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Marines Educators' Workshop Day One: Breaking the mold, and learning to endure

KRIS 6 Sunrise, other Texans are in San Diego to train
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SAN DIEGO, California — I'm not yet cut out to be a Marine – many people aren't.

We got a taste of the combat fitness test Tuesday, which started with an 880-yard dash.

The time to beat: 3:45.

I made it in by 4:08.

Next, we had to lift 30-lb. ammunition cans, which had to be lifted for max reps in 2 minutes.

Lastly, the maneuver-under-fire simulated event.

You start off crawling and end up running with two ammo cans.

While that’s the end of that test, we then moved on to martial arts.

But the physical aspect isn’t all that recruits learn at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

Day One of our inside look at training started Tuesday with a bus ride to the training grounds where recruits learn every single thing about life as a Marine.

Culture shock for new Marines recruits

"How to remake the racks, how to put their uniforms on, how to shave, how to brush their teeth, how to shower, how to put socks on – everything," said one drill sergeant.

The drill sergeants yell – a lot – in order to get their point across to young recruits.

"From now on, the only words that will come out of your mouth are 'Yes, sir; No, sir; Yes, ma'am; No, ma'am' when you're asked a question. Do you understand?" one sergeant said to the group of educators.

We understood and rushed off the bus to align our feet on the yellow footprints on the ground: heels are together, feet at a 45-degree angle, knees slightly bent, chest up and mouth shut, like all recruits do as they take their first steps here.

"These kids have 18 years of life, at least, before they got here,” said Staff Sgt. Trenten Yokofich. “Basically, what we gotta do is, we gotta shock them out of that to rebuild them back up because they have a lot of habits or whatever they were taught as they were growing up. We have to teach them how to be a Marine."

And that teaching is done over about three months, in which they can’t see or speak with their loved ones. It's part of keeping them focused on why they're here – to train.