Photo By Sgt. Joseph Jacob | U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Kaylynn K. Kalama with Platoon 4001, Oscar Company, 4th Recruit...... read more read more
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Parris Island, S.C. -- In an equipment room no larger than her old bedroom back in Hamilton, Ohio, recruit Kaylynn K. Kalama prepares to pass out rappel helmets to the nearly three hundred recruits lined up outside the door.
All at once, in a controlled flurry, the recruits stream inside, to her side a drill instructor yells to Kalama to keep pace with the endless sea of blurry faces. Pick up a helmet, pass the helmet, grab the next helmet, pass the helmet, rinse and repeat. This rapid cycle halts momentarily as she is taken aback by a familiar face, reaching out for the helmet in her hands is her own twin brother and fellow recruit, Branden K. Kalama. He barely has the chance to utter “I love you” before being swept away.
This is the first time the Kalama siblings have seen each other since arriving on Parris Island, S.C., October 11, 2017, in pursuit of earning the title United States Marine. In typical Kalama fashion, the brother and sister pair took their places on the famous yellow footprints in matching flannel and jean outfits.
Although she lost sight of her brother as they stepped off the footprints and found their way to their respective companies; her to Oscar Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, and him to Fox Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, she knew she wouldn’t be doing this alone.
“My brother has always been by my side and we go through everything together. From our childhood, to high school, every obstacle we have faced, we have done it together, and now we were doing this together.”
With that thought in mind the Kalamas began their journey through one of the country’s toughest and longest military entry programs. Marine boot camp lasts 13 weeks, and those that come through the silver hatches on Parris Island remember what the transformation from a civilian into a Marine takes.
Under the watchful eyes of their drill instructors, recruits wake up at 4 a.m. every morning where they will fight to prove they have what it takes.
They will be tested in the gas chamber, where they’ll be exposed to CS gas. They will be tested on the Confidence Course, where they’ll learn the limits of their endurance. They will be tested in the incentive training pits, where drill instructors use IT to help instill discipline. They will be tested during the Crucible, a 54-hour culminating event, filled with assault courses, leadership challenges, martial arts, and hikes.
Despite the rigorous training and the constant need to concentrate on the present, the twins remained mindful of each other and hoped for their best.
Retired gunnery sergeant Todd A. McAlister, a Naval Science Instructor at Hamilton High School, where he mentored the Kalamas in the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, or NJROTC, spoke about the nature of their relationship.
“I wouldn’t say it was a rivalry that I saw in them,” said McAlister, 54, from Muncie, Ind., who served as a drill instructor on Parris Island from 1992 until 1994. “It was more of a supportiveness that made them push each other, as well as themselves, to do better.”
While in the NJROTC program the twins spent countless hours together preparing for the mental and physical demands of recruit training, going as far as practicing the Marine Corps drill manual every morning at 6 a.m. before school. Their time and dedication in NJROTC led both of them to receiving numerous awards, including the Distinguished and Honor Cadet ribbons. Both Kalamas accredit their success in NJROTC and Parris Island to McAlister’s guidance, not only before training, but during as well, as he continuously wrote letters to check in on their progress.
“He always knew the right things to say in his letters because he had been there himself,” said Kaylynn Kalama.
“He is the reason why I joined the Marine Corps, and I can relate everything that helped me here back to NJROTC and what he taught us,” added Brendan Kalama.
Even with their NJROTC training, and strong support network back home, there was one fear that the Kalamas had in common; getting recycled. There are eight graduation requirements in recruit training, and failure of any one results in additional time on Parris Island to repeat the failed requirement.
Every time the Kalamas reached one of these requirements, such as swim qualification, the combat fitness test, or academic testing, they knew that in order to keep the same graduate date, they could never fail, not even once.
“In the beginning I was caught up in worrying about myself, but I eventually stopped and thought about what she was going through,” said Brendan Kalama. “It kept me focused, and made me push to give my best each day because I knew that she was out there doing the best that she could.”
One by one, they passed each requirement; all the while Branden Kalama never forgot the last words he told his sister during the long bus ride to the gates of Parris Island.
“I’ll see you at the finish line.”
That highly sought finish line finally came Jan. 5, 2018, just after a storm covered Parris Island in a fresh sheet of snow and ice. The noise of the cheering crowd, highly anticipating the moment their Marines will be dismissed, was only matched in intensity with the freezing temperatures outside. Standing in formation with the January chill at their backs, they didn’t seem to mind the weather, after all; they completed what they set out to do together and they are ready to begin their careers as United States Marines.
| Date Taken: | 01.05.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 01.05.2018 16:57 |
| Story ID: | 261424 |
| Location: | PARRIS ISLAND, SC, US |
| Hometown: | HAMILTON, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 615 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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