Alright, looks great.
Joining the military is going to be a big change in your life.
It was a tough decision that you made to join the military, and now looking forward to the
next several years might be a little frightening.
You may have some unanswered questions.
Maybe you're afraid of the unknown.
At least that's how I felt.
Can I really do this?
What do I do to get ready?
I mean, what's it going to really be like?
The purpose of this video is to answer some of those questions and to help you make that
transition between civilian life now and military life.
It's also to help you understand the opportunities and services that the LDS Church provides
members serving in the military.
But first, basic training.
Now, when I tell you to move, you will grab all your gear, all your gear that you came
onto my bus with, and you will gag on move.
You understand me?
Yes, sir!
I don't think there's anything that can prepare you for it.
I went to boot camp when I was 17 years old at Parris Island.
I can't tell you what a shock it put you in, so you're going to go into shock.
There's no question about that.
It's going to be really tough at first.
The emotional strain and stress is very difficult.
Right up front when the recruit gets here in recruit training, the first couple days
that he's here, he's going to hear a lot of yelling, a lot of chaos going on around the
squad.
The reason for that is to prepare him to be more confident and to show the drill instructors
really that he's not totally afraid of the drill instructor.
We're trying to take a young civilian in a lot of cases, the average age is about 18
or 19, and turn him into a mature, responsible adult and a good Marine.
The first thing they do is shave your bald.
And they cut all your hair off, and they say it's for hygiene purposes.
You're terrified.
You're scared.
You don't know what's going to happen.
You got a lot of loud noise coming up in the morning.
What are you looking at?
You don't have the right to look at me yet.
Why should you even put your eye?
What do you think you're doing over there?
Nobody told you to move?
Then you go to chow, and you got to eat that meal in seconds.
The rest of the day is either physical training or educational things such as Marine Corps
history and whatnot.
Get over here.
Aye, sir.
You're always going to demand that they do more, they'll do something good.
We're telling them it's not good enough.
They learn to do things and work as a team, pull together.
Instead of a bunch of individuals that are all doing their own thing, they learn to bond
together as a team and work together as one unit to accomplish whatever it is they need
to do in their day-to-day task.
Don't take anything that drill instructors say or do personally.
It's their job to make your life miserable.
Basically, it's a leadership school where young men and women that come through it,
yes, they're going to get driven, they're going to get pushed, and it's only going to
make them excel.
It's going to make them have to push themselves to heights that they've never reached before.
Recruit training was tough and almost unbearable for me at times, but I made it.
I needed something to help me get through the rough times, and going to church is what
got me through the rough times.
I didn't know how I was going to be accepted.
That first time for me was just like most of the recruits.
They don't know what to expect, but as they continue to go to church every Sunday, if
they do that, which I recommend, then they will see that the church services at a military
base are more accepting than in a civilian camp.
If you're going through a lot of rigorous training, you turn around and you can go to
a service on Sunday, and you never knew how good Sunday service was until you get to boot
camp and get that relief.
If you're having troubles with anything, don't be afraid to ask for a blessing.
If there's anybody else in your platoon that's Mormon or whatever, get with them and make
each other feel good.
Stay close and work as a team and everybody will be just fine.
I feel like I've become a lot stronger.
I've become more responsible for my actions and I have a higher self-esteem.
They reach that certain level where they're going to step back and look at themselves
and say, wow, I can't believe that I've done that.
We put 20,000 young men through MCRD per year, so that tells me that it's doable.
After basic training, and yes, there is an after to basic training, is when life in the
military truly begins.
You could be stationed anywhere in the world.
You'll be making new friends, working with new people in a new environment.
A word of advice, decide now what type of person you really want to be.
Make the decision to have the teachings of Jesus Christ and his church an important part
of your life.
It'll be a decision that will make all the difference in your life and throughout your
career.
They're chaplains in the military and they're always willing to help anybody who wants help
in the religious areas.
Specialist Simmons here to see you, sir.
Okay.
How are you doing, Specialist Simmons?
Pretty good.
My job as a chaplain is to make sure that every one of my soldiers, his religious needs
are being accommodated.
With me just arriving here on island, I was wondering if I could get some information on
how to find the church.
Not a problem at all.
Come into my office and I'll get you the information.
Alright, sir.
So if I have an LDS soldier that comes into my office, I will do everything I can to link
him up with a local bishop.
Give him the phone number.
I'll also try to steer him in the direction of other LDS soldiers in my unit and make
sure that he is given every opportunity to practice his faith according to his personal
convictions.
If I have one piece of advice for a young couple or a young family moving to a new location,
it's not to wait three or four weeks until you're settled to attend church and get to
know the members then.
Rather, call a chaplain or look up in the yellow pages and find out where the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is.
Hello.
Yes, are you Bishop Erickson?
There's a bishop or a branch president and a Relief Society president waiting to help
you out.
I think that everyone grows from the experience and the children included.
They've learned so much and there's a lot of things that we've seen and done here that
people in the states will probably never have the opportunity to do.
While in the military, go to church.
It's the best thing you can do.
Life in the military is tough.
It's supposed to be.
But by actively participating in church activities, it'll be that much easier and that much more
fulfilling.
You'll be surrounding yourself with people who care about you and they want you to succeed.
Religion is not a problem within the Marine Corps.
But the Marines are encouraged to attend the Church of their choice and even while we're
here, even though we're thousands of miles away from our home base, there are still the
opportunities, irregardless, even to include right here in the field for the Marines to
attend the service of their choice.
Whether you're in the middle of the Pacific, you'll still be able to meet with other church
members, priesthood holders, take the sacrament.
And we had really nice meetings.
Wherever you go in the world, the church will be there as a refuge.
Unfortunately, everywhere you go will be those sort of things that can drag you down.
And there are an awful lot of opportunities for a person to go wrong.
There's no question about that because you're on your own.
You've got a paycheck.
Most military bases nearby, there are plenty of places that cater to, say, that kind of
a life, if that's what you want.
These guys behind us over here, they've been alone for six months.
They've got each other, but they may not even be the people they want to really be with.
Very often, people want to test your resolve.
They want to really see if you mean what you say.
So it's not so much necessarily that they want you to do wrong, but rather they want
to test your mettle.
The military does not encourage people to live a wild life while they're in the military.
We know that if a person stays morally straight, even on an issue like alcohol abuse, we know
that you'll be a better sailor, a better marine, a better Coast Guardsman if you don't do that.
The crew that I was flying with didn't understand me and my behavior very well because I didn't
participate in things that were very normal to them.
And they thought that it was very odd that I wasn't participating with them.
I hang around with people that have similar values to my own.
We don't worry about going to the bars.
We don't worry about going to the clubs.
We just worry about going out and taking some good pictures and writing some letters and
making some phone calls.
Stay close to your ideals and follow the commandments of the Lord.
Do the things that you know are right.
You may take a little ribbing about it at the very beginning, but it'll go away and
people will start to recognize who you are and what you stand for.
They'll gather around you because they are going to see that light and they're going
to want to be a part of it.
Through my work, I met up with my boss, Gunnery Sergeant Bendel.
I'd sit in the shop and I'd read the Book of Mormon.
One day I asked if I could read it.
Things just worked out and he's now taking the missionary discussions and is interested
in learning about the church.
One of the facts of life in the military is you don't control where you're going to go
and when you're going to be there.
TDYs, deployments, remote tours all mean separation from your family.
These separations are always difficult, but there are ways that you can make these necessary
separations easier.
My job, I'm a navigator and I'm probably gone 180, maybe 200 days a year on a bad year.
That separation is really, really hard on me and certainly on my family.
It's easier I would think for a serviceman in the church just because of the support
group that's already in place within the church.
We know that our families will always be taken care of by the home teachers.
Relief Society, pretty much all we have to do is just let everybody know that we're leaving
and I know that my wife will be taken care of.
Is your husband still TDY?
Yes, it's been a long time.
Part of what happens with couples often times when they deploy, when they're away from each
other is that they grow in different directions because they don't write enough, they don't
share what's going on in their lives and so when they come back together they find they're
married to somebody different.
Best ways that we have found to get over that is a lot of letters home, letters to children,
letters from children, from my wife, to let me know what's going on in their lives and
to let them know what's going on in mine and that they're loved and missed and phone calls
to hear their voice and to know that they're all's well.
I rely a lot on the scriptures and on getting the church magazines.
One thing to remember is that wherever you happen to be you can always have the scriptures
handy.
They will be a source of comfort and support.
Make sure you get the military edition of the scriptures from your priesthood leaders
so you can have them with you always.
I never have to worry about being alone.
I go to a different country, I find someone, I ask them to help me look up the number in
the phone book and I can always find some local church members.
I can always find missionaries that speak English and that know what's going on and
they can give me a little bit more support.
I can always find somebody in the church anywhere I go that's willing to take some time and
talk to me and help me.
It's exciting to think about all the things that are going to happen to you in the next
few years.
Remember it's up to you to make the most of your military career.
Have a good attitude, have fun and use the discipline that you learn in the military
to stay strong in your beliefs.
You are the defenders of the constitution, defenders of freedom, defenders of freedom
of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of enterprise.
These freedoms allow us to choose what we want to be and what we will do with our lives.
It is called agency.
Freedoms ensure individual rights to make our own choices.
A free man not only has rights but he has also the responsibility to defend his freedoms
for him and for his posterity.
Because of you and many others like you who are willing to spend a part of your life to
defend freedoms around the world, the world will be a better place.
You will be a better person and your children and grandchildren and mine will remain free
because of your example of patriotism.
Thank you for all you do for the citizens of our nation.