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About 15,000 new Marines will walk across the Peatross Parade Deck this year, but few march on it alongside their twin brother.
After Jurg and Urs Schaer, 20-year-old identical twins from Orlando, Fla., stepped on the yellow footprints together, they were placed in separate platoons in Mike Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion.
The brothers saw each other every week during church and discussed how their training was going. During their training, they each performed at a level above their peers and received meritorious promotions to private first class. Urs Schaer graduated as the platoon honor man for Platoon 3026, and Jurg Schaer graduated as squad leader for Platoon 3030.
“It was the competition between us that drove us to be better,” Urs said. “We’ve always been competitive and I honestly just wanted to beat my brother in everything during training.”
The brothers, both of whom are fathers, enlisted into the military to support their families, but joined the Marine Corps for the legacy of prestigious service and the pride of being the best.
“We saw how much more disciplined the Marines were compared to the other branches,” explained Jurg . “That was when we both made the decision to join.”
During the Crucible, the culminating event recruits must complete to earn the title Marine, the twins did not see each other until the night before its completion.
“I think Jurg is still doing well,” Urs said during the second day of the Crucible. “I know he’s going to push through it no matter how hard it gets.
“I know he won’t give up because I wouldn’t, and he’s probably thinking the same thing about me too.”
Because the two grew up constantly in each other’s company, 13 weeks of separation was one of the hardest parts of recruit training.
“I think the Crucible would be easier if my brother was in the same group as me,” Urs Schaer said.
The Marines of Mike Company received their Eagle, Globe and Anchor, and the title Marine, during a ceremony in front of the Iwo Jima monument upon completing the nine-mile hike, the final event of the Crucible.
The brothers look forward to going home to spend time with family while on leave after they graduate today.
Both of them chose motor transport as their military occupational specialty and hope to retire from the Corps many years from now.
| Date Taken: | 04.15.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.15.2011 14:35 |
| Story ID: | 68821 |
| Location: | PARRIS ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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