Boot Camp
William Manchester (1922–2004) was the best-selling author of eighteen books and deemed by the Washington Post as one of the greatest popular historians of the twentieth century.170 His books focused on the lives of military and political leaders such as Douglas MacArthur, Winston Churchill, and John Kennedy.
Not quite so well known is the fact that Manchester was also a Marine during World War II. He joined the Corps in 1942 while still in college. His first experience was boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, where his head was shaved and he was given a number. He met a new god-like figure, the Drill Instructor, and learned the three ways of doing things: the right way, the wrong way, and the Marine Corps way. Discipline was harsh and corporal punishment was common. In spite of the shock, Manchester somehow concluded that he adored Parris Island.
How could I enjoy this? Parts of it, of course, I loathed. But the basic concept fascinated me. I wanted to surrender my individuality, curbing my neck beneath the yoke of petty tyranny. Since my father’s death I had yearned for stern discipline, and Parris Island, where he himself had learned discipline a quarter-century earlier, gave it to me in spades. Physically I was delicate, even fragile, but I had limitless reservoirs of energy, and I could feel myself toughening almost hourly. Everything I saw seemed exquisitely defined—every leaf, every pebble looked as sharp as a drawing in a book. I knew I was merely becoming a tiny cog in the vast machine which would confront fascism, but that was precisely why I had volunteered.171
William Manchester brought a great writer’s discernment to a brutal process. He saw through his own personal agony to the higher purpose of this experience. To win a war, many good men had to subject themselves to the severest discipline. There are times in our lives when God’s discipline can also be difficult to endure and to understand. God disciplines us mainly through our hardships and setbacks, and, when we allow these experiences to bring us closer to him, we grow that much “tougher” for our service in his kingdom.
Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
—Deuteronomy 8:5