--- title: "These Are The First Words Out Of Your Drill Instructor’s Mouth" date: "2016-07-06" modified: "2016-07-06" authors: - name: "James Clark" job_title: "Editor-in-Chief" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/james-clark.md" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/like-meet-drill-instructors/" categories: - "Marine Corps" - "Military Branches" - "News" --- # These Are The First Words Out Of Your Drill Instructor’s Mouth ![]() “We will give every effort to train you, even after some of you have given up on yourselves.” If this sounds familiar, then you might be a Marine. The line is from the senior drill instructor’s speech that is given during pick-up: The day that recruits meet the drill instructors who will transform them from “nasty” civilians into United States Marines. At Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island in South Carolina, recruits go through pick-up on Saturday. At Recruit Depot San Diego in California, recruits are transferred over to their drill instructors on Friday, colloquially referred to as “Black Friday.” Related: How To Survive The First 4 Weeks Of Marine Boot Camp » Like everything else in boot camp, the speech is done by the numbers. After the recruits go through receiving, a multi-day in-processing period, they are delivered to their drill instructors. According to Capt. Gregory Carroll, a Marine spokesman, the company and series commanders will make their introductions and then the drill instructors will make their pledge before the recruits: “These recruits are entrusted to my care. I will train them to the best of my ability. I will develop them into smartly disciplined, physically fit, basically trained Marines. I will demand of them and demonstrate by my own example the highest standards of personal conduct, morality, and professional skill.” Next, the senior drill instructor delivers another speech in it’s entirety. A Marine Corps video by Sgt. Joseph Lamb shows Staff Sgt. Jason May, a senior drill instructor at Recruit Depot San Diego, as he gives the speech to his or her recruits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ns2FkZNTC0 At the end of the speech, May hands the platoon over to its waiting drill instructors before the video fades to black. What follows offscreen is sure to be a whirlwind of screaming, knife hands, cries of “yes, sir,” “no sir,” and “aye-aye sir,” and a few freshly shed tears. Original U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Erick Claros Villalta ![]() ## Author James Clark is the editor-in-chief of Task & Purpose. He is a Marine veteran and former combat correspondent. He deployed twice to Afghanistan with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, first to Marjah in 2010, and then to Kajaki and Sangin in 2011. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [LinkedIn]() ## More - [Marine Corps drill instructor chews out reporter for making the worst rack he’s ever seen]() - [This is what it looks like when Marine recruits meet their drill instructors for the first time]() - [The No Sh\*t Truth About What It’s Like To Be A Drill Instructor]() - [See What Happens When A Poolee Asks A Marine Drill Instructor, ‘What’s Up?’]() - [Marine Corps’ top drill instructor explains the correct way to yell at recruits]() - [As a child in Baghdad, he watched US Marines on patrol. Now he’ll make Marines as a drill instructor]() - [Marine Drill Instructors and Recruiters among special duty award winners]() - [Court martial begins for Marine drill instructor in ‘Crucible’ death of recruit]()