Molly Marine

PFC Beatriz Villa

O Co Plt 4018

4 June 2014

 

 

Molly Marine: A Title Earned by One’s Personal Character

Marine Corps Recruit Training: where the few choose to go, where few endure, and where few earn the title of United States Marine. Teamwork, motivation, and always doing the right thing are only three of the many characteristics a recruit must possess in order to succeed throughout recruit training. Being a Molly Marine not only means you must possess these characteristics, but you must be able to help lead your fellow sisters as well as follow.

We all need help at one point or another. Helping your sisters to your left or to your right and being selfless is what teamwork is all about. A Molly Marine must be willing to always put her sisters before herself, she must be able to help her sisters come together and work as one. A Molly Marine not only should demonstrate teamwork but also be willing to accept help and criticism from her sisters.

A Molly Marine should be one that pushes her sisters when they feel like quitting. She should be a motivator that leads by example and is not easily discouraged. As recruits we all go through different emotions, but a Molly Marine encourages her sisters and helps them see a positive side to everything. She helps uplift spirits and perhaps helps her sisters to get though another day.

Always doing the right thing even when no one is looking is a trait that is installed in every Marine. A Molly Marine must conduct herself with high standards at all times. She should always uplift and promote to her sisters the Marine Corps Values: honor, courage, and commitment. Molly Marine takes pride in everything she does and helps her sisters do the same. A Molly Marine comes to recruit training with many of these values and characteristics already instilled in her, but they mature or get developed at recruit training. A Molly Marine is far from perfect, she has faults as well, but she is a leader and does not quit.

Growing up I was taught to be a leader and how to be independent. I obtained my first job at the age of 16 and was motivated to save my earnings help my mother pay bills. I worked hard, never lost sight of my goal and achieved my mission. I learned how to be responsible and matured at a young age. Later in life I married and had a child, being a wife and a mother has taught me selflessness and how to be a good example of good behavioral conduct. All of these life experiences have definitely played a role in my conduct here at recruit training. It helped me be successful and has given me the strength to help my sisters to be successful by giving them motivation when they need that extra push as well as accept that extra push when I need motivation.

Sisterhood is formed at recruit training; a bond is created that no one can rip apart. Honor, courage, and commitment are the common values that preserve the strength of this bond. Semper Fidelis

 

The city of New Orleans dedicated the first United States monument of a woman in service uniform: “Molly Marine” on 10Nov, 1943. A local recruiter commissioned the statue to help recruit women during World War II. For female Marines around the world, Molly has come to represent the countless significant contributions women have made to the Corps. She proudly stands for endurance, the book she holds records our history, the binoculars allow her to see into the future and she looks up steadfast facing all that comes her way. Molly has become a symbol of Esprit de Corps for all women Marines. Before graduation from boot camp, the recruits are asked to name one fellow recruit within their platoon who best exemplifies being a Marine. Here, we celebrate our newest Marines