The poster on the left was in the window at the recruiting station when I walked in, genius moment for truth in advertising. The Gunny looked over my long haired Oregon hillbilly ass with disgust and asked what  the fuck I wanted. I told him I had been talking with Navy and was wondering what the Marine Corps could offer me. The answer wasn't what I was expecting, "Fours years and a hard fucking time." Bill was nothing if not brutally honest. He was an Airwinger who had found his niche on recruiting duty, he had made Gunny in 7 years, almost unheard of.
 
We talked for a long time that day and I told him my tale of woe. Turned out he came from similar circumstances and he made me take a practice entrance exam. I aced it. He spent the next two months helping me get my GED, teaching me boot camp survival 101, and "pre-processing" all the paperwork involved while we waited. Two days after my 17th birthday I was sworn in and eight days later I was listening to another Gunny yelling "Get off the motherfucking bus and on the yellow footprints, move, move, move!"

Nine years after I met my first Gunny I was selected for the rank myself while I was teaching computer logic flow and Avionics troubleshooting for the F/A-18. I didn't beat Bill's time but I knew he would have been proud of me.

More later, maybe...
If your a brother Marine check out http://marines.togetherweserved.com/ 
Semper Fi! Gunny C