Flight Pundit

Here’s a new quote:

“Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

For those getting ready for Marine boot camp, it has a meaning like nothing else.

FREDERICK — Ranking officers of the U.S. Marines Corps on Saturday wore T-shirts that boasted “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

At a recruit competition at Fort Detrick, some future U.S. Marines got a small taste of just how much weakness will soon be exiting their bodies.

More than 100 recruits gathered to compete against each other in an annual competition to see who is the toughest future Marine. Family and friends were invited to attend the event and cheer on recruits.

In the end most of them will all be tough, that’s for sure. I’ve been to a couple (ok a couple dozen) of these pre-boot camp events and it’s fun to watch.

The new recruits were also treated to a mental and physical workout from Staff Sgt. Philip Collins Jr., a drill instructor at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, S.C.

“I tried to give them a good taste of what they will have to do (in boot camp),” he said.

Sgt. Collins lined up recruits and had them follow commands, do push-ups and sound-offs.

“Some of them look pretty fit,” Sgt. Collins said. “Some of them have a lot of work to do. A lot of readjusting to do too.”

Parris Island- it will be home for these recruits as they transform from boys to men. Three months of hell and pride mixed together. Three months they will never forget either. I know Marines in their 60’s and 70’s and older, who still have vivid memories of their time here…For some history about Parris Island, check out this site.

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