Today, if you ask an Army veteran about their service, they will respond “I was in the Army.” Similar statements can be heard from veteran sailors or airmen. A Marine, on the other hand, will inevitably reply proudly “I am a Marine.” The methodology behind this is simple: Marines are not born but made. Every man or woman who today wears the Eagle, Globe and Anchor came from the same humble beginnings. Each started their life in the Corps standing on a pair of yellow footprints outside the in-processing facility for one of the Marine Corps Recruit Depots. Each spent month after grueling month being broken down, re-educated, and rebuilt from the ground up into a Marine.