Twain once explained, “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” This sentiment was not one that I was not very familiar with before I went to boot camp. Like any young testosterone fueled eighteen year old male, I believed that, with some preparation, my, self perceived, athletic ability and wits would propel me to triumph over the challenges presented by boot camp .After all, I had never really experienced any kind of significant failure in my life: my football team won the league championship year after year, I passed all of my classes, I had lots of friends, and I had a happy home with two working parent’s life was good, it seemed everything was an immediate success. That is until I arrived at boot camp, where epic failure appeared to be the only means of success I was able to achieve. But, over time I learned my failures were not negative, they were, in fact, an invaluable step in the learning process that provided me with the necessary skills need to succeed.

“All of you put your heads down!”, the bus driver barked. As if at any second we were going to be bombarded by bombs. However, little to my knowledge, we were about to be. Not by bombs, but by a hail of chaos that would seem to never end for the next four months. The bus screeched to a stop, the old brakes groaning from its years of carrying young kids like me to this same destination. My heart was racing, I knew from this point on, nothing would ever be the same. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the glimmer of the infamous drill instructor hat known to be feared around the globe. “What have I gotten myself into now”, I thought to myself. I knew it was too late, there was no turning back.