“Looking for the future of the Marine Corps” The Marines at LHS
The Marines job is to keep our country safe, but they may also help you with your future.
“You are now aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island South Carolina, and you have just taken the first step toward becoming a member of the world’s finest fighting force, the United States Marine Corps.” Every Marine before he starts his training must stand on these legendary yellow footprints before they begains his training.
Every so often, you may go to lunch and see a red table covered with displays and pamphlets of all different sorts. Next to this you will see the iconic red pull up bar exclusive to only one visitor here at Lafayette High School.
Yes you guessed it, this display belongs to our local Marine recruiter, on the lookout for the future of the worlds finest fighting force: The United States Marine Corps.
In our community there are people in different stages of their career in the Marine Corps. Here at Lafayette we have students who have enlisted in the Marines and are currently waiting to be shipped to boot camp. They call people like this a “Poolie.” Poolie Amari Parker has been in the pool for about 6 months. He participates in PT twice a week and goes to a monthly pool function where all the poolies in the area go to PT and prepare for boot camp. Amari choose to enlist in the Marines for financial security and a more stable future. He is very excited to see where this path will take him and is looking forward to his job as a combat engineer. He has so far enjoyed his time in the pool saying, “It’s fun! I love going to PT, I love going to the pool functions because its a real great experience.”
Private First Class McGee graduated from Lafayette with the class of 2019 and choose to enlist in the Marine Corps soon after. Upon his return he was greeted with joy and open arms by his former classmates who have not seen him in months. It became very apparent that he is proud of his recent accomplishment and the path he is on. When talking about why he choose the Marines over other branches, he replied without blinking, “I wanted a challenge, not to mention the uniforms are better.” His advice for future Marines? “Bootcamp is all mental, the stuff they make you do is to help you later on… all the stupid stuff has a purpose, just don’t get frustrated and push through”.
Another face familiar to students at LHS is our Marine recruiter, Sgt. Riley. Sgt. Riley, a father and husband, born and raised in Massachusetts, has been on recruiting duty for 8 months. His pride in the Marine Corps shows in his voice and his words. “I love the Marine Corps,” he says. “The reason I became a recruiter is because I wanted to give back to the Marines that has provided financial stability for my family and given me lifelong friendships and experiences that I just couldn’t replace.”
So what is the daily life of a Marine recruiter consist of? “It’s basically meeting and looking for the future of the Marine Corps. I meet with these individuals to talk to them about their future and their goals in life and try and see if the Marines are a match, and if it is my job to prepare those people to the best of my abilities. The Marine Corps wants to prepare them for their career going forward and to set them up for success in any way.”
When asked why one should choose the Marines over other branches he replied, “Well I’m defiantly biased on this one, but I believe whole-heartedly that we are the finest military organization in the world”.
Overall, his advice to future marines is “Enjoy it!…if you approach anything with enthusiasm you can make the most out of it”.
The common denomenator among all of these folks is pride, motivation, and drive that is highly admirable. If you would like more information, feel free to contact Sgt. Reilly and see if the Marines are right for you. In the words of recruitment enthusiasts…”Marines, Think about it…”
