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In the aftermath of the July 16 attacks, one local man enlists in the Marines in honor of the fallen men
PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. – The recruits froze every time a flare lit up the night sky, pressing their bodies flat to the ground under the razor wire.
As soon as the flare fizzled out, they kept on moving, inching through the sand. Drill instructors lobbed smoke grenades in their path, clouding the air, making it impossible to see. The razor wire caught and pulled on their Kevlar.
When Rainer Zarzour, 20, finally reached the end of the 30-foot stretch of razor wire, his drill instructor screamed at him to go back – another recruit was a few feet behind. Zarzour was furious.
“This recruit was mad,” Zarzour said. He’s been trained not to say the word “I” and uses “this recruit” or “he” instead. “This recruit didn’t want to go back. But he thought in his head, ‘You never leave a man behind. You bring them home to their family. You bring them through whatever it is you have to get through.'”
He went back, and crawled out with his fellow recruit.