|
|
|
 |
|
Wednesday, 28 October 2009 |
Editor’s note: This is the third and final installment in a series of stories on the journey of Pfc. Jesse Phillips of Starkville through U.S. Marine Corps basic training.
By BRIAN HAWKINS
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
It had all come down to less than three days. For Jesse Phillips of Starkville and his fellow U.S. Marine Corps recruits, nearly 12 weeks of physically and mentally demanding training at the Recruit Depot at Parris Island, S.C., had brought them to what’s known as the Crucible.
Simply put, the Crucible is a rigorous 54-hour field training exercise that applies all the skills the recruits have learned during their training through combat simulations, hardships and deprivation of food and sleep. It’s the final test Marine recruits must pass to graduate from basic training and earn the right to call themselves true Marines, Phillips said.
“The Crucible is called the ultimate challenge, and it was definitely that,” said Phillips, 19, who had become his training platoon’s guide, or recruit leader.
“I would give it my all. There were times I had to be dragged off because I had pushed myself too hard. But if you give it your all, it means more to you than if you just squeeze by.”
The Crucible begins with a 7- to 8-mile hike through the night to a remote area of Parris Island. For the more than two-day exercise, the recruits have been given three MREs — prepackaged Meals Ready To Eat — and will see only 4 to 8 hours of sleep throughout the exercise.
“Some guys ate all of their MREs right at the start. I rationed mine out over the whole thing,” Phillips said. “Some of the guys would find themselves eating bark before it was over.”
Designed as the ultimate test of perseverance in a realistic combat situation, the recruits were put through every scenario imaginable — all while carrying their rifles and several pounds of gear. They would face individual and team challenges in such areas as combat patrols, day and night assaults and land navigation, all amid numerous obstacles.
Each challenge would have to be accomplished before advancing to the next, with teamwork critical to success.
“We had to maneuver under fire, going through combat courses. We’d drag an ammo team here for one part or be sent to do something else. Lights would be flashing everywhere,” Phillips said. “It felt like the real deal.”
The recruits even had to deal with scenarios involving one or more of their own being “killed” or “wounded” in action and then have to move their bodies out of a “kill zone.”
“The D.I. (drill instructor) would tell you two of your buddies had died or wounded and you’d have to drag them out,” Phillips said. “You would be totally drained and have to keep on pushing. I don’t think I ever got more than two hours of sleep during the whole thing.”
On the Crucible’s final morning, they packed up their gear and headed back to the main Parris Island complex,
marching in formation, fighting extreme exhaustion.
But the team spirit that he and his platoon members had cultivated persevered that final morning, Phillips said.
“On the hike back, our platoon was the only one that didn’t drop anybody. We started singing cadence about two miles out from being done,” Phillips said.
“All the pain left you because you were motivated to finish what you started.”
Earning the right to be called a Marine
As the final hike neared completion and the platoon rounded the final bend in the road leading to the main Parris Island complex, Phillips said he and his fellow recruits saw the large sign erected across the roadway that reads “We Make Marines.”
It proved to be a watershed moment for all of them, he said.
“I cried like a baby when I saw it,” said Phillips, who, as guide, was carrying the platoon’s guidon with its flag. “It was a very emotional thing.”
The moment of truth then arrived.
The recruits then participated in the Eagle, Globe and Anchor ceremony. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor is the emblem of the Marine Corps and represents the three elements in which Marines operate: sea, air and land.
During this ceremony, the recruits receive this emblem and cease to be called recruits. They are now Marines.
“The drill instructor looks you in the eye as he puts the Eagle, Globe and Anchor into your hand and shakes your hand,” Phillips said. “I literally felt a shock go through my body, I was so excited. The feeling is pretty amazing.”
The next few days — dubbed “Marine Week” — will see a flurry of activities that include a Family Day and graduation. The new Marines also receive some final instruction in protocol now that they are full-fledged Marines.
Family Day and graduation proved to be very special for Phillips, who shared the event with his parents, Randy and Maureen, several of his brothers and sisters and family friends, including his older brother, James, who had served in the Marine Corps and had trained at Parris Island.
James, now 27 and a Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper, had served as guide of the exact same platoon his younger brother now was leading.
In fact, newly minted Private First Class Jesse Phillips had slept in the same squad bay (barracks) and on the same rack (bunk) that his older brother did more than five years ago. Both were honor graduates from USMC basic training.
Phillips is quick to note that serving in the Marine Corps was not about following in his brother’s footsteps, recalling a pledge he and his best friend, Grant Jeffries, had made to each other as 11-year-old following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“This was something I felt I should do and that I believe in with all my heart,” he said.
For his older brother, seeing his brother become a Marine is something that makes him smile with great pride.
“It was like it was meant to be,” James Phillips said. “I could tell him what it takes, but it takes a man to join and conquer and graduate at the top of his class. I feel like I set the bar, and he came along and surpassed it.”
Phillips is quick to admit that James’ Marine Corps service helped prepare him for what he would face.
“I was so much more prepared because of my brother,” he said. “Now that I’ve gone through it, we’re so much closer now.”
What lies ahead
On Monday, following his requisite 10 days of leave upon completion of basic training, Phillips traveled to Camp Geiger, N.C., for the next phase of his Marine Corps journey — 8 weeks at the USMC School of Infantry.
At Camp Geiger, Phillips will hone the skills learned in basic training and learn new ones — specifically advanced firearms and weapons instruction, combat tactics and other skills — to prepare him to be a combat-ready Marine.
“I’ll be there with several of the same guys I went through basic with,” Phillips said.
Upon completion of School of Infantry training, Phillips will receive an additional few weeks of leave time — allowing him to come home and spend time with family and friends — before being assigned to his permanent unit and likely facing deployment at the beginning of the new year.
His likely deployment destination? Afghanistan.
Phillips said he’ll be ready to serve where his nation sends him.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 29 October 2009 )
|
 |
|
|
|
