Why I served a Mormon Mission XII

As we ran off the bus we were greeted by the night air of San Diego and the yelling and screaming of some highly motivated Marine Corps Drill Instructors. We were instructed to line up and to look to our left where several dozen yellow foot prints were painted on the ground with the feet at forty-five degree angles. We were informed that thousands of men who were better than us who had earned the title of US Marine had stood on these same yellow foot prints and that we were not worthy to even be near them. However despite our unworthiness we were ordered to stand on the yellow foot prints. We were very quickly taught what the position of attention was and what left face and right face meant. The Uniform Code of Military Justice was read to us and we were informed that we were under it and that if we failed in any part of it we would be punished. We were then told that whenever we were given an order from a Drill Instructor we were to move as if we were on fire and instantly obey that order. We then went through some doors into the receiving building. Inside this building we went through an assortment of new activities. I don't remember the exact order of things but these are the things that happened. We went into a red room where we stripped down to our underwear and were stripped of everything that was incompatible with Marine Corps boot camp. Some people lost pictures of their girl friends, some lost books or magazines. I was questioned as to why I had so many books with me and I responded that they were all my bibles. Before the Drill Instructor could continue questioning me another Drill Instructor stormed by and noticed my scriptures and he said they were okay. The original drill instructor still wasn't done with me yet and he saw my patriarchal blessing folded up in one of my scriptures and he grabbed and I was worried that he would rip it up or throw it away as I had seen happen to other pieces of paper. He asked what it was and I told him it was part of my bibles and from my church and he looked it over and gave it back much to my relief. One kid for whatever reason brought a condom and he was asked what he planned to do with that condom when he was going to be surrounded by guys for the next three months. After everything that was considered contraband was taken away and disposed of we were sent to another room where we received our new uniforms and boxed up our civilian clothes and wallets. At some point during the night I don't remember if it was one of the first things or after we had went to the red room we were taken to get our heads shaved. Having your hair cut in boot camp is not a fun experience. Several times myself or a fellow recruit ended up leaving the barber with blood trickling down our scalps because our head was shaved so quickly. This first time however was the worst. After a recruit has gone through his first couple of days his visual appearance and character is not that much different that Smeagles in Lord of the rings. A shaven head is part of that change that starts to take a civilian to a recruit who will after 3 months in the larval stage turn into a United States Marine. The rest of the night seemed to fly by with me receiving more information than I could possibly ever remember. However after what seemed like countless hours we finally went to our barracks with who I thought was going to be our drill instructor for the remaining three months. However this was just the receiving barracks drill instructor who we would only be with for a few days.