How did Marine Corps Boot Camp change you?

Marine Corps Basic Training Saved My Life... for the reason that just a few short weeks before arriving at Parris Island, SC I wanted to commit SUICIDE.

Just a few years before enlisting I was known by the name of good-for-nothing. Actually, my full name was "absolutely good-for-nothing." It was a name given to me by my parents. At the time I did not know why…but this is what I was called. And the more I was called by this name…it is what I believed about myself, it is what I became.

And when it was too much to call me by my first name, there were the nicknames "idiot," "stupid," "disgrace," "fatso," "ugly," and the list grows from there. The name calling was only part of it. The constant and violent beatings were the other part. Although the physical abuse caused much pain and was hard to bear, nothing caused as much pain as the indifference and deprivation of love.

So, because I was good-for-nothing, I did the things that a typical good-for-nothing would do. In school I became good friends with the "bad kids” and together we would look for ways to have fun and entertain ourselves by creating mischief. We would routinely pull the fire alarms, stage pretend fights with each other, start real fights with others for no reason, use rubber-bands to shoot each other with paper clips, and break the school windows from inside the classroom by throwing random objects through them. I even burned a house down...just because (it was abandoned). I would instigate trouble and others would follow me. You would think someone would have recognized that I had the makings of a leader!

High school graduation came around and while other students were joyfully celebrating having been accepted at Princeton, Harvard, and Berkeley, I had no such vision for my future. I had no marketable skills and no prospect for any kind of job. I recall a classmate asking me where I was going after graduation to which I replied, "I think jail," He replied "Yale! Hey! That's a great school!" I had no idea what I was going to be or do in this thing called the future…but I did know where I did not want to be. I did not want to be home. I hated being home.

I was 17 years old. I felt lost, angry, frustrated, worthless, and I felt alone.

I thought of ways to kill myself. I even practiced putting a plastic bag around my head to see how long it might take me to stop breathing.

Knowing that I was in trouble, my girlfriend and best friend, gave me a book that she thought might help, titled: "The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale. In this book I came across 7 words which caused me to change the direction of my life. Those words are: "Change Your Thoughts and Change Your World." Well, I did not know anything how to change my thoughts or even if it was possible, but I did know that I could change my world. And so then and there, I made a decision to take my life...

I took my life away from my parents, away from my teachers, away from my home.

At the end of 13 weeks of boot camp, I was named the Platoon Honor Graduate and got to wear the coveted Dress Blue Uniform as a PFC. As a result of basic training I came to realize that I was actually pretty good at a lot of things. I transformed from a good-for-nothing boy without a future, to a man that was pretty darn good at a lot of things.

My life changed by joining the Marine Corps. The experience gave me confidence in myself, it gave me a knowing that I was of value to others. Most important, basic training gave me a new story, a new identity, and the knowing that I can change who I am...anytime that I desire.

Semper Fidelis

Steve Gallegos
Personal Mastery Strategist, Best Selling Author, International Speaker

It taught me I could do things I would previously look at and say I can't do that. The confidence course (not the obstacle course) was made for that reason alone. (And it was freaking fun) It also taught me to let the little shit go and look at the larger picture.

It helped in some ways and hurt me in others, working in civilian jobs I excelled in any job I endured becoming supervisor long before anyone else who had started on the job earlier by working much harder setting the standards for others to catch up in which I were very competitive and motivated. The downside is employers are not very loyal to its employee's once you have and accident on the job and have to go on worker compensation, you will endure the worst treatment of your life, once you can't come in when they want you to, rather then letting the Doctor decide, the harassment starts which continues on up to termination.

It gives you a level of pride no one can ever take away

It let me join a great band of brothers some of the best people to walk this earth

It gave me the confidence that can do just about anything if I set my mind to it. It also gave the ability to work together with people as a team. Forever Grateful

Started a long career in government service for me. 16 years so far.

I was a 17 year old farm boy who went to a parochial school. I was used to taking orders and having responsibility. They take you as far as you can go physically and mentally, then they take you a little farther each week . They teach you to preform under stress. in 1959 they would yell at you and call you things they cant do today. They had ways of putting their hands on you and inflecting pain, like straightening a button on your shirt and pinching the hell out of you. They teach you their is no one on this earth that is better than you. Their favorite sayings were "Your ass is grass and I!m the lawn mower." Another saying: The Lord owns your soul but I got your Ass. They also teach history of the Corp, so you what is expected of you. Nowdays they have the Crucible giving you what you think is an impossible situation but with team work you get it done. Back in my day I thought the whole thing was a crucible by todays standards. Im 77yrs old and the Marine Corp has made me a better person and helped me in civilian Life. It will help you think out of your comfort zone. Best time of my life. Marine for life. We are all brothers no matter what generation. Semper Fi.

How many times did I hear this? How many times have I repeated it? "A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link."Never give up. Never quit. NEVER leave a brother behind. It is natural to feel fear. It is how you deal with it that sets you apart.

I always say “ there is nothing that 13 weeks of Marine Corps boot camp would not cure” It cured me, I was in recruit training a month after I turned 17. My mother had to sign, but it made me a man, and even better a United States Marine. It cured me