In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

3 PlatoonLeader For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack. —Rudyard Kipling, Second Jungle Book BootCamp,MCRD,ParrisIsland,S.C. At the end of 1943, Jim and several of his friends nally received orders to report to the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot at Parris Island in South Carolina. Late in the evening of 13 January 1944, they boarded a train in Lafayette. Only uniformed Marine recruits were on board. The train coaches were specically designed for troop transport, not for comfort, and Jim nearly froze that night. They proceeded to Cincinnati where the engine was disconnected and another engine hooked on for the trip to South Carolina. It was very cold in Cincinnati as they were marched into Union Station where they received some breakfast and a hot, welcome cup of joe. Jim was already learning the Marine lexicon. To Marines, a cup of joe was a cup of coffee. In the coming weeks he would learn a whole new set of terms and phrases. After an overnight ride, he and his fellow recruits arrived at Yamisee, the last civilian town before Parris Island. Here they disembarked and walked across the street, through some barricades, and entered the camp, a sprawling 7,819-acre spread of towering moss-draped oak trees and stubby palmettos infested with thousands of rattlesnakes and millions of mosquitoes. Once past this barricade, life would never be the same for Jim. He turned his back on the comforts and ease of civilian life and entered the rigors and discipline of military life. He was about to begin a grueling, time-tested Platoon Leader | 17 process in which he would be transformed from a skinny young man into a hardened and disciplined Marine. Discipline was essential. According to the May 1944 Headquarters Bulletin , “Too often ‘discipline’ is interpreted by the untrained individual as a restriction of his personal rights and privileges, rather than as a highly necessary and often life-saving factor in his military education. Without discipline , troops in combat would be a rabble, readily routed by a well-trained, disciplined opponent. . . . Once discipline becomes second nature to the individual, his training progress speeds up and his safety in battle becomes greater.” Success in the Pacic during World War II is often attributed to superior Marine discipline. It was essential to the prompt and proper execution of orders in the face of withering gunre. Eventually recruits got to the point when they reacted to orders without questioning them; it became automatic. It was this kind of discipline that kept men moving forward off the beaches on Iwo Jima when all hell was breaking loose around them; with bullets ying past so close you could hear them; with mortar shells crashing down on them; and with comrades being blown to bits. Boot camp was the rst step whereby individuals were completely broken down and rebuilt into ghting men. The basic tenets included depersonalization , uniforms, lack of privacy, forced social relationships, tight schedules, lack of sleep, and disorientation followed by rites of reorganization according to military codes, arbitrary rules, and strict punishment.1 In Iwo Jima: Legacy of Valor, Bill Ross of the 1st Marine Division dened “the purpose of boot camp: to mold the broadest mix of young Americans into skilled tradesmen in a kill-or-be-killed business, and to keep intact and untarnished the glory and traditions of the United States Marine Corps.” Upon arrival at Parris Island, Jim and the other recruits passed some Marines in full packs marching in the opposite direction. As they passed they heard someone say, “You’ll be sorrrrreey.” A rough-looking sergeant ordered them to fall in and then, in a thick Southern drawl, offered them a greeting: “Now listen up, you knuckleheads. Your heart belongs to your mother, your soul belongs to Jesus, but your ass belongs to me. You are no longer people. You are not Marines. You are ‘boots,’ and there ain’t nothin’ on the evolutionary scale lower than a boot.” This sergeant was to be their drill instructor (DI), and he would be at the center of their lives for the next ten weeks. He would be the source of their frustration and the man they most often hated, but they would later come to appreciate him for his role in shaping them into Marines. Next they were marched to the nance ofcer who ordered them to purchase...

Share