Gotta Let the Little Ones Go

This needs no additional comment from me:

Four Marine Corps recruits fled from Parris Island under the cover of darkness early Wednesday and spent more than 17 hours hiding out in the marsh before being picked up by an off-duty drill instructor near The Sands in Port Royal.

The recruits were reported missing from their barracks at the training depot's Support Battalion at about 2 a.m. and were discovered in the marsh across from Parris Island at 7:20 p.m., said Maj. Ken White, the depot's public affairs officer.

The recruits, who apparently swam across Battery Creek, were taken to Naval Hospital Beaufort, evaluated and brought back to the depot, White said.

"I saw movement in the weeds over in the marsh area," said Gunnery Sgt. Chad Love, the drill instructor with 1st Recruit Training Battalion who found the four recruits near The Sands boat landing. "I saw a recruit take his shirt off and wave his shirt in the air."

Love, who had been fishing, pulled the recruits into his boat, took them to the landing and called 9-1-1.

One of the recruits was suffering from slight hypothermia and another had a sprained ankle.

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The recruits said they had left their barracks around midnight and had been crawling around in the marsh, stopping twice when they thought they saw sharks, Love said.