MCRD Parris Island -- Crisp, starched creases and a stern demeanor are hardly the traits expected of a youth who once struggled with drugs.
And it's that way by design. Those starched creases are a source of pride. They're a sign of a life left behind.
Cpl. Mark W. Smallwood, permanent change of station noncommissioned officer, Depot Consolidated Administration Center, dabbled with drugs and alcohol since his sophomore year in high school.
Maintaining a barely passing grade point average, Smallwood was on the path to failure.
Having grown up in Wellsville, N.Y., Smallwood wore his hair long, down to his waist, with multiple colors in fact. He sported six earrings; four in his right ear and two in his left. Each one he pierced himself. He dressed in all-black clothing most of the time. The only colors were those of tie-dyed t-shirts, on occasion.
Smallwood attended Wellsville High School and was introduced to drugs and alcohol at a party by one of his friends. It was the first step in a path of turmoil that cost him his family, jobs and friends.
"He said try this,"Smallwood explained. "So I did, and I liked it."
It was the first step in the wrong direction.
"I wouldn't do my homework. I wouldn't study,"Smallwood said.
Smallwood was more concerned about parties and girls than anything else.
He managed to graduate high school, but not without help from his senior-year English teacher, Madonna Figura.
Figura knew Smallwood had a problem with drugs and alcohol but also knew he was a smart kid. She decided to help him graduate by giving him the extra points he needed.
"Thank God she decided to teach,"Smallwood said.
Smallwood was still far from success. He was fired from five different jobs, all for the same reasons. He was still making irresponsible choices.
Smallwood lost touch with his parents for about six months and they only lived two miles away.
By this time, his parents had given up on him.
"I always let them down,"Smallwood said. "I couldn't do anything right."
Smallwood knew something had to change. His life was a shadow of what it had once been and he lost the faith of those closest to him. He decided to look into the Marine Corps to better himself and make his parents proud.
He didn't look at any of the other branches of service because he didn't want to sell himself short.
Still, his parents once again doubted his ability to make a commitment.
Smallwood realized he had to change. He didn't want to let his parents down again.
Smallwood was on the yellow footprints a month later. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, Charlie Company, Platoon 1022 at MCRD Parris Island, S.C.
It was more than the"get straight" program he predicted.
"What the hell did I get myself into?"Smallwood said to himself the night he arrived on the Depot.
He grew stronger. Not only was he faster and healthier, he was seeing his world more clearly.
Three months later, on March 12, 2004, Smallwood placed the Eagle, Globe and Anchor on his cover. It was the day he considered himself reborn.
Smallwood said he never had flashbacks of his past at the moment he became a Marine.
"My past was my past, and I was living for the now,"he said.
Although his parents weren't at his graduation, Smallwood went home on leave and remembered his parents'reaction like it was yesterday.
"My parents just busted into tears,"Smallwood explained. "They were so happy and proud of me."
Those three months transformed me into a man, he said.
"I was glad I finally did something right,"he added.
Smallwood's career has continued to progress. He's been clean and sober, staying true to the promise to himself to change and the promise of the character of a Marine. He'll mark his four-year anniversary Dec. 16, 2007. He's serving"where it all began" for him. He's been married for three years and has a son.
With his reenlistment coming up soon, Smallwood has no plans of getting out of the Marine Corps.
"I love the Marine Corps,"Smallwood explained. "I don't know what I would've done without it."