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MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, March 16, 2010 – He started learning the ins and outs of fly-fishing from his grandfather at age 7. Years later, he’d spend every day on the Gunnison River in Colorado. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. David R. Brewer, a drill instructor at the recruit training center in San Diego, acquired a passion for fly-fishing from his grandfather while growing up in Colorado. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Rebecca A. Lamont  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “My grandfather taught me everything I know about fly-fishing,” said Marine Corps Staff Sgt. David R....

Pfc. Yevgeniy Kulgeko executes a pull up during a daily physical training session. Kulgeko, a native of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, holds Company M's pull up record with 58 repetitions. MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (Oct. 18, 2007) -- Private First Class Yevgeniy Kulgeko's first memories of the military take him back to his hometown of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where his grandfather, an officer in the Soviet Army, would give him rides around the neighborhood in an armored vehicle. During this time, Uzbekistan was living under the shadow of the Cold War and was an enemy of the United States. On...

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jeremiah Workman Drill Instructor Receives Navy Cross for Bravery in Iraq By Lance Cpl. Heather Golden Parris Island PARRIS ISLAND, S.C., May 26, 2006 —The Marine Corps has a long tradition of excellence in the line of duty. Marines stretching from 1775 to present times are recognized and remembered for their selfless acts and quick thinking on and off the battlefield. On May 12, another Marine was recognized for his actions. Sgt. Jeremiah Workman, a drill instructor with Delta Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, and native of Richwood, Va., received the Navy Cross, second in...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (March 3, 2006) -- The sounds of their cadence roll through the halls and across the grounds of the depot. Up to 65 Marines go to Drill Instructor School each cycle. During this training period, students learn methods of training recruits to become United States Marines. The overall goal of this institution is to give these students as much knowledge from their instructors’ own experiences, as best they can, said Gunnery Sgt. Christopher L. Hambaugh, Drill Instructor School instructor. Every instructor served time in the trenches before he became an instructor at the school....

AR RAMADI, Iraq (Oct. 27, 2005) -- Like many new Marines fresh out of their military occupational specialty school, Lance Cpl. Richard D. Poulis was worried he wouldn't know anyone in his unit. The 26-year-old from Houston didn't carry that concern long, though. He soon encountered someone he knew all to well, Gunnery Sgt. Walter G. Siquieros, his senior drill instructor from Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot San Diego. "I did a double take when I saw him at (Camp San Mateo, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif)," said Poulis. Poulis and Siquieros were checking into 1st Battalion, 5th Marine...

The bicyclist killed in a hit-and-run early Tuesday morning has been identified as Marine Capt. Patrick Michael Klokow of Santa Clara, an Iraq war veteran. Klokow, 29, was commanding officer of an instructional training company at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, said Janice Hagar, a base spokeswoman. As an artillery officer with the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, Klokow served in Kuwait from January 2003 to March 2003 and was then deployed in Iraq until July 2003, Hagar said. Klokow graduated from the Naval Academy in 1999 and had been stationed at the recruit depot since September 2003. He is...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (August 19, 2005) -- Bedridden and dazed from medication, Travis D. Hall woke up surprised to see his sister enter the Naval Medical Center San Diego hospital room May 17. He knew she brought bad news. "She told me straight," said 21-year-old Hall, who was sick from an allergic reaction to a penicillin shot he took when checking into Marine Corps recruit training three months ago. Hall's sister, Tamara H. Mooradian, told him their father, Rudy G. Hall, 66, had died in his sleep a day before. Tamara hugged her brother and they...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (August 19, 2005) -- Lance Cpl. Jason L. Johnson jumped off the stage and into the moonwalk. His popping moves, gyrating hips and captivating smile prompted laughter from the crowd as he unconsciously danced to Michael Jackson's 'Thriller.' He tossed his hat to the side, flared his leg, popped his hips and stood on his toes. He smiled into the audience he didn't realize was there. The hypnotized victims of Paul LeBlanc's demonstration were guests at the depot's annual Marine Corps Community Services-sponsored Bayfest 2005, Saturday. During the demonstration, volunteers performed dances for...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (August 19, 2005) -- Harley Davidson motorcycles roared through the hallways of Pendleton Hall and bellowed down the streets of the depot while Marine veterans cruised down memory lane Aug. 12. Seventeen former Marines from the Leatherneck Motorcycle Club, California Chapter, came from all over the state to witness recruit graduation and walk around the base where many of them trained decades before. To be a part of the Leatherneck Motorcycle Club, one must first be an active duty, reserve, or honorably discharged U.S. Marine or Navy corpsman who has served with a...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (August 19, 2005) -- Marines swapped nurses and hospital food for Hooters girls and hot wings Saturday during a trip that got 29 recovering warriors out of their hospital rooms and back to sampling normal life. Patients from Navy hospitals in San Diego and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., caravanned to Pasadena, Calif., where they were the guests of honor at a Hooters restaurant and the nearby Ice House Comedy Club. America's Heroes of Freedom, a private veterans support organization, bought the comedy tickets and the pre-show feast for the Marines and...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif., Aug. 18, 2005 – "After all the things he has been through, I'm sure he isn't worried about me screaming in his ear," Marine Staff Sgt. Nathan Nofziger, a drill instructor here, said about his West African recruit. Pfc. Nimley Tabue is one of the 271 recruits in Company B, but few could say they've been in his shoes. The soft-spoken Liberia native recalls visions of war and the struggles he and his family went through to survive when thinking back to his native country. Tabue's parents came from different tribes. He said...

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq (August 5, 2005) -- During basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., Joanna Lael Baker met her nemesis as she stood atop of the rappel tower and peered down at her certain doom. Her fear of heights was being challenged in a finale that meant the difference between her passing the test with the other recruits and falling back in training. She took a deep breath, grabbed the rope and jumped 40 feet down – stopping short just a few feet from the woodchips. Lance Cpl. Baker finally conquered her fear...

SAN DIEGO, July 29, 2005 – More than 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., Naval Medical Center San Diego and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego occupied the stands at Angels Stadium to watch the L.A. Angels play the Oakland Athletics July 19. The Marines received free tickets to the game from a few military associations and the Taco Bell Corporation. Civilians as well as Marines benefited from these organizations. The 9/11 Foundation gave tickets to Marine families as well. According to Marvin Winters, the 9/11 Foundation gives aid to spouses who lose their loved ones in the military. "More...

WASHINGTON – The base-closing commission voted Tuesday to add two military facilities, in California and Maine, to the list of hundreds of domestic bases that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has proposed closing and shrinking. The Navy Broadway Complex in San Diego and the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, were added to the list of facilities to be closed. The commission also was voting on whether to add bases in nine other states and Washington, D.C. In a reprieve for California, the commission voted against putting the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on the closure list even though several commissioners...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (May 20, 2005) -- Marine volunteers and the Headquarters and Service Battalion chaplain devoted their afternoons to sort and package food for senior citizens and the needy May 12 at the San Diego Food Bank. "This is the second time that we have done this project," said Navy Cmdr. Randal B. Craft, H&S Bn. chaplain. The Marine volunteers, usually from around the depot and Naval Medical Center San Diego, volunteered at the food bank last holiday season. "All of the work that is done by the food bank is volunteer work," said Craft....

WASHINGTON – The Marine Corps commandant casually acknowledged Tuesday something that would have been considered unthinkable only a few years ago – the Marines offered to close the San Diego Recruit Depot in this current base closure and realignment process. But Gen. Michael Hagee told the independent closure commission that the proposal was dropped because the cost of moving the historic training post from its location next to Lindbergh Field outweighed the possible savings. Hagee's comments were the first indication that the Marines had changed their previous strong opposition to losing the San Diego boot camp, which has been creating...

MCRD/ ERR PARRIS ISLAND, SC (March 4, 2005) -- As the children were dropped off at the All-Weather Training Facility to begin their training endeavors as Young Marine recruits, volunteer "drill instructors" stood waiting to train them. "That initial shock from the drill instructors is what is going to make them believe they are actually going through recruit training," said Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Curran, the Parris Island Young Marines Program volunteer coordinator. Similar to Marine recruit training, the children will be referred to as recruits until the day they graduate and complete the training. The young recruits met Saturday from...

War or no war, the Marine Corps recruiting juggernaut just keeps rolling. The Corps' ability to attract men and women has led to the recruiting equivalent of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak: the Marines' nine-plus-year run of making its personnel enlistment quota, unofficially known as "The Streak." The next closest service is the Navy, which has made its recruiting numbers for three years. Part of the Corps' success arrived at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego last month when educators from Redding, Folsom, Shasta and other towns within Maj. David Sosa's recruiting district in Northern California arrived for...

A harmless yet sinister-looking cardboard tube was discovered taped to the undercarriage of a car at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot yesterday, triggering an emergency response plan and snarling traffic around the base for hours. While Navy bomb squad members worked cautiously to determine the nature of the object, San Diego police halted traffic around the base to keep civilians clear of any danger. "When a potential threat is detected we have to take the appropriate measures to ensure the safety of people," said Maj. Joe Kloppel, a base spokesman. "That's what happened in this occasion." The military and civilian...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif.(January 10, 2003) -- There are many buildings in the military that hold great historical significance. Some of the buildings keep old artifacts, weapons, and uniforms of fallen service members who have come before us. Presidents and generals have graced the halls and many of these buildings have become historical landmarks. Such is the case of Quarters One, the home of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego's commanding generals, past and present. "Quarters One is not just a place for the commanding general to live," said Maj. Gen. Jan Huly, commanding general of MCRD...