Recruiting Space Marines too young

[PainRack]

The WH40k canon states that the process of puberty is necessary to activate the full powers of the various geneseed, however, in other fluff, it is also stated that Marines attempt to recruit initiates who were either warriors or have displayed some great feat of sort, another source being warrior cultures. While some hardy character traits can be seen at such a young age, won't most children being great warriors be more accurately described as psychopaths? The Wolf-priests for example would take children who excelled in the great battles between the various tribes of Fenris.

Yet, such brutal hand to hand combat would require children to look in the eyes of grown men and kill them. It gets more disturbing once you consider that Space marines would want children who has excelled in the art of war, suggesting that these have killed tens of other men and creatures. Or have performed some other impossible feat.

What do you guys think of this? A disturbing fact that Games workshop has not considered? Or just normal Grimdark?

[Serafina]

Well OF COURSE they are not normal children by our standards. But "teenager" is much more descriptive than "children" here, Ragnar was already accepted as a man in his tribe. We also see that in real-life cultures where teenagers of 14, 15 are accepted fully as men.

And not all chapters recruit like the Space Wolves do, and the "heroic deed" needed by most chapters is not necessarily related to actual warfare - it could be a ritual duel, slaying some beast in self-defense or just excelling at training.

Yes, it is quite disturbing regardless. But that's probably one of the reasons why only so few are recruited into the Space Marines, you won't find teenagers capable of such deeds everywhere.

[white_rabbit]

What do you guys think of this? A disturbing fact that Games workshop has not considered? Or just normal Grimdark?

I'm not sure it matters a tremendous amount. The "modern" marine undergoes massive indoctrination and psychic probing, and often the Marine chapters are actually looking for what we might call psychological defects anyway.

In short, disturbing treatment of young people isn't exactly the biggest issue with the 40k background.

They don't actually need to have killed other men either. In Angels of Darkness, they choose from the young men of a primitive tribe based on a series of physical and mental tests, culminating with an intrusive medical examination (the apothecary basically sticks a ripsaw in your guts then sews you back up)

Contrast this with the Doom Eagles, who just have their guys do a gauntlet of extreme sports with poor safety equipment, then have them outrun a tide of flesh strippingly hot water, through a cavern full of glass spikes/hooks. If you get to the top of the mountain and you are suitably depressed/whatever, they take you, if not, they leave your arse behind to die on top of Space Everest.

Some Marine chapters will aim for more balanced types, some will want the nutcases (the flesh tearers recruit from explicitly brutish, low intellect tribes) , you don't even need to be physically perfect for some, the Blood Angels basically recruit guys who live on an irradiated shithole, with all that this might entail for their biology.

The whole point of this is to emphasise how awesome and badass the Marines are, in a similar fashion to other scifi supersoldier training schemes, so its extremely likely that its not incidental its so morally bankrupt.

[Stravo]

How different is this than the Agogee training that the young spartan boys had to go through in order to be proper warriors? There has always been this idea that if you give a child a hard life then they will be easier to mold into killers or warriors. In modern times a hard life can mean a kid might be predestined to be a serial killer or someone with deep seated issues. In 40K it means you get to put on the black carapace and go fight for the Emperor until the day you die. When one considers that Space Marines have been implied to be potentially immortal you have to wonder why more of them don't flee to unknown space to live out their immortality and try to enjoy it. Then again in the 40K verse would anyone really want to live very long?

In all seriousness I think if people really think about some of the fluff you realize that every faction is deeply flawed or downright evil in some sense. The space marines are no more noble and heroic as real life knights were in the medieval period.

[Simon_Jester]

The WH40k canon states that the process of puberty is necessary to activate the full powers of the various geneseed, however, in other fluff, it is also stated that Marines attempt to recruit initiates who were either warriors or have displayed some great feat of sort, another source being warrior cultures. While some hardy character traits can be seen at such a young age, won't most children being great warriors be more accurately described as psychopaths? The Wolf-priests for example would take children who excelled in the great battles between the various tribes of Fenris.

Yet, such brutal hand to hand combat would require children to look in the eyes of grown men and kill them. It gets more disturbing once you consider that Space marines would want children who has excelled in the art of war, suggesting that these have killed tens of other men and creatures. Or have performed some other impossible feat.

What do you guys think of this? A disturbing fact that Games workshop has not considered? Or just normal Grimdark?

Grimdark, combined with cultural factors. The more warrior-oriented chapters (the Space Wolves being the best example) are recruiting teenagers around 14 or 15 years old, generally after the first time they accomplish something heroic. In the planetary society, such teens are generally considered to be adults: taking the example of the Space Wolf novels, the main character is thought of as a young man, not a child, by the time he manages something that draws the attention of the Space Marines.

Other chapters may be recruiting on the basis of testing and medical examinations, especially if they hail from relatively civilized worlds (like the Ultramarines).

How different is this than the Agogee training that the young spartan boys had to go through in order to be proper warriors? There has always been this idea that if you give a child a hard life then they will be easier to mold into killers or warriors. In modern times a hard life can mean a kid might be predestined to be a serial killer or someone with deep seated issues. In 40K it means you get to put on the black carapace and go fight for the Emperor until the day you die. When one considers that Space Marines have been implied to be potentially immortal you have to wonder why more of them don't flee to unknown space to live out their immortality and try to enjoy it. Then again in the 40K verse would anyone really want to live very long?

I think Marines are indoctrinated to enjoy fighting, and the main source of happiness in their life is the social structure of the chapter- their immediate comrades and the support of like-minded warriors. That's what keeps them in the Imperium.

In all seriousness I think if people really think about some of the fluff you realize that every faction is deeply flawed or downright evil in some sense. The space marines are no more noble and heroic as real life knights were in the medieval period.

Part of it's because most of the novelizations portray the Space Marines as fighting on behalf of civilization against barbarism (orks, chaotic forces that want to turn everyone into demented gibbering blobs, Tyranids who want to eat everybody). Whereas the Imperium, while definitely a shitty human society, is a human society, one that is broadly recognizable to us as a place human beings can live in.

Which means that any battle the Space Marines are likely to get into makes them the "good guys" by default. They're the ones trying to stop the orks from sacking the city, or the ones trying to stop the giant demon from killing everyone on the planet with a horrible plague.

[Black Admiral]

When one considers that Space Marines have been implied to be potentially immortal you have to wonder why more of them don't flee to unknown space to live out their immortality and try to enjoy it.

Space Marines are mentally conditioned to try and make sure that doesn't happen, for one thing. For another, they take members of their Chapter going renegade pretty seriously - about the only safety for such renegade Astartes is within the Eye of Terror or the Maelstrom; basically, somewhere their Chapter can't get to them.

In all seriousness I think if people really think about some of the fluff you realize that every faction is deeply flawed or downright evil in some sense. The space marines are no more noble and heroic as real life knights were in the medieval period.

It depends on which Space Marine Chapters you look at - the Salamanders are universally portrayed as genuinely heroic types (to the point of it causing some friction between them and the Black Templars in Helsreach), the Crimson Fists (when not written by Ben Counter) and Raven Guard have been sometimes as well, and the Ultrasmurfs & Ultrasmurf Successor Chapters. Oh, and the Imperial Fists are in Storm of Iron.

On the other side of things, we've got Ben Counter's portrayal of the Crimson Fists in Crimson Tears and the Howling Griffons in Chapter War, basically as complete jackasses - a portrayal the Flesh Tearers get on those occasions they show up. And the hat of the appropriately named Marines Malevolent is that they're total dicks to anyone and everyone (why the Salamanders hate them).

[PainRack]

Well OF COURSE they are not normal children by our standards. But "teenager" is much more descriptive than "children" here, Ragnar was already accepted as a man in his tribe. We also see that in real-life cultures where teenagers of 14, 15 are accepted fully as men.

Puberty begins at the age of 12 for most people. By age 16, puberty should be completed. If they were recruiting at age 14, given the delays in gene implantation, that could mean less than a year worth of growth before puberty finishes. The muscle enhancer for example is supposed to be implanted before the growth spurt. That's DEFINITELY not at the age of 15.

And not all chapters recruit like the Space Wolves do, and the "heroic deed" needed by most chapters is not necessarily related to actual warfare - it could be a ritual duel, slaying some beast in self-defense or just excelling at training.

Yes, it is quite disturbing regardless. But that's probably one of the reasons why only so few are recruited into the Space Marines, you won't find teenagers capable of such deeds everywhere.

The Ultramarines are supposed to recruit from warrior cultures and etc, so yeah, they aren't selecting for psychologically damaged individuals.

How different is this than the Agogee training that the young spartan boys had to go through in order to be proper warriors? There has always been this idea that if you give a child a hard life then they will be easier to mold into killers or warriors. In modern times a hard life can mean a kid might be predestined to be a serial killer or someone with deep seated issues. In 40K it means you get to put on the black carapace and go fight for the Emperor until the day you die. When one considers that Space Marines have been implied to be potentially immortal you have to wonder why more of them don't flee to unknown space to live out their immortality and try to enjoy it. Then again in the 40K verse would anyone really want to live very long?

In all seriousness I think if people really think about some of the fluff you realize that every faction is deeply flawed or downright evil in some sense. The space marines are no more noble and heroic as real life knights were in the medieval period.

One. The training the Spartans went through had some form of social and psychological support, meaning you aren't inevitably selecting for psychologically damaged individuals or even psychopaths. The Space Marines are.

I'm not sure it matters a tremendous amount. The "modern" marine undergoes massive indoctrination and psychic probing, and often the Marine chapters are actually looking for what we might call psychological defects anyway.

Their scouts on the other hand do appear to have retained much of their individuality. Given the nature of their job, they are also placed under the least monitoring. If their scouts were psychopaths, I shudder at the thought of massacres and mistakes. And in the Wh40k universe, stuff like My Lai leads to Chaos.

[Serafina]

One. The training the Spartans went through had some form of social and psychological support, meaning you aren't inevitably selecting for psychologically damaged individuals or even psychopaths. The Space Marines are.

That's bullshit. Space Marines are not growing up in a vacuum either. They are growing up in societies.
And those societies might value individual strength, combat capability and so on - but that doesn't mean that people who have those skills are mentally ill within those societies. Rather, they are successful members. They might be "damaged" in our society, but only because such behavior runs contrary to our values.
Point being, they do not grow up in a social vacuum. There is no difference to, say, the Spartans in that regard.

Going on, we see that they DO psychological screening after recruiting. If you fail, you fail your recruiting. And while some chapters might look for strange psychological traits, they all cherish traits like teamwork etc.
And all chapters have massive psychological indoctrination and outright brainwashing. Since they can remove basic emotions, i don't think a recruit that starts out with psychological damage is that much of a problem.

[NecronLord]

Marines aren't immortal. That's a big thing in the Heresy books, but that's because they've not been around long enough to start getting crippled by age. We know that in the 41st Millennium, some staff officers, fleet commanders etc, are given that position due to their advanced age. We see one die of old age in Salamander (albeit really fuckin' old).

[Wing Commander MAD]

IIRC only the Primarchs were immortal. I do recall some speculation that the Custodes may be immortal, or as close as its possible to get, as well. The Custodes being essentially the hand crafted pinnacle of super soldiers to the Astartes cheap mass production model.

[Simon_Jester]

Well OF COURSE they are not normal children by our standards. But "teenager" is much more descriptive than "children" here, Ragnar was already accepted as a man in his tribe. We also see that in real-life cultures where teenagers of 14, 15 are accepted fully as men.

Puberty begins at the age of 12 for most people. By age 16, puberty should be completed. If they were recruiting at age 14, given the delays in gene implantation, that could mean less than a year worth of growth before puberty finishes. The muscle enhancer for example is supposed to be implanted before the growth spurt. That's DEFINITELY not at the age of 15.

A point. It may vary from chapter to chapter, though. Technology in the Imperium is often very non-uniform, and different chapters will have retained different amounts of the original technology for turning baseline humans into Space Marines. That may affect whether they can convert subjects who are farther into puberty.

One. The training the Spartans went through had some form of social and psychological support, meaning you aren't inevitably selecting for psychologically damaged individuals or even psychopaths. The Space Marines are.

I'm not sure I agree. In a warrior culture there is plenty of social and psychological support for a young boy who turns out to be an unexpectedly deadly warrior. Why should we assume such individuals are mentally disturbed, rather than just being very good at something everyone in their society learns to do?

Marines aren't immortal. That's a big thing in the Heresy books, but that's because they've not been around long enough to start getting crippled by age. We know that in the 41st Millennium, some staff officers, fleet commanders etc, are given that position due to their advanced age. We see one die of old age in Salamander (albeit really fuckin' old).

That one was a veteran of the Heresy, so... ten thousand years old.

[Aaron]

How different is this than the Agogee training that the young spartan boys had to go through in order to be proper warriors? There has always been this idea that if you give a child a hard life then they will be easier to mold into killers or warriors. In modern times a hard life can mean a kid might be predestined to be a serial killer or someone with deep seated issues. In 40K it means you get to put on the black carapace and go fight for the Emperor until the day you die. When one considers that Space Marines have been implied to be potentially immortal you have to wonder why more of them don't flee to unknown space to live out their immortality and try to enjoy it. Then again in the 40K verse would anyone really want to live very long?

In all seriousness I think if people really think about some of the fluff you realize that every faction is deeply flawed or downright evil in some sense. The space marines are no more noble and heroic as real life knights were in the medieval period.

In Space Wolf Ragnar comments that the machine pumping knowledge into his brain is altering his perceptions. Namely that it is increasing his love for the Emperor and Russ, so brainwashing is definitely a factor in keeping them around.

[LionElJonson]

Marines aren't immortal. That's a big thing in the Heresy books, but that's because they've not been around long enough to start getting crippled by age. We know that in the 41st Millennium, some staff officers, fleet commanders etc, are given that position due to their advanced age. We see one die of old age in Salamander (albeit really fuckin' old).

That one was a veteran of the Heresy, so... ten thousand years old.

Time passes differently in the warp, however; the Rogue Trader rulebook says that the typical Imperial vessel experiences about a 1 ship day:7 sidereal days while in the Warp, on average, and Space Marines will be aboard warp-travelling ships a lot. So, biologically about 1,400 years old, give or take a few centuries.

[Darksider]

We see one die of old age in Salamander (albeit really fuckin' old).

Actually, he doesn't die of old age. He'd merely been sitting in that throne-chair thing for so long that his muscles had atrophied to the point where he could no longer move his armor. He was old as fuck, but still alive at that point. The Salamanders apothecary grants him the Emperor's Peace via a poison injection. If they'd been able to get him back to Nocturne, who knows what kind of Rejuvenation tech they might have been able to use on him.

[Broomstick]

The WH40k canon states that the process of puberty is necessary to activate the full powers of the various geneseed, however, in other fluff, it is also stated that Marines attempt to recruit initiates who were either warriors or have displayed some great feat of sort, another source being warrior cultures. While some hardy character traits can be seen at such a young age, won't most children being great warriors be more accurately described as psychopaths? The Wolf-priests for example would take children who excelled in the great battles between the various tribes of Fenris.

Yet, such brutal hand to hand combat would require children to look in the eyes of grown men and kill them. It gets more disturbing once you consider that Space marines would want children who has excelled in the art of war, suggesting that these have killed tens of other men and creatures. Or have performed some other impossible feat.

What do you guys think of this? A disturbing fact that Games workshop has not considered? Or just normal Grimdark?

Actually.. closer to reality than you might like. I don't mean the "geneseed" stuff, I mean the child warrior stuff. Right now, in today's real world, we see children as young as 8 or 9 being recruited into armed conflicts and taught to kill. Granted, guns make it easier for an 8 year old to kill a 25 year old man in his physical prime, but psychologically this is by no means a stretch. Young warriors, even those not yet pubescent, have achieved positions of command in the real world.

Kids actually make great cannon fodder because they don't comprehend death the same way adults do. Use enough of them, and some outstanding types will rise from the crowd even at a young age. Given what I've heard of the milieu, I'm kind of puzzled they wouldn't recruit earlier than 14 or 15. Hell, even in "civilized" nations in the real world that don't actually use children in warfare young boys might be sent to a "military academy" with the eye of a career in the armed forces down the road (also because it's perceived to be a good environment for them, whether due to discipline, academics, their parents like snazzy uniforms, whatever).

By the way - for someone with no time to engage in role playing games, and without a lot of time for reading, is there a quick-read novel or two in the Warhammer universe I could read? Not sure where to get started. Please tell me these books don't require a huge amount of mental energy to digest. I'm looking for bright lights, big explosions, and gratuitous violence.

[Aaron]

Effort? Oh fuck no, WH40K is about as close to mindless action and violence as you can get.

Recommendations:

The Last Chancers, dirty dozen in SPAAACCCEEE!
Imperial Guard Omnibus: Volume One
Eisenhorn (probably the best Inquisition novel)
The Cain series (Flashman in SPACE!)
Brothers of the Snake (Space Marines)
Legends of the Space Marines (short stories)
Heros of the Space Marines (short stories)

[andrewgpaul]

What do you guys think of this? A disturbing fact that Games workshop has not considered? Or just normal Grimdark?

No, it's a disturbing fact that GW deliberately included. The original background for the Space Marines states that they monitor court records on various planets and actively intervene to recruit juvenile psychopaths and murderers before local law enforcement can execute them.

That started getting watered down pretty much as soon as GW started publishing novels about them. Even in the early 90s, they couldn't get away with a novel about the adventures of three 11-year-old murderers, so Space Marine suggests the Imperial Fists look for "strength of will" - the three protagonists are chosen because they had the drive to fight for a way out of the circumstances of their lives.

Nowadays, who knows. The Ultramarines and Salamanders have pretty good relationships with their homeworld populations, which seems unlikely if they're recruiting from the worst inmates of Juvenile Hall.

[dworkin]

Yes, it's supposed to be brutal and disturbing. The Imperium is a very nasty totalitarian state. They do very nasty things. Indoctrinating children to become brutal pack killers and then selecting the nastiest to become genetic supermen is one of them.

Of course that's the industry standard. Some chapters will be less brutal, but not much considering the tortures involved in making someone into an astartes. Others of course are even worse.

[lordofchange13]

the Imperium is an empire at war ALL the time, so there greatest warriors would have to be angry psychopath. if you talking about how rare these kids would be. at any given time there at most 2 million space marines, while there are {stupidly big number} humans in the Imperium. and most of them are from trible barbarion worlds were teenagers are full adults to the poeples eyes

[PainRack]

Actually.. closer to reality than you might like. I don't mean the "geneseed" stuff, I mean the child warrior stuff. Right now, in today's real world, we see children as young as 8 or 9 being recruited into armed conflicts and taught to kill. Granted, guns make it easier for an 8 year old to kill a 25 year old man in his physical prime, but psychologically this is by no means a stretch. Young warriors, even those not yet pubescent, have achieved positions of command in the real world.

Kids actually make great cannon fodder because they don't comprehend death the same way adults do. Use enough of them, and some outstanding types will rise from the crowd even at a young age. Given what I've heard of the milieu, I'm kind of puzzled they wouldn't recruit earlier than 14 or 15. Hell, even in "civilized" nations in the real world that don't actually use children in warfare young boys might be sent to a "military academy" with the eye of a career in the armed forces down the road (also because it's perceived to be a good environment for them, whether due to discipline, academics, their parents like snazzy uniforms, whatever).

Child soldiers are also not pyschologically adjusted and many of them has been seen to have confabulated war so much that anything goes in battle. The Karen twins in Burma who believe they're supernaturally protected comes to mind.
Imagine children with SOME actual superhuman abilities.That's what I'm more curious about rather than the strict discipline and ruthlessness to be honest. How the Space Marines may be selecting for psychologically damaged soldiers.

Is this intended grimdark, a reflection of the warrior culture of the Space Marines and Imperium society, what with their Schola Pregnium and Whiteshields or just something that's unintended.

Hell, the whole indoctrination and brainwashing referred to here is the whole reason why Space Marines and normal Guardsmen DON"T get along. Space Marines have absolutely no idea how to relate to normal humans due to their brainwashing. When one of the most fundamental forces in human biology, the sex drive is utterly removed, the resulting creature is utterly.......non human. They can be utter reflection of nobility and yet harsh and cruel for necessity sake because normal human emotions.. don't play a role. Without some of the basic human instincts and emotions, or having such basic instincts such as fear tweaked, they ARE essentially psychopaths to normal humans. Just noble ones(if you're Ultramarines, Salamanders and etc. Screw the Dark Angels and Marine malevolent.)

By the way - for someone with no time to engage in role playing games, and without a lot of time for reading, is there a quick-read novel or two in the Warhammer universe I could read? Not sure where to get started. Please tell me these books don't require a huge amount of mental energy to digest. I'm looking for bright lights, big explosions, and gratuitous violence.

I recommend the Cain series or some of the series short such as Let the Galaxy burn. I won't really recommend Last Chancers though, because there is this whole psych thing going on beneath it, especially if you bought and read the whole Omnibus in one go. It sort of hits you how the Colonel deliberately selected for and then made his soldiers into a sociopath.

[Connor MacLeod]

Marines aren't immortal. That's a big thing in the Heresy books, but that's because they've not been around long enough to start getting crippled by age. We know that in the 41st Millennium, some staff officers, fleet commanders etc, are given that position due to their advanced age. We see one die of old age in Salamander (albeit really fuckin' old).

"immortal" probably isn't the right word for it - effectively ageless is perhaps more accurate. Even if the MArines don't age there's lots of ways they can deteriorate or die out. We know Astartes need food and water and air still to function, so it stands to reason they can weaken and/or die from those things. Hell, we dont even know whether or not Marines might have special needs that can prove detrimental to them long term (however one chooses to define long term) so there's ample latitude for reconciling that example with what is stated in the first two HH novels (it could be more accurate to say "effectively ageless as long as they still have access to the Chapter.)

For that matter it's also quite possible that mutations through the ages have diluted this quality (or others), we know that gene-seed has not remained un-mutated from the Heresy era, and getting it direct from the source (EG the Primarchs) is no longer possible. We know for exapmle that some Chapters (even the spinoff ones) developed particular quirks in their gene-seed, or lost access to certain organs for one reason or another, for example. Hell, certain Legions are SUPPOSED to be more longer lived than others (reputedly at least).

I'd be more inclined to believe what the HH novels tell us until we get actual proof of a marine dying from old age within the Chapter

As for the topic, as others have said, alot of the "recruitment" angle tends to depend on the Chapter's practices and philosophies and suchnot as well as the author's proclivities (Ben Counter has.. "interesting" perspectives on Space Marines, to say the least.) but chapters like the Iron Snakes and Ultramarines aren't nearly as fucked up as some others can be (Flesh Tearers, Soul Drinkers, etc.)

[The Yosemite Bear]

being a student of history I always figured that most imperial worlds people started fighting at about age seven (ala Spartan training, catchacans being able to fight before they could walk)

[OsirisLord]

The WH40k canon states that the process of puberty is necessary to activate the full powers of the various geneseed, however, in other fluff, it is also stated that Marines attempt to recruit initiates who were either warriors or have displayed some great feat of sort, another source being warrior cultures. While some hardy character traits can be seen at such a young age, won't most children being great warriors be more accurately described as psychopaths? The Wolf-priests for example would take children who excelled in the great battles between the various tribes of Fenris.

Yet, such brutal hand to hand combat would require children to look in the eyes of grown men and kill them. It gets more disturbing once you consider that Space marines would want children who has excelled in the art of war, suggesting that these have killed tens of other men and creatures. Or have performed some other impossible feat.

What do you guys think of this? A disturbing fact that Games workshop has not considered? Or just normal Grimdark?

Grimdark that is more normal across history then you might expect. Chances are if you've seen 300 then you know Spartans begin training their kids at around age seven. A lot of nomadic horse tribes such as the Huns and Mongols would teach their kids how to ride before they could walk. Most of them were masters of the bow by puberty.

Space Marines tend to recruit their initiates from these kinds of societies. Backwards pre-gunpowder tech worlds with lots of warrior cultures who train their kids to fight from an early age. There are a few exceptions, like Chapters who recruit from Underhives (were the recruits are more messed up then the warrior race kids) or the Ultramarines, who basically run a special recruitment program on Macragge.

[Zor]

For what its worth, i am pretty sure that all would be Imperial Space Marines are volunteers. Drafting is an efficient means of gathering large numbers of recruits but frankly there are not that many space marines and they are seen as mighty champions of the Imperium and Mankind, i can easily see plenty of young recruits running to Space Marine recruiting stations.

Zor

[OsirisLord]

For what its worth, i am pretty sure that all would be Imperial Space Marines are volunteers. Drafting is an efficient means of gathering large numbers of recruits but frankly there are not that many space marines and they are seen as mighty champions of the Imperium and Mankind, i can easily see plenty of young recruits running to Space Marine recruiting stations.

Zor

Space Marines have pretty high requirements for being allowed to be considered to become a Space Marine. Meaning that before a Space Marine is recruited the hopeful has to prove themselves, usually in some form of ritualized dual watched over by the Chapter. Recruitment differs between Chapters so I'm being very general here. After which a group of recruits is sent to a training center were they are put through tests specifically designed to kill them. This is not in anyway analogous to boot camp. They are simply shifting the strong from the weak, since only the strongest can survive the process that turns a normal human into an Astartes. Any who survive are proven worthy and allowed to become Scouts, earning their gene-seed along the way. You don't join a Chapter, the Chapter chooses you.

If you want to voluntarily fight for the Emperor the Imperial Guard is volunteer based (except for penal legions, drafting, and the entier Vostroyian Firstborn).