Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Parris Island lures recruits from liberal northeast

Lowell Sun:

In the face of a bloody war with no end in sight, the U.S. Marine Corps continues to find men and women willing, if not eager, to lay their lives on the line.

“I was kind of looking forward to it. All of my brothers and sisters are over there,” said Marine recruit Kevin Hayes, 18, of Shirley.

“His brothers and sisters” are his fellow Marines, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hayes is on the deck of the training pool at Parris Island Recruit Depot in South Carolina, where, on any given day, 4,500 recruits prepare for battle.

They are called “warriors,” and it is no secret on Parris Island that recruits could find themselves in the deserts of Iraq within three months of graduating basic training.

It is a reality many Marines seem to embrace.

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“I wanted to serve with the best fighting force in the world,” said Matthew Tremblay, 19, of Chelmsford.

Tremblay, like several other local recruits interviewed by The Sun, chose to be trained for infantry duty after boot camp, increasing the likelihood that he will see combat.

“When I think of a Marine, I think infantry. I'm a little nervous, but I know it is something this recruit has to do,” Tremblay said stoically, without breaking his focus from training.

Before being interviewed, recruits were briefed by senior officers and told to answer questions honestly, but not discuss their own political views.

As of last week, 2,092 Americans have been killed in action -- 30 from Massachusetts -- and another 15,000 have been injured. Nearly 600 of those casualties were Marines.

The grim reality of war has made recruiting volunteers for the armed services a daunting challenge for recruiters, particularly in liberal, wealthy Northeast communities where college, not Baghdad, is often the preferred destination.

“It's probably the most difficult job I've had. I call kids' homes, and their parents tell me they don't agree with the war, they hate George Bush, and they hang up,” said Sgt. Phillip Baugh, a recruiter from New Haven, Conn., who accompanied The Sun and a group of local educators to South Carolina.

But in eastern Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, the Marine Corps has more than met its mission.

Staff Sgt. Ken Tinnin, of the Portsmouth Recruiting Station in New Hampshire, said last year his regional offices recruited 863 new Marines, 36 more than its goal for fiscal 2005.

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There is more.