MAKING CHILDREN MARINES - THEN AND NOW

MAKING CHILDREN MARINES - THEN AND NOW

By Andy Weddington

Saturday, 17 October 2026

 

Great things are done when men and mountains meet.  – William Blake

 

Language is restrictive. 

All language - spoken, written, symbolic, coded, etc. - can capture but fraction of reality.

To speak, write, signal, in any way, is to select is to omit. 

It is neither possible to see all of anything nor describe all that is seen. And know there is at least as much not seen and not described as there is described. 

The discipline General Semantics, founded by a warrior (Count Alfred Korszybski), is germane to the previous sentences. 

For some 50 years I’ve been a disciple and oft times failed practitioner thereof. Though for occasional victories here and there – sane (GS term for awareness that things and the words and symbols for representing things are mutually exclusive and only through consensus of meaning is there agreement), for the most part. 

So is the art of photography restrictive. 

Because a still (even moving) traps but moment in time. 

As a painter for more than 60 years, I have learned there is no substitute for working from life. Life is dynamic. To copy photograph is to use death as model. 

That is, to stand before subject, whatever it happens to be, is to see and summarize life.  

Study. See what others miss. Then, decide, selectively without describing, what is necessary to trap in paint, with as few strokes as possible. To record the experience and if done well the painting feels alive. 

Simplicity, as in everything, the goal. 

The observer’s brain will tend to complexity; each’s filter making for different analysis and conclusions. 

During the past couple weeks many a word, thousands actually, has been dedicated to the fundamentals of making and being a Marine and the matter of coed (gender-neutral). Facts. As to emotions, they're best left to those who find facts objectionable and inconvenient. 

In particular, the physical differences between and abilities of males and females, and how those differences and abilities matter when it comes to doing all things physical. Too, the psychological. 

To complement all those words, I searched the Internet for photographs of elementary school playgrounds of my youth. Words not necessary. Just look. 

 

 

 

          

 

Too, I searched for photographs of Marine Corps recruit training. 

Many found but one old and one new photograph makes the point. 

Two photographs – black and white (1960s/1970s pre-coed training), color (2026 coed training) – of one obstacle on the Confidence Course aboard Recruit Depot, Parris Island. 

As to the black and white, note body position, feet, of recruit bottom left.

Though there is not figures in the recent photo, both obstacles, though at first glance appearing the same, fall considerably short of the old design. 

                              

 

Photographs, thank goodness, trap moments in time. Record. History. 

Elementary school playgrounds today - less challenging colorful plastic toys surrounded by sawdust or mats with overhead shading - may be more forgiving and “safer” but do not present the challenge of yesterday’s erector set-like equipment; that built confidence and sometimes drew character-building blood. 

Marine Corps recruit training Confidence Courses today may be less challenging, more forgiving, and “safer” but do not present the challenge, especially to males, of yesterday’s structures. Other obstacles confirm that conclusion. 

The obstacle known as ‘Dirty Name’ - for obvious reasons. 

No idea if still so named, but to call that simple daunting array of logs of yesterday the same today is probably a no-no. More so, it'd be insulting. 

Children then: Playgrounds challenged to bigger challenges.

Children now: Toys to bigger toys. 

Does America still build children the way we used to?

Does the Marine Corps still make Marines the way they used to?

“The Marine Corps builds men,” was once a recruiting slogan. 

Objectively, building men and Making Marines are not necessarily synonymous. 

As in painting, why 26 brushstrokes when 6 will do?

So, when making a point, why thousands of words when five hundred or so complementing six photographs (not in need of word) will do?

It’s how Korzybski would see it. It’s how I see it. 

Wonder how America's enemies see it?