Being Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT PARRIS ISLAND S.C., -- For a 37-year-old Hungarian woman, joining the Hungarian Defence Forces was a challenge. Traveling thousands of miles from her home near Lake Balaton, Hungary, to Parris Island, South Carolina, to attend the Marine Corps’ 11-week Drill Instructor School Course brought that challenge to a new level.
Sgt. Nóra Bӧrӧcz grew up athletic and disciplined and initially pursued a career in physical education. After graduating high school, she earned a degree in recreational management and another in physical education. She worked as a physical education teacher for several years before joining the military at age 32.
About a year and a half ago, she was nominated for the opportunity to attend a course in the US. It wasn’t until February that she found out she would be attending the Marine Corps Drill Instructor Course at Parris Island.
Bӧrӧcz arrived in the United States two days before the course began. Although she had taken and passed an English test before coming to Parris Island, the language barrier was still one of the biggest challenges she faced. She had to learn not only how to communicate in English, but also the “jarhead jargon” and terminology that came naturally to the Marines and instructors around her.
In preparation, Bӧrӧcz watched numerous Marine Corps recruit training videos, studied Marine Corps knowledge and history, and practiced drills with an instructor back in Hungary.
“I think I prepared myself well,” Bӧrӧcz said. “I prepared myself in a mental way and in a physical way. I did everything I could back home.”
Bӧrӧcz was familiar with the Marine Corps’ approach to training. Two years earlier, she attended an instructor course in Hungary. One of her instructors, Hungarian Defence Forces Warrant Officer (OR-8) Attila Nacsa, graduated from Marine Corps Drill Instructor School with class 4-23. After returning to Hungary, he implemented some of the training methods he had learned at Parris Island into the training of Hungarian military instructors. After experiencing Drill Instructor Course for herself, she began to understand why her instructor had used those methods.
“I really tried to be in the present and observe and constantly keep asking my peers and the instructors questions,” Bӧrӧcz said. “The instructors were super patient. I had tons of questions, occasionally I needed to see the whole picture. I know sometimes it was hard trying to figure out what I was asking.”
Despite her preparation, the course pushed her outside of her comfort zone.
“It was super hard. I was so exposed,” Bӧrӧcz said. “I was not in my mother tongue. There were times when I wasn’t completely sure of what I was doing, but I still had to step up, be confident, and be loud. I couldn’t be afraid to put myself out there, make mistakes, and learn from them.”
Even simple parts of the day would remind her that she was far from home.
“When we went to the chow hall or marching somewhere, it was obvious I was different,” she said. “I accepted that I was uncomfortable, but sometimes I wondered why I was here.”
While much of the course required her to navigate unfamiliar situations, language barriers, and new methods of instruction, water training allowed her to rely on skills she already possessed.
“I was really happy and confident when we went to the pool for water survival training,” Bӧrӧcz said. “If I were a Marine, I would love to be a Marine Combat Instructor of water survival.”
She said the biggest difference between the Hungarian Defence Forces and the Marine Corps was the training environment. While instructors in Hungary can be loud and demanding, Marines train recruits differently.
“I won’t say that I don’t scream at them as an instructor back home because I do, but it’s not in the way we scream here,” Bӧrӧcz said.
The facilities on Parris Island also stood out to her, particularly the confidence course and recruit pool.
“The training facilities here are amazing,” she said. “The confidence course and the recruit pool were what I was waiting for.”
Even military customs and courtesies are different. One of the things that surprised her most was how differently service members interact with higher-ranking personnel in Hungary compared to the United States.
“In Hungary, there’s no way that you bother a higher rank, for example, like an officer,” Bӧrӧcz said. “If you are in a building, you just nod. If he or she says good morning, then you say good morning back.”
She also noticed a difference in how ranks are displayed.
“In Hungary, the ranks are very visible even from a few feet in front,” she said. “In the Marine Corps, the ranks are very difficult to see.”
Despite the differences and challenges, Bӧrӧcz said her experience at Parris Island has been one of the most meaningful experiences of her life.
“This is the biggest story of my life, and I am super passionate about my work and to see this legendary place, I am so blessed and so happy,” she said. “For international students, it’s very beneficial. We are learning from the best. You make Marines, and it’s amazing.”
For Bӧrӧcz, the experience has also been about more than learning how to march, conduct drill, or teach recruits. She said visiting the Crucible and witnessing an Eagle, Globe and Anchor ceremony gave her a deeper understanding of what makes Marine Corps recruit training meaningful.
“I almost cried, it was a powerful moment” Bӧrӧcz said. “I know that I can march, I know that I can do teach-backs and scream, but the heart and soul are the EGA ceremonies, the graduations, the speeches.”
Throughout the course, Bӧrӧcz said she was always curious about the drill instructors she encountered. She wanted to know what they considered most rewarding about their job and what they believed their work should achieve.
Then she saw it for herself.
“When the families went running to their Marines, it was amazing,” she said.
Her journey from a physical education teacher near Lake Balaton to a Hungarian soldier standing on the parade deck at Parris Island has required her to repeatedly step outside what is familiar.
But that discomfort is exactly what brought her here. For Bӧrӧcz, discomfort is never a reason to turn away from the challenge.
It is the reason to accept the challenge.
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