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Preparing for Afghanistan

The Marines' Factory of War

By Marc Pitzke on Parris Island

Every year, 21,000 fresh recruits are transformed into warriors at the Marine Corps boot camp Parris Island. With US President Barack Obama now boosting troop levels in Afghanistan, many of them will be on a plane within just a few months.

The drill sergeant's bellowing echoes through the trees. His mouth is only inches away from the recruit's face, spraying it with saliva and sweat. His veins are popping; tattooed arms are bulging through his T-shirt.

"Do you wanna go back?" the staff sergeant yells. "No, sir!" the recruit replies stiffly.
"Do you want me to tell your mom?"
"No, sir!"
"Start over!"
"Aye, sir!"

It's a damp, foggy dawn on Parris Island, a swampy island off South Carolina in America's Deep South. As the sun rises, several dozen baby-faced teenagers, all in uniform, have reported to a pine forest where drill instructors proceed to run them mercilessly through a punishing obstacle course. They dangle from ropes and poles; they balance across tree trunks and crawl through mud; they climb over walls and cross watery ditches. A sign nearby reads "Leatherneck Square."

Every time one of the kids runs out of steam and can't quite complete the last pull-up or pushup, or doesn't give a perfect salute, the yelling starts all over again. "Go back home!" the instructor orders a recruit who fails for the third time. The recruit is dismissed, but he must try again the next day -- try until he makes it, eventually.

Proudly Focusing on Their Mission

This is no game. Parris Island is the most famous boot camp of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) -- a myth-enshrouded training facility for a military branch that sees itself as the toughest in the world. This sealed-off area facing Port Royal Sound off the Atlantic Ocean is where recruits become Marines, in a 12-week-long slog that can make grown men cry. The goal is that of living up to the legendary slogan: "The Few. The Proud. The Marines."

It's a training regimen with political overtones this week. Those who make it through Parris Island will almost inevitably end up in Iraq or, perhaps more likely, in Afghanistan within a matter of months. While most Americans have long turned their attention away from the war, the Marines proudly focus on their mission.

"Iraq!" the drill instructor yells.
"Fallujah!" the recruits respond.

"Afghanistan!"
"Kandahar!"

After weeks of intense deliberation, US President Barack Obama is expected to order some 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan on Tuesday. Many of the first to go will be Marines. Obama intends to explain his strategy to the American public in a televised speech on Tuesday from the US Military Academy at West Point. The manpower for this war, however, comes from elsewhere -- such as the grimy boot camp of Parris Island.

The boys trudging through these woods are 17- or 18-years-old. They're pale and pimply and still finding their way in their new reality. This is only day 15 since they arrived here -- in the dead of night from hometowns across the country.

'One Way or Another'

"Leatherneck Square" is where the wheat is separated from the chaff. Also known as the "confidence course," everyone is required to successfully complete the series of physical and mental tests it presents -- women included. Parris Island is the only place where the Marines train female recruits.

"You're gonna get through this, one way or another," says Staff Sergeant Chris Stephenson, 30, one of the drill instructors at the site. "We're training for the battlefield."

He knows what he's talking about. As most of Parris Island's officers, Stephenson is a war veteran. Now he keeps his yelling voice fresh by gargling with lemon juice every morning.

"Stop fussing with your face!" Stephenson barks at one poor subject who is scratching his nose.

The yelling during training is something of a tradition. The Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island has shaped civilians into soldiers, turned humans into warriors, since 1915. The camp itself, two hours south of Charleston, is a fully fledged military town, with brick barracks, nice houses for the officers, a church and even a movie theater -- all of it surrounded by alligator-infested marshland.

Parris Island churns out hundreds of new Marines each week. It's an assembly line for war. Every year more than 21,000 men and women graduate from the camp, having completed an ordeal aimed primarily at robbing them of their individuality.

5,000 Calories a Day

"We break them down," says Lieutenant Colonel Gabrielle Chapin, a small, wiry officer with her brunette hair rolled up in a tight bun. "And then we build them back up."

One of those is Eric Fisher. Fisher, who is from Virginia, is sitting in the "Chow Hall," as the cavernous mess hall is known, during a lunch break between combat training and history lessons. His plate is piled high with chicken, French fries, salad, a huge piece of chocolate cake and a banana. A Parris Island recruit, they say, burns more than 5,000 calories a day.