 Submitted photo/SDN Pfc. Jesse Phillips of Starkville stands at parade rest outside the Receiving Center at the U.S. Marine Corps Recruitment Depot at Parris Island, S.C. Walking through the doors of the Receiving Center means undertaking a grueling physical and mental challenge to complete the 13 weeks of basic training to become a full fledged Marine. By BRIAN HAWKINS
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It all began with a telephone call more than 8 years ago.
Though only 11 years old at the time, Phillips — like countless others — was deeply affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that decimated the World Trade Center in New York and left a gaping hole in the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C.
Phillips, now 19, remembers what happened that day very clearly, even if he didn’t understand the true impact at the time.
“I was 11 when the twin towers got hit, and I called up my best friend, Grant Jeffries, later that day,” said Phillips. “We didn’t really know what terrorists were, but we knew they were bad.”
On that day, the two friends made a personal pledge to one another that they would one day serve in the nation’s armed forces.
“I had always been interested in the military,” Phillips said.That pledge became a reality Oct. 16 when both graduated the rank of private, first class, from basic training at the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, S.C.
Phillips graduated as one of six honor graduates for B Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, where he served as platoon guide for Platoon 1074.
What’s ironic about his USMC training is that Phillips trained and served as guide for the same platoon and lived in the same squad bay — or barracks — as his older brother, James, 27, did more than five years ago as a Marine recruit.
Phillips even slept on the same “rack” — or bunk — as his older brother, who is now a Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper. When he entered the squad bay for the first time, he knew it seemed familiar, Phillips said. When he attended his brother’s graduation from USMC basic training at Parris Island, he had visited that same barracks facility with his parents, Randy and Maureen, and his brothers and sisters.
“It was almost eerie,” Phillips said. “When I walked in the squad bay, I thought, ‘This is really familiar.’”
Preparing for training
Marine basic training is most famously depicted in the Stanley
Kubrick Vietnam War-era film, “Full Metal Jacket,” much of which is supposed to be set at Parris Island.
The training depicted in the film is “the little kids’ storybook version,” Phillips said. The actual training was ten times more intense and grueling than the film’s depiction, he said.
Phillips prepared for his entry into Marine training by going through workouts with his father, a former school football coach, three days a week for more than three months.
“He’d have me flip tires, run sprints and taught me to give 150 percent all the time,” Phillips said. “After the 100 percent is gone, that’s where the mental toughness kicks in that helps you keep going.”
As a result, he believes he was more ready to handles the rigors of basic training than some of his other fellow recruits, Phillips said.
“I was lot more prepared than a lot of people when I got there,” he said.
Intensity from the start
Arriving at Parris Island on July 20, Phillips joined Platoon 1074 as one of 82 recruits. He remembers stepping off the bus and being placed in formation on Parris Island’s famous yellow footprints, which are painted on the pavement outside the base’s Receiving Building where new recruits begin their journey toward becoming full-fledged Marines.
There is a distinction between a recruit and a Marine, Phillips notes.
“You have to earn the right to call yourself a Marine,” he said.
That distinction comes after the successful completion of the 13-weeks of Marine Corps Basic training.
Learning to stand at attention on the yellow footprints begins what is commonly known as “forming” and more formally known as the receiving phase of Marine basic training. Lasting about two weeks, the forming period sees recruits receive their first military haircut, issuing of training uniforms and gear, medical examinations and tests and the taking of all personal possessions the recruits have carried with them.
“The only thing they let me keep was my Bible,” said Phillips.
The recruits receive very little sleep and undergo initial physical fitness testing before meeting their drill instructors who will guide them through the remaining weeks of training.
The recruits are quickly put to the test physically, mentally and psychologically.
“There was a lot of mental stuff right from the start to see if you can take it,” Phillips said. “Once we met the actual drill instructors, though, the guys before them were like grandpas.”
Phillips would quickly learn just how challenging the days ahead would be. In the days to come, the number of recruits in his training platoon would drop from 82 to 69.
Coming Tuesday: Phillips’ training intensifies and he continues to develop the physical mental toughness needed to make it through the challenges ahead.
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