San Diego -- The road to earning the title ‘Marine’ begins when young men and women step upon the yellow foot prints. Recruits of Company M, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, did just that aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego June 17.
The first night starts with recruit-filled buses arriving to the depot. Drill instructors get on the bus to give recruits their initial orders. They are told to move with speed and intensity at all times. They then rush to step on the infamous yellow foot prints. Recruits must be loud and the only responses they are allowed to use are “yes sir,” “no sir,” and “aye, aye sir” and must refer to themselves as “this recruit.”
While standing on the yellow footprints, they are read a few of the articles under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which recruits must now abide by. The UCMJ is a set of rules and regulations all service members must uphold.
“We do it to get it in their head that there are rules, regulations to follow and punishments,” said Staff Sgt. Patrick C. Salcido, chief drill instructor, Receiving Company, Support Battalion.
Once recruits are made aware of the standards, they move on to the contraband room where they are stripped of all items banned during recruit training including watches, alcoholic beverages, gambling devices, money and electronic devices.
“We rid them of all excess items that they won’t need during recruit training so they stay focused,” said Salcido. “It is to have them forget about home and focus on their mission at hand, becoming a Marine.”
Recruits make a brief phone call to their families in which they read a pre-written message to let them know they arrived safely and are ready to begin training.
In the next stage, haircuts are then given to every recruit to establish uniformity. Their heads are shaven and will be like this for the remainder of training.
“We take away their personality and individuality. This is the first step to break them down, and make them look the same,” said Salcido. “We want to strip them from being an individual and rebuild them to be part of a team.”
Every stage in this early process is controlled chaos for recruits. Drill instructors expect orders to be followed quickly and efficiently. When recruits hesitate, drill instructors yell different commands making recruits shift back and forth, screaming louder every time, and thus, causing confusion.
This confusion is only a preparation for training and is intended to instill recruits with instantaneous obedience to orders. Obedience to orders will be reinforced once their formal training begins.
However, before this training begins, recruits are given vaccinations and the necessary equipment needed to begin in a week-long period known as receiving week.
At the end of receiving week, recruits are introduced to their training cycle drill instructors, in a day known as black Friday, marking the official commencement of training. Recruits of Co. M have 12 weeks of training to complete the transformation from civilian to Marine.