4' 7" Marine Stands Tall as Lead Series Guidon

Pfc. Nathaniel Laprade, a Marine with Hotel Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, stands tall holding the Lead Series guidon unlike any before him.

Standing tall at a height of 4 foot 7 inches, that is. Laprade stands as a source of motivation not just for his platoon, but for all of Hotel Company.

Despite his height, Laprade never faced problems getting respect among his peers, some of which even used him as a basis for their motivation.

“I think they kind of looked up to me in a way,” said Laprade. “I had one recruit, now a Marine, who told me that I was his motivation.”

The other recruits saw Laprade conducting the obstacle courses, close-order drill, and shooting on the range and it helped them stay motivated to push through training. At the same time Laprade saw this and used this to stay motivated and keep pushing himself forward.

“You know it’s pretty encouraging when you see that motivation, it helps you get motivated second handedly,” said Laprade.

Recruit training includes various obstacles courses throughout the training cycle and many of the obstacles stood taller than Laprade. The drill instructors of Hotel Company saw Laprade completing the obstacles with little to no trouble and used him as a way to help motivate Laprade as well as the other recruits.

“It showed me that mounting the obstacles wasn’t really a challenge because of my height, it just meant I needed to push myself to jump a little higher,” said Laprade.

Nearly all obstacles stood taller than Laprade himself, however they were not the most difficult challenges for Laprade. However, the hikes challenged him more than any other training event. As the Lead Series guide, Laprade leads the formation next to his platoon’s guide who is tall with a long stride.