Terminal Lance #110 “Bootcamp: The Swarm”

Drill Instructors have a kind of magical, cartoon quality about them. The animated characters that run around yelling at recruits all day have a certain kinship and likeness to many of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons. I’m fairly certain I once saw a DI pull a large wooden mallet out of his back and smack a recruit in the face with it.

But really, DI’s are always fun to laugh at in retrospect. Their exaggerated movements, gestures and voices create someone that is no longer human–but rather, a character. Love them or hate them, I guarantee you’ve done a DI impression at some point in your life (if you’re a Marine). The trademark frog voice and knife-hands are as unforgettable afterward as they are feared in recruit training.

I’ve been out for about 10 months now, and knife-hands still get me every time. Seriously… knife-hands? Possibly the most absurd and uniquely Marine Corps thing anyone’s ever shouted at me with the raging passion of a thousand hungry baboons is simply, “KNIFE HAAAAAAAANDS!”

Oh, and high-five for breaking the 20,000 Facebook fan mark! Lets keep it up! I know there’s more than 20,000 Marines in the Corps…

Someone mentioned this video on Facebook just after I posted this comic. For those of you who don’t fully understand the idea of “The Swarm,” here it is in full swing.