Mothers and sons pose for a photo after graduation from Marine Corps Boot Camp at Camp Pendleton, CA. Pictured left to right: Robyn and Jake McElroy and Joey Riplinger and Kelly Wirkus.

Article and photo by Carin R. Kirkegaard

In January, Jake McElroy and Joey Riplinger, both Castle Pines North (CPN) residents and graduates from Rock Canyon High School, did their families proud when they graduated from the Marine Corps Boot Camp in Camp Pendleton, CA.

“I’m equally full of pride and fear,” said Robyn McElroy, Jake’s mom.

Ages 19 and 20, Riplinger and McElory have been friends since seventh grade. McElroy knew by the time he was an eighth grader that he wanted to join the military. Riplinger knew he wanted something new for himself and a chance to get away from the lifestyle he was living after graduating high school.

The boys decided to enlist and left home for the first time late last fall – spending Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s away from family and the comforts of home. Allowed no phone calls and no packages, the boys’ only communication was through letters.

When asked what was the most difficult point in boot camp, McElroy and Riplinger, now on the other side of that experience, were reluctant to give it a name. After some prodding, both agreed that Black Friday, when the new recruits met the drill instructors for the first time, was it.

Black Friday happened after having arrived at Camp Pendleton without sleep for the past few days. Exhausted, the recruits were met with “chaos,” as described by McElroy. “The drill instructors were yelling and kicking our stuff,” McElroy continued. The recruits then had to find their own things and put them away in an impossibly small amount of time. “At the end of the 13 weeks of training, I still had other people’s stuff in my locker,” said Riplinger.

Back in CPN, Robyn McElroy – Jake’s mom and Kelly Wirkus – Joey’s mom, were left without their boys. The two women have always been friends, but during the last three years, the friendship grew when Wirkus and her family moved one house away from the McElroy family.

With the two boys enlisting and moving so far from home with such little contact, the women have leaned on each other to get through the tough days and share in the joys and the excitement of seeing the boys at graduation.

Thirteen weeks after leaving CPN and the home they had always known, the boys returned home Marines.

“It’s true when they say you send them away a boy and a man comes home,” said Wirkus.

In February, McElroy and Riplinger returned to Camp Pendleton for a month of combat training and then they will separate to learn the specific tasks they have been assigned. McElroy will train to be an artillery cannon operator and Riplinger will train for communications.

McElroy and Riplinger enjoy their first Snickers candy bar after 13 weeks in boot camp.