Nine new recruits recently joined the Westmoreland County Young Marines — bringing the local group’s total to an even dozen.
Though some may assume the group is a pipeline to the United States Marine Corps, Eric Friez, unit commander for the Westmoreland County Young Marines, said it’s unaffiliated.
The program is a part of the Marine Corps League, which Friez said is an organization of retired marines.
“By joining the Young Marines, you are not obligated to join the military service at all,” he said.
However, those who are interested in serving will get an automatic promotion after Marine Corps boot camp graduation if they made it to the rank of sergeant in the Young Marines program, according to Friez.
Boys and girls can join the Young Marines beginning at age 8, he said, and remain enrolled through high school.
While some use the program as a stepping stone to the military, others are signed up by their parents to gain discipline and physical fitness skills, Friez said. Some think the program is a cool alternative to video games as well, he said.
“As a new recruit, when you come into the program, you go through — for lack of a better term — a basic training program,” he said. “There’s a bunch of things that they need to memorize and demonstrate.”
For example, new recruits must be able to stand at attention and parade rest, learn how to salute and properly turn when they’re walking, as well as close-order drills, according to Friez.
“How long (the recruit period) takes depends on that individual recruit,” Friez said.
There’s a checklist of items the recruit has to demonstrate before moving on to the rank of private, he said.
Friez compared the Young Marines program to Boy Scouts, saying they’re similar, but Young Marines has military appeal.
“We pretty much do all the same stuff as scouting does,” he said. “(It’s) just a different type of youth educational program.”
There are encampments and trips the members can be a part of, including an organization-wide trip to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for a wreath-laying ceremony and the Navajo Nation in Arizona for a presentation.
Friez said he’s hoping the Westmoreland County Young Marines group is able to join the Pearl Harbor trip within the next two years. It would take approximately $3,000 per person to attend, he said, and fundraising is the responsibility of each Young Marines unit.
