Before a Marine ever reached the Pacific he was made at Parris Island or San Diego, in the punishing weeks of recruit training that stripped a civilian down and rebuilt him to the Corps' pattern. Standing at attention — spine straight, eyes front, rifle shouldered exactly so — was not empty ceremony; it was the first lesson in the discipline that had to hold when everything else came apart. Drill instructors drove it in through repetition until it became reflex, on the theory that a man who obeyed instantly on the parade deck would obey instantly under fire, when hesitation killed. This Marine, at rest and waiting for the order to move out, carries that training in the way he stands.

K&C sculpts the Marine at attention, the M1 Garand shouldered in regulation form, in olive-drab fatigues, a camouflage-covered M1 helmet, pack and leggings. He is built to fill out a formation, and drops into a parade or staging-area diorama beside the standing ready Marine, the stand-at-ease Marine, and the column of marching Marines waiting to move out.

King & Country model USMC061. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.