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Rct. Isabella Hill, a 20-year-old native of Jacksonville, Fla., is currently training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., in hopes of earning the title of United States Marine. Hill is training with Platoon 4024, Papa Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, and is scheduled to graduate Aug. 2, 2013. "I volunteered at a center in Jacksonville, it was a refugee place ... there was this one woman there that the Marines had really helped out. She talked about how nice they were and how they played soccer with her children, how much she respected them and how much she respected our country for what they did for her. I knew I wanted to join the military, and I had been really considering the Marines. I wanted to represent a better image. I've met people in my college who had a bad opinion of this country even though they lived here ⦠and I just wanted to try and show how great this country is ⦠all the freedoms it has to offer, and so many people that are willing to fight to keep those freedoms," said Hill. Approximately 20,000 recruits come to Parris Island annually for the chance to become United States Marines by enduring 13 weeks of rigorous, transformative training. Parris Island is home to entry-level enlisted training for 50 percent of males and 100 percent for females in the Marine Corps. (Photo by Cpl. Caitlin Brink)

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