Netflix has a show streaming called Boots. The synopsis says, “Without telling his mother, earnest teen Cameron impulsively follows his best friend Ray into the unforgiving gauntlet of Marine Corps boot camp.” If you have stood on the yellow footprints, you know this piqued your interest. However, if watching the show was your first insight into bootcamp, then I hope you enjoyed the free appetizer that Netflix served as a 101-level introduction on how unhinged the experience is.
If you haven’t watched it, you absolutely need to. I laughed, I cried, I got weirded out, I circled back to laughter, and I left needing Netflix to make a Season 2, immediately. While it is incredibly important to remember this show is satire and set in the late 1990s, it is surprisingly accurate in how it breaks down the person to build them up as a Marine.
I would be remiss not to mention the arching storyline to this show, that in the 90s, the “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy was alive and well. Based on the memoir The Pink Marine by Greg Cope White, the series follows a young recruit who signed up to follow his best friend, aka his crush. While initially watching, you might think this show is going to be centered on this closeted topic, but the storyline delves into a deeper-rooted story about brotherhood, finding oneself, and overcoming self-inflicted nightmares, promising a better future.
For those of you dialed into that trauma from personal experience, I am sure you could practically smell those scenes of simple green and floor polish, or easily recall drill instructors messing up barracks just to have you clean up again. Did you find nostalgia in the scripted words a recruit is allowed to say to notify family they arrived safely? Each small detail was captured so meticulously, I couldn’t help but laugh at how well they translated the literal dumpster fire that happens in company prank wars.
ClearanceJobs has the privilege of reviewing these types of shows with a deep insightthat most review articles miss. While yes, we can copy the trope of famous review sites where they break down the storyline, but here, at ClearanceJobs, we get to do a full autopsy on insider information, real-world viewpoints, and the best part (in my opinion), an uncensored deep dive into where our lives within the cleared industry meet mainstream media.
To leave you with a fun tid-bit of information, in boot camp, most go through a vetting process for a security clearance T1-T3 (NACI to Secret). In the USMC, you don’t find out which unit you’ll go to after boot camp. Only then will you be assigned your Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). If you get slated for Intel, you sit for a polygraph in the schoolhouse before you get to your unit. Unless you go Reserves, it does not become official until after completion of the 30-day Marine Combat Training (MCT). At that point, you are choosing your field, not your actual MOS. They will share with you what the probability is that you’ll get the job you want. (Other than that, you’re filling out the basic clearance forms (SF87), and you’re getting vetted to be ready to go on day one of your new job.)
Let’s bring this full circle. We discussed that this show is set in the late 90s, and we know things have changed in terms of policy and protocol. It was refreshing to see that while some things have been updated to reflect a more modern-day viewpoint, the tradition of the USMC and its overarching concept of ‘what it means to be a United States Marine’ has not changed. And those are all things we can find comfort in when watching satire TV on Netflix.
