Local author pens memoir of her life in boot camp

At 5 feet tall and slightly over 100 pounds, Lisa Minassian Cordeiro is not who you'd pick out of a crowd as a former Marine. But she was, and Cordeiro's experiences in the Marines not only changed her life, they gave her enough material to write a book about what life in boot camp was like for a young woman.

Cordeiro's recently published book, "Parris Island: A Woman's Memoir of Marine Corps Boot Camp," outlines her experience there as a recruit and what her world was like for the 13 weeks she spent in training as a recruit for the Marines.

"My experience is boot camp is so engrained in my memory, and I had such a clear memory of what happened," Cordeiro said, that writing the book was a matter of writing it all down, putting the events in the correct order and putting everything together.

Cordeiro, 30, who grew up in Watertown, said she never expected she would join the military, and never thought about it until she was in college. But in 1992, she was watching the tall ships in the Boston Harbor and knew she wanted to join the military.

"The Marines were very convincing," Cordeiro said. She said she went to a recruiter's office and met with representatives of each of the branches of the military and chose the Marines.

Her decision to join came in the middle of college at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and she said her friends and family were all confused about why she wanted to go.

"It was nothing I ever expressed any interest in before," she explained.

Nevertheless, Cordeiro left for boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., in February 1993, when she was 19.

"Nothing prepared me for once I was down there and the reality of being all alone," she said.

Before she left, she tried to prepare by watching movies and reading what she could find about boot camp, but said she couldn't find any books about women's experiences, which is part of the reason she chose to write her own memoir.

At Parris Island, Cordeiro said she went through physical training, including obstacle courses, learned how to shoot weapons and learned about Marine history.

Prior to that, Cordeiro said she had gone to the gym and participated in gymnastics, but was surprised by the intensity of the training.

"Nothing could prepare me for how intense it was down there," Cordeiro said. "There are no props." She explained that the difficulty came from the fact that all of the physical activity came from her own body - it wasn't like the gym where there were treadmills or machines to work on.

Coming home was strange, too.

"The biggest shock was that everybody looked different to me," Cordeiro said. She also said she had to readjust to having freedom to go as she pleased without having anyone watch her. She also remembers being happy to hear people call her by her name (no one does in boot camp), and a fascination for the color yellow.

"It was like walking into a different world," she said, since everything during boot camp had been drab colored.

In the Marines, Cordeiro explained that there are about 19 men for every one woman. While on Parris Island, Cordeiro said her platoon of about 50 people were all women, but once she graduated, she saw the discrepancy in numbers.

After spending 13 weeks in the on the island, Cordeiro went to California for more training and then spent a year in Okinawa, Japan, working in communications for the Marines.

Cordeiro says her boot camp experience gave her confidence.

"You just can't say [I can't do it], you just have to find a way to do it," Cordeiro explained.

She also says she learned that things are motivated by mentality, since it seemed on Parris Island she was always tired and hungry, but still had to keep going.

Now, Cordeiro works as a technical writer and does freelance work. She said she began writing her book about five years ago, when she owned a bookstore in Reading, and people constantly were asking her what her experience was like.

The editor of her book, Cindy Davis, said Cordeiro was easy to work with.

"She was anxious to work on it and get it to be as good as she thought it could be," Davis said. Prior to reading Cordeiro's book, Davis said her knowledge was limited to what she had seen on television.

"You see stuff on TV about how the boot camps are, and you never really see the deep down, nitty-gritty of it. She bares it all. She tells exactly what it's like," Davis said.

Cordeiro still digs out her uniform now and again since she is involved in the Shutt Marine Corps Detachment on Mount Auburn Street. She added that out of about 300 members, she knows of three women.

Would Cordeiro go through it all again? She can't say for certain, but she did say she is happy with her experience and where it has taken her life thus far.

To read sample chapters or to order E-books, visit www.creekpress.com. Signed paperback copies are available through www.lisacordeiro.com, by e-mailing cordeiro@rcn.com or by calling 508-904-3584.

Monica Deady can be reached at mdeady@cnc.com.