'It's supposed to be hard'

Washington Post ^ | 12/1/2009 | Christian Davenport

[Saije]

Arthur Colby arrives at Quantico Marine Base by way of Groton boarding school and Dickinson College -- exclusive, private institutions that aren't exactly pipelines to the military. Officer Candidates School, he knows, will be unlike anything he's faced in his young life.

At 20, Colby has a résumé crammed with hallmarks of the young and ambitious -- president of Dickinson's freshman class, internships with the Bush and McCain campaigns, a stint with a high-powered Washington consulting firm. He'd be well on his way to a bright future without the Marines.

Instead, he's expecting six hellish weeks. Predawn hikes, obstacle courses, push-ups, sit-ups, all on very little sleep. But perhaps the biggest challenge he faces at Quantico is not so much physical as cultural.

"There's a guy here with an M-16 tattooed to his chest," he says soon after arriving to join the second-largest OCS class since the Vietnam War. "I never even picked up an M-16 before I got here."

The military was never on Colby's radar until he started to think about what he wanted to do after college. Some members of his family have served -- an uncle was a Marine, and his grandfather, William Colby, director of the CIA in the 1970s, earned a Silver Star in World War II.

Colby, like many of his college classmates, easily could have spent last summer on Wall Street or K Street in air-conditioned comfort. He knows just a handful of people who have veered away from the comfortable path that leads from college to grad school to jobs starting in the six-figure range.

[Saije]

If it weren't hard everyone could do it.

[jcb2009]

You’ve got to prove your worth now, son. No one there cares who your granddaddy was. Semper Fi! out

[pogo101]

I’m surprised it’s only SIX weeks, but, obviously, kudos to such folks for setting aside personal gain for national defense.

[MrEdd]

Fortunately these days, a resume of working for RINOs is turning out to be worth crap. Glad he is now going to go do something worth while after having squandered his abilities and ethics for so long.

[sako shooter]

Young Colby is in the Platoon Leader’s Course. Officer candidates go to Quantico over two summers and are commissioned after the second phase of training. The first course is six weeks long. Good for him. We need the children of the elites serving as leaders in our military. All too often, the children of those who served, serve and a significant percentage of our population never serve in the military. Colby has good genes. The Marines will make a leader out of him. Leading wet, cold, tired, hungry men onto the objective under fire is a test of leadership. I hope Colby makes it through the second phase of training and becomes a Marine.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I agree with one exception.Chesty Puller and yes we do care.