‘Making Marines’ Chronicles Recruits’ Survival of Boot Camp

An axiom in military circles holds that the Army and Navy are run like traditional armed forces, the Air Force is like a corporation, and the Marine Corps is something entirely different.

The Marine Corps, the saying goes, is a religion.

“Making Marines,” which can be seen Sunday on the Discovery Channel, provides an unusually intimate look at the grueling set of physical and mental challenges that novices undergo to gain acceptance into the faith.

Veteran filmmaker Chuck Braverman, and his son, Alex, a film student at New York University, were given access to recruits at Marine boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., before, during and after their 12-week transformation.

The result is a marvelously detailed, engrossing account of how Marine recruits are trained and what kind of young Americans are drawn to the Marine Corps and its devotion to “honor, courage and commitment.”

Forget those “reality” series where waitresses and stockbrokers jet to some remote locale to be tested in some network-contrived competition. Parris Island is the real deal and there are no million-dollar endorsement contracts awaiting the survivors.

Most of the male and female recruits in “Making Marines” will succeed, despite moments of exhaustion, confusion and despair. Some will drop out. At least one will be dismissed for having used marijuana before arriving at boot camp.

The triumph of “Making Marines” is that it makes us care about the hopes and struggles of the recruits: the dyed blond from Detroit, the fresh-faced twins from Georgia, the 19-year-old who misses his girlfriend in Tennessee, the thoughtful musician from Long Island, the immigrant from the Ukraine, and others.

“Making Marines” is also populated with drill instructors, those leather-lunged, over-the-top sergeants who are tormentors and mentors to the recruits.

The documentary notes that for many of the recruits, military service is an escape from a future of minimum-wage boredom.

“You know another reason I joined?” asks Jessica Moss from rural Tennessee. “Because I worked at McDonald’s. That was like: ‘OK, I’m not doing this the rest of my life. I’m doing something.’”

Recruits are encouraged to attend chapel. For many, introduction into a new faith has brought them closer to an older one.

“Boot camp has made me religious,” Moss said. “I know lots of times I thought, ‘Please, God, get me through this.’”

“Making Marines” airs 8-11 p.m. Sunday on the Discovery Channel.