I THOUGHT I WAS TOUGH—MARINE BOOT CAMP SHOWED ME WHAT BROKEN REALLY MEANS I thought I was ready. I’d seen the YouTube videos. Read the blogs. But nothing prepares you for the moment the bus doors hiss open at Parris Island… and your old self dies. “GET OFF. NOW.” That voice wasn’t human. It was thunder. It was a verdict. I hit the pavement like a puppet cut from strings. The Yellow Footprints stared up at me—just two splashes of paint. I didn’t know yet: they were a funeral. For who I used to be