Marine Boot Camp, Parris Island

12/26/2007

From a documentary about Training for the Marine Corps:

“THIS is your family now. This is all you have. THESE are your brothers and sisters. Period.”

“Marine Boot Camp is very little about combat skills. It’s about indoctrination. It’s about immersion. Chaos and friction will determine who a person really is. Everything is about breaking down all that you were for eighteen or more years. Without the breaking down of what they were, they can never become a Marine, the epitome of military virtue.”

“The challenge for the Marines is to find the balance between abusive training practices and the safety of the trainee, in order to create an elite fighting force. They teach, they train, they mentor, and they lead with a passion that is almost an obsession. It can’t be taught didactically. It can only be caught through the culture.”

“We teach them the legacy of what it was like to be a Marine a hundred years ago, and therefore what it means to be one today. They must understand the history of those days when 26,000 lives were willingly sacrificed in a 36-day span. It is the ethos of life as a Marine. It is now their life.”

“There are blank spaces on the granite wall of honor for fallen Marines—for the battles to come. They must see it, and embrace their futures, willingly.”

“Life as they had known it is now over. Forever. What you did in High School and College—none of it matters. This is your life now. If they are not completely dedicated, they will be quitters, and unreliable. Lives are at stake.”

The obvious questions: DO we suppose that there is something inferior or less demanding about Spiritual Warfare? Of course there are plenty of “differences”—but REALLY do we believe our commitment should be “softer” and less than mere humans for mere human goals? Surely no one would look at the quote above and declare Spiritual Warfare for the Lamb to be less important, or less demanding, if it is actually done Right, or done at all….

•  Bring no Diseased Animals