Cardinals DE Calais Campbell training with Marine Corps applicants

I’m looking forward to work on Tuesday, because I get to cover a pretty cool event that’s taking place at Skyline High School in Mesa.

At the crack of dawn, Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell will train side by side with U.S. Marine Corps applicants, which should be really cool.

This appeals to me in a few ways, because A.) I’m a United States Marine, and B.) I’m a huge NFL fan. I want to see how hard Calais and the applicants are going to train and if someone is going to break!

I know it won’t be as hard as what I went through at Marine Corps Boot Camp, but it should be fun.

Why do I say this? Well, I’m pretty sure they won’t have a gas chamber setup for the guys to go in and suffer through (I remember that experience as if it happened yesterday, it was that intense).

I bet they won’t have to deal with sandbugs and mosquitos the size of Texas either, like we had to as recruits.

I also bet they won’t have a quarterdeck or “pit” setup either.

Let me school you on what those are. Whenever myself or any of my fellow recruits got in trouble, our drill instructors made us go to the quarterdeck and/or the “pit,” and we had to do the most excruciating exercises!

It was so bad, that on a number of occasions I felt like the Grim Reaper was standing right next to me, just waiting for me to drop!

I’m glad I went through those horrifying experiences, because it helped mold me into the man who I am today. I couldn’t be prouder to have served my country, and prouder to be a Marine, as, in time, I’m sure those applicants will feel the exact way, if they make it through Boot Camp first.

For those applicants, tomorrow will be nothing like what they’ll experience once they get to the Recruit Depot, and that drill instructor jumps on their bus and explodes on them!

When they place their feet in those yellow footsteps, IT’S ON! Enjoy tomorrow guys…your lives will only get harder from here on out.