For the last three months, Marine recruits have woken up at 5 a.m. and are outside marching by 5:15.
"Me and my buddies, our adrenalin is just rushing, you know, you get tingly, you're like this is why I joined. You get that feeling, that rush,” said Marine Justin LeMay.
A change Justin LeMay says he needed.
"It was a lot different from anything I've done. I was working construction before that and I, so while doing that, I didn't really feel fulfillment in my work,” LeMay said.
LeMay took on the crucible, a 45 mile hike through the California mountains, and he graduated with 400 other recruits from across the country, before coming home for ten days.
"Even down there, when you're in training, you feel fulfillment everyday, whether it's cleaning the bathrooms or sitting there scrubbing away, you still feel that fulfillment because you know what you're doing matters. And that's the main reason why I wanted to do it,” LeMay said.
The pride is a feeling you can get on the base. Families are invited to San Diego to see their recruits the day before graduation. For them, it's a chance to see their recruit for the first time in months.
"Once I saw him, I could see like the pride on his face, and all of that, and it was pretty incredible,” LeMay said.
The pride is so strong, that now his sister is looking to join.
"It's the pride, it's the challenges, its family uniting together and all of that and it's also protecting. It's something more, more than this,” LeMay said.
After this brief visit home, LeMay heads back to California. He's not going through boot camp again, but he is anxious to see what his next challenge is.
