First of a series

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. — The 1980s changed the military, especially the U.S. Marines, their officers claim.

Standards have been raised and many who thought they might join the Marines never even get to boot camp. Screening eliminates as many as 20 percent, officials said.

The Marines “want the best young people coming out of America today on our team. We are not asking for rocket scientists; we want good average Americans,” said Lt. Col. James Williams, who is completing his 25th year in the Marines as executive officer of the Beaufort Marine Air Station at Parris Island in South Carolina.

Standards are stiffer for those who make it, too. As many as 15 percent fail to measure up at boot camp and call it quits.

No longer do random drug tests find evidence of drug use among as many as 20 percent of the those tested. In fact, drug testing of Marines in 1991 found that fewer than 1 percent had used drugs in the two months prior to being tested, said Maj. Gen. Gene Deegan, commandant at the Parris Island training facility.

Likewise, the brigs at Marine bases no longer bulge with men who enlisted to stay out of jail.

Deegan said that muggings, assaults and thefts are down drastically — to the point that brigs at Parris Island and other Marine depots have space to rent.

Even the image of Marines as gritty musclemen is a bit off the mark. The Marines are no longer “just a bunch of men running around in the woods.” There are female Marines and all Marines “are into high technology,” said Lt. Col. James Williams, executive director of the Beaufort Marine Air Station, which is adjacent to Parris Island.

But some things never change.

Pride and self-confidence are still the hallmarks of the Marine Corps. These traits are instilled at boot camp, 60 days of sometimes harsh training that takes place at two centers, the one at Parris Island in South Carolina and another in San Diego, Calif.

Marines still chant marching tunes, and grunt and groan during physical training and yell “Yes, sir” hundreds of times a day. They still fight each other, which a drill instructor explained makes them gel as a unit.

For those outside their ranks, Marine haughtiness is hard to understand. Marines stand erect defending themselves, their units and their country. Becoming a Marine is like joining a brotherhood.

Gunnery Sgt. Edward Bogard, of the U.S. Marine Recruiting Station in Portland, said that recruits, having decided to enter the Marines, need to keep in mind their commitment throughout their training at Parris Island. They won’t make it through Parris Island without their desire, their commitment in mind, he said.

“The Marine Corps is not for everybody. You’ve got it or you don’t,” said Capt. Chuck Peters.

The U.S. Navy was at Beaufort in the 1940s. The Marines moved into the seaside site close to the Georgia border in 1956. The Marine facilities there include the Beaufort (pronounced Buford) Marine Air Station, home base for five F-18 squadrons, and the Parris Island training camp.

A causeway lined with palm trees connects Parris Island with the mainland. It has been a military training site since 1909.

As one drives in on “the long road” to the island, as the causeway is called, men can be seen in physical training, some running along the road. It was hot even though it was mid-April.

Recruits spend 95 to 100 days on Parris Island. They get physical and combat training in three phases, with breaks during which they do other jobs at the facility. At any one time Parris Island can have 2,500 to 4,000 recruits. Tactical formations for combat are taught at Belleau Woods.

Leatherneck Square is the site for training in hand-to-hand combat, including boxing, self-defense, martial arts and several forms of pugil stick fighting. A drill instructor there explained that this kind of training builds aggressiveness and self-confidence.

Training is tough. “We have to expect pain and mental anguish to get discipline,” said Staff Sgt. John Crouch. For example, if the recruits were allowed to use bug repellent, it would eliminate a test of their self-discipline, he said.

A sign at the base, probably put up more for civilians who might be visitng than for the recruits, proclaims, “the noise you hear is the sound of freedom.”

Tomorrow: A Fort Kent woman becomes a Marine officer and a Brewer man returns to boot camp.