A recruit personalizes her foot locker during free time. Recruits can decorate the inside of their foot lockers with photos and letters to keep them motivated during training. Free time, which is restricted to inside the barracks, is an hour where recruits are given the opportunity to read and write letters, unwind and prepare themselves and their equipment for the next day. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Vaniah Temple)
by Lance Cpl. Francisco Abundes
During the 13 weeks of recruit training, one of the most encouraging moments for recruits is when they open their first letter from home.
“Mail is a good encouragement that reinforces the recruits – someone back home is thinking of them,” said Sgt. Walt Krueger, senior drill instructor for Platoon 2024, Echo Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion.
Recruits receive their letters from family or friends at the end of the day during mail call. Mail call is often a way for recruits to get away from the wear and tear of training and find encouragement from loved ones.
“Every recruit looks forward to it,” said Recruit Zackary Wilborn, an 18-year-old from Burlington, N.C. “You see them with a hidden happiness trying to keep their bearing.”
Mail call takes place every night, Krueger said. The recruits gather around the senior drill instructor and he calls them up by name to receive their mail.
“It’s contact,” said Recruit Kenard Bush, an 18-year-old from Thomasville, Ga. “It might not be physical but a lot of times, recruits may have trouble with certain aspects of training and are feeling down, depressed or just lonely. A letter might lift their spirits for that one night and give them the boost they need.”
Wilborn said because the average age for the platoon is 19, many of the recruits have never been away from home and are accustomed to constant communication.
The senior drill instructor distributes mail to his recruits at the end of the training day. Mail is distributed at the end of each training day Monday through Saturday. (Photo by Cpl. David Bessey)
Additionally, most of the young men are accustomed to current technology, like social networking and cellphones, to communicate, Bush said. They do not have this luxury at recruit training and have to get accustomed to this method.
“When you have a letter, you read, and then take time to write,” Bush said. “It motivates you and reminds you of why you’re here.”
If a recruit receives a package, he must open it in front of his senior drill instructor to make sure there is no contraband, such as cellphones, Krueger said.
Recruits are given a chance to write back to their families at night during senior square-away time, a period of time where recruits are given a bit of freedom. Before going to bed, one of the recruits collects all the mail to place in the mailbox the following morning.
“It gives them some sort of contact to the outside world,” Krueger said. “Drill instructors are here to train them and demand of them and keep them in line. Their families are pretty much the only ones for them to talk to or listen to their problems.”
When the Marines from Echo Company leave today, it will be because of their perseverance, the hard work of their drill instructors, and the letters from home.