MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- Thousands of people make the transformation from civilian to Marine each year for any number of reasons. Whether they spend just four years in or make it a career, what they learned sticks with them for the rest of their lives.
Many make the leap onto the notorious yellow footprints looking for change, hoping to find the building blocks of success, and those who find what they were looking for will often credit the Marine Corps as a foundation ... a solid base on which they were able to build a life of which they can be proud.
U.S. Senator Zell Miller is no different. After a rough start and a three-year tour in the Marine Corps, he went on to become a history professor, mayor of his hometown, and a U.S. Senator from Georgia.
On Tuesday, Senator Miller came knocking at the Marine Corps' door when he passed through Parris Island's gates again - 50 years after he first stepped onto the Yellow Footprints.
"I've never met a Marine that came through Parris Island who didn't want to go back," said Miller, who arrived here for recruit training in August 1953. "It's sort of like a magnet here ... it pulls you back. It was a life changing experience for all of us ... I know it certainly was for me."
The change Miller experienced here was much needed. According to his book, "Corps Values," one of the events that helped Miller come to his realization that he needed a change occurred on a warm summer night in August 1953, while he found himself sitting with four other drunks in a dark Georgia jail cell. The young Miller, who was 21 at the time, had been hauled in after a night of drinking and driving. It was this event that prompted him to try another path in life - one that his peers, his family and most importantly, himself, could be proud of.
He decided that the Marine Corps would be the perfect place. What he learned during those three months at recruit training has inspired him for 50 years.
"What I learned here applies to everything," he said. "The values you learn in boot camp, particularly discipline, are values that affect you for the rest of your life."
It is these same values that Miller would like to pass down to his grandson, Andrew, who accompanied him on his trip to the Depot.
"My grandson is 15 years old and he wants to be a Marine," said Miller. "I wanted him to come out here and experience all of this first hand. I wanted him to smell the gunpowder in the air and see what it looks like 500 yards downrange. I wanted him to experience coming through the front gate. I hope he does go ahead with his desire to be a Marine ... there's nothing that would be a higher calling."
Andrew said he has always aspired to be a part of the Marine Corps and his visit here brought him that much closer to his dream.
"I love it here ... it's a good experience," he said. "I was really looking forward to shooting the M16 and seeing the ranges, and I think being here with my grandfather has influenced me even more."
During their time aboard the Depot, they experienced many of the sights and sounds of recruit training. After they were treated to dinner at Quarters 1 with Brig. Gen. Richard Tryon, commanding general, MCRD Parris Island/Eastern Recruiting Region, they witnessed the arrival of new recruits during the recruit receiving process.
The majority of their second and final day aboard the Depot was spent at Weapons and Field Training Bn., where Sen. Miller was able to witness his favorite recruit training experience - rifle qualification.
"I liked the rifle range a great deal," said Miller. "When I went through boot camp, I only fired a 198 and after that, I was determined to get my expert marksman badge."
Miller's cousin, who was already a Marine at the time, was a rifle expert and this pushed Miller even harder to accomplish his goal.
"He had one and there was no way I wasn't going to get mine," he said. "I worked and worked at it and the second time I qualified, I got my badge. It was a challenge that I overcame and that kind of thing sticks with you."
Miller made his last stop aboard the Depot at the museum. It was here that his memories and appreciation of the Corps came full circle.
"Next to my mother, the Marine Corps means more than anything else in my life as far as the values that I have and the way I go about doing things," said Miller.