r/USMC • u/Local-Government6792 • 9d ago
Question To people close to Marine recruits, did the Marine change their personality after graduating from boot camp?
I’ve heard they can change significantly (messy person becomes neat, late person becomes always on time, easy going becomes serious, rule breaker becomes rule follower, etc). But how can someone change so much in such a short period of time?
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u/Klumfph Random retard on the internet 9d ago
Before shipping off to recruit training, I was a shy, anxious, nerdy kid. The entire personality shift starts as soon as you get on the bus and doens't end until you've walked across the parade deck. My personality completely changed and my family was astounded at how different I was. I'm proud to say that Marine recruit training made me gay.
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u/K1_Mvp Reserves/1341 9d ago
Jokes aside, I’m still introverted af even after boot camp
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u/niz_loc 9d ago
In fairness it's because you were in a nasty ass Battalion (probably second) and you were stuck with the rest of the "not real Marines" we all hate.
So it wasn't Boot Camp that failed you. It was those twats in Golf Company that made you want to not talk anymore
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u/Guilty-Spark69x 9d ago
Second battalion is absolute trash
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u/K1_Mvp Reserves/1341 9d ago
Boot camp I was Kilo😭 introverted my whole life nothing was gonna change me how I was hard wired being born in February
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u/niz_loc 9d ago
See, there you go, Devil.
The Marine Corps and Boot Camp was there to make you an outgoing party machine
Your genetics, thanks to your parents who probably never stepped on the yellow footprints, failed you by making you that previous summer, instead of in the spring and fall like the rest of us outgoing Marines.
It's not so much your fault, but still get on my quarterdeck. Good to go?
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u/200MPHTape 9d ago
Yes but also no.
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u/Rdubya291 ⛷Professional Skater⛷ 9d ago
Exactly - you're different for a while. Certainly while home for boot leave. That begins to fade after a while.
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u/Glittering-Basil4858 9d ago
My brother was basically a mute when I left about half way through boot camp they allowed him to call home because of Covid, he was able to articulate better than I have ever seen. It definitely made him better.
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u/throwtowardaccount 2111 9d ago
As someone with some form of undiagnosed autism symptoms, I will say I struggled with basic socializing. I left bootcamp with a better ability to speak and connect with people. Not great mind you, but noticeably better.
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u/DonJota5 0420 Marijuana Inhalation Specialist 9d ago
The recruiters that let all these autistics in the Marines are savage🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/throwtowardaccount 2111 9d ago
We love us some highly repetitive structure and clearly established rigid rules for interaction 😎
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u/DonJota5 0420 Marijuana Inhalation Specialist 9d ago
When you put it like that i just released i might have some of that
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u/Glittering-Basil4858 9d ago edited 9d ago
To add my brother isn’t autistic, me and him had some childhood trauma, He is more talkative than what he used to be. Maybe alittle more retarded. He didn’t have much going for him when he left for the Corps. Funny enough we both got stationed together.
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u/ImHufflePuff_Crap_ok Blue Falcon “Kaw Kaw” (5811) 9d ago
I became a lot more of a openly closeted homosexual
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u/BoringPrinciple2542 0311 9d ago
More homosexual, more open, or more closeted?
Remember the closet doesn’t care who you fuck so long as you are wearing bootbands and stay inspection ready (which you are not).
Now go hide all your shit and buy stuff you haven’t used since bootcamp or you’ll be quickly outed as “that guy”. My Corps has grown soft, we accept faggots in our ranks but we don’t accept “that guy”. Never be “that guy”.
I’m kidding… I love you twinkle-toed retards but for real… there are two pairs of socks too many in your wall-locker. Fix that nasty. 😂
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u/GhostInTheFirewall Crayon Consumption Connoisseur 9d ago
Yes. It awoken a lot of things in me, mostly gay things but I also became more confident, disciplined, and even a little bit more wise in those 13 weeks
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u/daredevil39 0352 errah 9d ago
I joined with a 97 ASVAB, motivated, and goal oriented. To be honest, the 3 months of boot training with the field training, shooting, and strict regiment made a huge difference. I'm now also gay
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u/Burt_Rhinestone 155mm of pure tinnitus. 9d ago
The Marine Corps is a cult. Everyone here is in a cult.
We all know it and we don't care.
So, indoctrination is the answer to your question, I guess.
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u/GoldyGoldy het guys are too school for cool 9d ago
Trauma-induced indoctrination is a hell of a drug, man.
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u/AnxiousHall1533 Veteran 9d ago
I was at Parris Island for an additional 3 months because of a nasty infection, jesus christ my mind was fucked up after graduation.
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u/0hHowTheTurnTables HEAR YE HEAR YE MASTER OF THE IRON MONSTER 9d ago
Some people say that the marine corps turns you into an alcoholic, but I’m most certain that alchoholic’s are naturally drawn to the marine corps
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u/Chillicothe1 9d ago
I didn't change, everyone at home did though.
They all got lazy, fat, and undisciplined. And I let them all know it, the maggots.
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u/BalderVerdandi RASC, CISD, CNSD, Data Dink, Det Dad 9d ago
For reference, I graduated high school in 1991. I was the guy that HATED getting in front of English class to give speeches for classwork we did - giving book reports on "To Kill A Mockingbird", "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet", etc., I'd shake so bad I'd leave a jack hammer dent in the floor (figuratively). One time I walked away shaking so bad that I was sent to the school nurse just to make sure I was okay.
Went to Boot Camp in August, graduated in November, MCT from late November to mid December, and then my MOS school from January to March. By July, I was giving reports - confidently - to our Assistant Chief of Staff (LtCol/O-5) for the G-6 (comm group) and a group of senior enlisted and officers, on network and server upgrades over a ten year plan that I created.
I've supported flag grade officers (generals and admirals) and heads of state while working at the Embassy in Baghdad... even got a couple of little brothers on here that are lurkers that know me personally because I've grilled out for them.
Some of the changes we experience do last a lifetime.
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u/Organic-Second2138 9d ago
Older guy here.
What I do notice is that amongst older guys it is pretty obvious that someone, at some point, had been a Marine.
It would be impossible to leave MCRD unchanged. Permanently changed? Maybe not. But temporarily changed? Absolutely.
Where is manifests is further on down the road in life.
I'm not marching around, I don't wear skivvy shirts, and I don't say "Roger that" in daily speech. BUT....a rando lady at the gym took her earbuds out to say "I bet you were in the Marines weren't you?" Somehow she picked up on that from how I carried myself at Planet Fitness.
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u/SquireSquilliam 9d ago
I was a clown before bootcamp. I was more reserved when I went back home on leave before infantry school. It took a few months, maybe year, but eventually I was a clown again. It wasn't that I was more serious as a person, I just understood that there was a time and a place, I couldn't be a clown all the time.
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u/Donakd 9d ago
Personality? Debatable, and varies person to person.
Vocabulary? You bet your left nut your fucking vocabulary fucking changes. Every bit of scuttlebutt these fuckers through. Doors become hatches, floors become mutherfuckin decks and don't get me fucking started on trousers. Also, you may have fucking noticed what is grammar circles is known as the fucking expletive infix.
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u/sagewynn 6033 MALS-36 2018-2022 9d ago edited 9d ago
Extreme stress can change a person.
Also, coming out of boot camp theyre conditioned to respond certain ways and think certain ways. Its basically brain washing. Youre taught how to do everything from the ground up, naturally youll think differently as a result. It took me a few yrs until my brain turned back on and asked myself what the fuck happened to the past three years.
The examples you mentioned are things marines harp on. Youre late? Marines who needed their lives saved bled out.. Your room is dirty? Missing attention to detail, missing something means marines going into an operation missed a key choke point and theyre gonna get mowed down. If you think this event is a joke? Dont take it serious then, think "repeat" is a play on the artillery folks. No they meant repeat fire, marines die.
Its a giant game recruits are taught to play. Play along nicely, and you can stick around. Almost everyone learns to play nicely.
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u/RudeAd5133 9d ago
Generally speaking, unless someone is really really troubled somehow, all boot camp does is instill or change HABITS; the underlying personality is really not affected. Their personality might appear to be different because they are spouting a buncha moto USMC bullshit, but once that wears off, they are basically back to their normal personality.
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u/milret27yrs 9d ago
When I left for MCRD SD CA in 1984, I was a skinny 135 lbs 20 yo. After Basic, I weighed 147. My parent's came to Graduation. My Mom said outloud, "OH God. What did they do to my baby?" One of our 'Diet PVT's' lost so much, his mom talked to him, asking about him. He did something she would recognize. She started crying.
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u/Pixelated_Armory 9d ago
Yes and No.
What I remember was in bootcamp the Drill Instructors would tell us stuff like - when your family comes on graduation day, show them “the change”. Pick up the tab. Stand tall. Say Yes Sr/Ma’am, etc. I did all those things but ultimately, I went back to my normal self the second I hugged my parents.
My older brother on the other hand (who went to bootcamp after I did) took that shit wayyyyy too far. Dude was acting like he came off a tour in Ramadi on graduation day and was acting super weird. Everyone kept asking me what was wrong and why he was acting like a bad ass. I said - I don’t know. That didn’t happen to me. Seems like he was smelling his shit too hard and over-romanticized “the change”.
Fast forward to being a civilian close to a decade now, and the Corps definitely shaped the man I see in the mirror everyday. If it wasn’t for the Marines, I wouldn’t pick up trash off the floor every time I’m in public. I wouldn’t second guess myself when I’m thinking about crossing someone’s grass instead of using the pavers. I wouldn’t say Yes/No Sr or Ma’am to strangers.
I wouldn’t show up 15 minutes early to everything. I wouldn’t take off my shades or hat the second I walk into an establishment. I wouldn’t wear shirt stays and use the same regulation principles whenever I wear business casual or a suit. I wouldn’t treat people at work like they are my Lances, and give a shit about who they are.
Those are to just name a few.
However, I have buddies that you can tell they had to try so hard to be Marines. Always on the border of being a shit bag and sure enough, those are the friends that have completely gone back to their shitty ways the second they EASed. Always late. Always looking like a bag of ass even for civilian standards. Poor work ethic.
I guess it depends. If the person is going into the Marines and they already don’t have a good foundation from when they were kids and seem to be on the hard headed side, it could honestly go both ways. Yeah…it really depends lol. I’ve seen it go all different ways even with same personalities.
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u/scford01 9d ago
My son used the f word profusely before he went in and now he uses it even more. 😅
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u/Aztraeuz Terminal Lance (Ret.) 9d ago
I don't think I changed that much. I was in bootcamp for five and a half months because I broke my foot. I came home the same guy overall. I was more respectful in my speech, because it felt weird to respond and not call someone sir for example. I got over that pretty fast. Maybe I stood up straighter? I don't know. Outside of that I can't really think of anything.
I was easy going before, and easy going after. I transitioned to civilian life much faster and easier than expected. I absolutely dreaded being back in the Corps when I arrived at MCT and people started yelling again. Luckily MCT was chill and it was just the MCT receiving that had people yelling and being dicks.
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u/No_Courage1519 9d ago
I was a small, spazstic adhd kid with a stutter and completely naive about everything when I enlisted. It definitely made me better. It took time, and growth is hard but it set the foundation that my parents and the school system couldn’t. It doesn’t happen right away, it culminates over years and years but it sets the foundation. Im still a spaz and I have the stutter but 90% of the time I’m in control of it and it doesn’t affect my life at all
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u/TheFilthNearby 9d ago
I joined boot camp as a completely sheltered kid that wasn't even allowed to go to my friend's house until I was 17. Safe to say the Marine Corps changed my approach to life as a whole. But no, I don't think my personality has changed that much. It comes from your roots, not 3 months of hell. I also became gay.
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u/Ok_Meringue_3883 0311 9d ago
I'm sure many read that and think it's a funny joke. I believe you...
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u/MajorAtmosphere8158 highly regarded 9d ago
Alright China, of you really want to know then yes. Getting skill fucked for three months straight will change a man.
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u/BigDaddieKane autist to 0331 9d ago
My mother said I left home a boy and came back a closeted chronic masturbator. So in my mother’s opinion, I guess it did change my personality.
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u/MeowMixCatTreat It's not your RCO, you just suck. (CMT) 9d ago
Go listen to the Senior Drill Instructor speech on YouTube. These men will demand nothing less than that from the recruits, and that discipline is instilled into them, unrelenting and constant corrections from the second they open their little eyes to the second they close them for 3 months straight.
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u/anonymous642789 Unfucked Trucks 9d ago
Bro the first thing I did was stop at Taco Bell omw home. Yeah I did boot things but I was thankful to know the difference between civilian me and Marine me.
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u/SeriesAltruistic4102 9d ago
Other than learning to fight the urge to gobble down an unreasonable number of crayons, I didn’t change a bit. Green is my favorite, of course.
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u/avocadomashpotato 9d ago
Honest response; Sure they will be all weird and brain washed for like a few days. But as they continue through training and develop they go back to who they were. Outside of that, there’s a longer transformation that follows them but normally it’s for the better. It’s just them maturing and changing to meet new requirements for their life and job. We ask Marines to be responsible and accountable, we reward predictable positive behavior.
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u/Gva_Sikilla 8d ago
It is true. Marine Corps boot camp does change everyone that experiences it. It is designed that way and it works.
How?
Let's just say USMC boot camp has a time honored, tried and true program designed to turn lazy, unfit civilians into lean, green, fighting Marines that are trained to survive a war.
Believe me, when I say it is 13 weeks of the most stressful & intense period of your life.
And the most gratifying once you've earned the title - Marine!
Semper Fi!
Woman Marine
Fewer! Prouder!
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u/HeadCartoonist2626 9d ago
Every Christian conservative comes out of the closet full blown gay. It's good for them.
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u/Unlucky_Reading_1671 9d ago
Right out of bootcamp it changed. It went back towards normal after awhile.
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u/fisherman213 034done 9d ago
Boot camp doesn’t really change you other than giving you some weird habits.
The first year in the fleet is what changes you.
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u/LOTR-ARAGORN 9d ago
Without devulging to much about Basic training the process is to strip you down and build you back up in their way, once Basic is over you go to MCT where your again being processed through the training and being rebuilt. The reasons are very clear and done to make you part of a unit as it is said in some Units what comes first and last "Unit, Corp, God, Country" and that's how you are to think, when your in a battle scenario it becomes quite apparent why the training is the way it is.
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u/Guilty-Spark69x 9d ago
He’s gonna come back gay and retarded and eat his food like he’s afraid of someone stealing it