Outside Reading Q2 Week 7

Part A:
Theme
-Even though boot camp transformed many citizens into Marines, not all graduates succeeded in the military.
Quote
"They know they have changed, but they don't realize how much" (228). This quote was said by Staff Sergeant Rowland. He is basically saying that, like the past has shown, many new Marines won't know what to do now that they have graduated. This does become true, as many do fall back to civilian habits such as drinking, smoking, and so on.

Part B:

I'd like to relate this portion of my book to the real world.

I have seen this happen in the real world too, where soldiers get home from duty or get out of training, and fall right back into the pit of society. I just want to ask why? After spending eleven weeks on a deserted island with drill instructors yelling in your face and excercising every moment, how can you go back to old habits?! I don't understand that. There are many storys that have floated about all with the relativly the same topic. A soldier gets back from Iraq and goes to a party and gets drunk. But he doesn't act like a quiet drunk, he starts causing trouble and ends up killing someone, or gets killed. It happened here in Minnesota earlier in the fall I believe. Maybe those trainees are just weak, because that is only a small amount, but still. There has to be some way that it can be stopped. In the book, about 8 recruits who had graduated quit the Marines due to similar incodences or other issues which isn't a staggering number, but many others did return to previous habits. Yet, many stories have been successes in reality and in the book. I have witnessed it first person too. Every year we go down to Arizona and we know a family down there who has a 20 year old named Josh. He used to be very unruley, wild, and was struggling in school. That is, until he joined the Army and became a Ranger. I had a chance to meet him again last year and he was a totally differnet person! He was respectful, disciplined, polite, and very calm it seemed. Everyone around him could tell that it had made him mature and grow stronger mentally and physically. So... I guess the training isn't the reason behind those mishaps, just the stupid soldiers.