When you get to boot camp you are thrown into an environment with dudes who come from all walks of life. We are brown, black, white, gang members, farm boys, city slickers, and anything else you can imagine. After about 2 or 3 weeks you start to forget where the other guys come from, or what they look like and start caring more about building a team and thriving in chaos. We stop caring about ourselves so much and start lifting each other up.
(This picture was taken during the battle for Fallujiah in Iraq. These two Marines ran out to save a comrade who had been shot. One of the Marines who ran to grab him was killed in the process as you can see him laying face down the the left in the last picture on the screen.)
There is always going to be the 10% that slip through the cracks and could care less about the team, but for the most part becoming a Marine requires selflessness. I am not claiming that I am perfect at being selfless nor was I perfect being such in the Marine Corps. I definitely had my moments of looking out for number 1 and I am sure most Marines can relate, but we were a band of brothers and brothers take care of each other.
One tactic they use in boot camp to assist us in breaking the selfishness mentality is to talk in third person. For 12 weeks we are not allowed to talk in first person. The only acceptation is when recruits talk to each other during our limited "free time" in the evening in the squad bay.
I don't know how it was for other recruits but even after 12 weeks of talking like this I still had trouble being perfect at it. It was often a tongue twisting experience and when you are engaging with a drill instructor, a civilian, or a commissioned officer where you are nervous anyway and you screw up the third person language you usually suffer some stiff consequences. You at least get made fun of a little. I appreciated being able to talk normal again when that time came.
A few phrases might include:
"This recruit requests permission to speak with drill instructor Sergeant Jones sir."
"This recruit requests permission to use the head sir."
"Recruit Gent requests permission to run back to the squad bay to grab his pack sir."
Sometimes they were a lot more complicated than this but this gives you an idea.
(This video is pretty chaotic but hilarious at least to those who have been there. The novice won't really understand what's going on.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkxkNcHajyw
I guess after boot camp I became bilingual. I always wanted to speak another language.
