Dear Sgt. Grit,
My family and I were in Hilton Head, SC last week on vacation when I decided that I had to visit Parris Island. I had not been there since I stood on the yellow footprints in June of 1982 and I figured I'd go back and see what they'd done with the place since I left. My wife, also known as "the Sergeant Major" and 2 of my daughters decided to tag along as well.
One of the first things I noticed was that this visit wasn't nearly as "intense" as the first one. In 1982 the welcoming committee was a large, intimidating Sergeant calling me a whole host of expletives and other unmentionable names as I tried very hard not to be the last one off of the bus. This time I was called "Sir".
PI is a very beautiful place….which is something you notice when you can actually move your head around and look as opposed to only being allowed to stare at the back of the shaved skull of the recruit directly in front of you in formation.
It was a beautiful day, so we were driving around the base with the top down on the convertible. We happened to arrive at an intersection just as a platoon of female recruits approached from the east. Knowing what was coming next, I smiled and growled, "Road Guards!" My wife & daughters just looked at me convinced I was finally losing my mind. They figured it out a few seconds later when the Drill Instructor bellowed the same thing and a recruit shot forward and came to the position of parade rest in front of the car, blocking our way. I was stilling grinning when that same recruit was chewed out for being too slow to rejoin the platoon once they were through the intersection. Memories!
At one point, my 12 year old daughter remarked,"I've noticed something Daddy. These guys all walk like you do". I hugged her and thanked her for the compliment of comparing me to these young, hard-charging Marines. It was nice to know that even though I'm not as lean and mean as I once was, I have still retained some of the knowledge my Drill Instructors worked so hard to instill in me. Once a Marine, always a Marine!
Semper Fidelis
Brad Fields
USMC Retired
1982 – 2004