Brittany Wood
Christine Nicodemus
English 1100
12 September 2013
Barcott Journal 3
During this section of reading, I was struggling to stay focused. All of the information about starting his organization went over my head a little but there were a few parts that I could relate to.
My family has a long history with the military so the parts of the book when Barcott talks about his experiences with training camp relate to my life. I have grown up hearing stories about war and the military and what it takes to do what they do. One part that really stuck out to me is when Barcott was running and he worked himself so hard that he “shit [himself] on the run (pg. 82).” He was so determined to prove his Sergeant wrong that he ran to exhaustion. When in basic training, you have to give your all and prove yourself. My dad has told me stories so many times about his experiences at basic and how they changed him. During basic you are forced to grow up and become a man. Barcott, during this chapter, reminds me of my dad. Another thing I really like about this section of reading is how Barcott develops his characters, in particular the Sergeant.
In the beginning of the chapter, Barcott writes how the sergeant had it out for him from the beginning. He drilled him harder than the other cadets, yelled at him more, and put more pressure on him than the rest. However, as the chapter progresses Barcott shows us slight changes in the Sergeant and at the end of the chapter he finally respects Barcott. Barcott had just gone through his ceremony and was officially a Marine now. He reflects back to when Sergeant was yelling at him about “the length of [his] nose hairs when he spotted [his] old duffel.” As soon as Barcott told Sergeant that his father was a Marine, Sergeant immediately stopped yelling and changed his attitude towards Barcott. In the military, there is a certain level of respect for service. If your family members have served, and now you...