The Few, The Proud

Recently, a Marine Corps recruiter drove Jodi Carson, Gordon McWilliams, Kevin Walton and me from Greensboro to Raleigh where we joined 31 others whom the Marine Corps refer to as “Influencers.”  

Teacher, Guidance Counselor, Deputy Sherrif and Media guy turn
themselves over to Marine Corps for one week.

In recruiter speak, we would leave “stupid early” the next morning for an Educator Workshop aboard  Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot, Parris Island, SC.

Carson and McWilliams are employees of Asheboro High School – she is a guidance counselor, he is a teacher.  Walton is a Randolph County Deputy Sheriff.  I was a media guy.  

Conversations during the drive to Raleigh indicated the four travelers had watched sufficient Educator Workshop U-Tube videos to know what we were getting into.  

In fact, even Jodi Carson’s principal knew what we were getting into, “He tried sounding like a drill instructor for the past couple days to break me in,” she explained.

Jodi Carson, Guidance Counselor @ Asheboro High School gets her
Parris Island recruit ID card photo made.

Carson and I were drawn together quickly.  Perhaps it was because she played soccer and basketball at Eastern Guilford High School.  Or maybe it was because she taught English and coached JV softball and soccer at Southern Guilford High School prior to her work in Asheboro.  (She is a University of North Carolina Greensboro graduate with a master’s degree from Appalachian State University.)  

Perhaps it was because I told her I was a Marine and had been through recruit training at Parris Island exactly 60 years ago.

Whatever the bond, it was sealed by her discreet, “I’ll never tell” thumbs-up to me when the Recruiter/Driver casually announced, “Former Marines are not typically invited to these events.”  

Fair disclosure: I returned home on Wednesday evening of the Workshop.

According to our invite from Commanding General Terry V. Williams, “Your visit to Parris Island will allow you to get a small glimpse into what it takes to become a U.S. Marine.  We will introduce you to Marine Corps history, occupational and educational opportunities, weapons safety and marksmanship, physical and basic warrior training – you will walk away with a better understanding of the process we call transformation and your Marine Corps.”

General Terry Williams, Parris Island Commanding Officer tells
Influencers,"this is your Marine Corps -- pull back the curtain and
see how we make Mariens."

If “walk away,” was General Williams’ attempt at irony, it worked well.  

Thanks to highly motivational drill instructors assigned to watch over us, most of the week was at “double time.”  

Parris Island Senior Drill Instructor and two Junior Drill
Instructors stand ready to take over their new charges.

Whereas the general’s comments were clear and forthright, his drill instructors were demonstrably clear and forthright.  As in, “GET OFF MY BUS – FAST – NOW – MOVE IT – WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?”

The drill instructors seemed collectively hard of hearing.  We kept yelling, “Aye Aye, Sir,” and they kept responding, “I can’t hear you!”

SGT MAJ Jim Lanham welcomes Harry Thetford to Parris Island.
Sixty years makes a powerful difference in the welcome!

The week was a blur of firing the M-16, squad bay tour, water survival brief, martial arts demo, gas chamber, pugil sticks and rappelling.  

While some meals were at the officers’ club, more were with recruits.  According to Carson, “It was great to converse and have meals with recruits in their first weeks of boot camp, and with others just days away from graduation.  It was as if the transformation of recruits to Marines was happening right before our eyes.” 

The work-shoppers peeped in on the 54-hour training exercise known as the crucible, which ends with a nine-mile hike, and the four-mile motivational run the day before graduation.  

Other stops included the Parris Island Museum, Marine Corps Exchange and Marine Corps Air Station-Beaufort Flight Line.

The Workshop culminated with graduation exercises on Friday morning.  Several platoons of recruits had completed 13 weeks of blood, sweat and tears.  

They had finally received their eagle, globe and anchor – their personal Marine Corps emblem -- no longer recruits, they were now Marines.

Three months prior, each family had received a scripted telephone call from their recruit -- there would be no further contact between them other than postal, until graduation.  

“Graduation had the most impact on all of us,” recalls Carson.  “Even though not one of us personally knew a Marine who was graduating, it was hard to find a dry eye in our group!”

As for her week at Parris Island, Carson readily admits, “Words cannot describe the feelings one has after experiencing something of this nature.  While the Marine Corps isn’t for everyone, I understand now why those who have the mettle to become Marines are known as the few, the proud!”   

Ol'Harry