The Navajo Indians had to be able to speak English because that is a basic requirement for enlisting in the military. Additional requirements included fluency in Navajo as well as being fluent in English. This eliminated many who were eager to serve but not bilingual. Age was a small stumbling block. A recruit had to be between 18 and 30. Since there were few formal birth records kept on the reservation, many who were 15 and 16 falsified their age. Carl Gorman who was 35 said he was 28 in his application. Weight requirements were harder to overcome since many did not make the 122 pound minimal requirement.

The Selective Service board had to defer or turn down many of the tribe members on the grounds of insufficient education. This had created a bad feeling in the tribe, as many were anxious to serve and be treated as other Americans. BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) officials understood that, "Face means a great deal to the Indian and that better cooperation and effort might be obtained if the individuals recruited felt themselves to be signaled out in an unusual manner for an unusual job." They strongly recommended that Marines recruiters "seek the support of the Tribal Council by acknowledging that the services required are particularly valuable to the military effort and that the men employed will be in the status of specialist of an unusual order."

In making his decsion to allow the pilot program, Commandant Holcomb ignored most of the advice from BIA. He gave orders to recruit the Navajos as general duty Marines who would go through regular boot camp training as well as participate in the Navajo Code pilot program. If the first 30 failed boot camp, as many thought they would, the pilot program would end. Whether motivated by a sense of duty to their country or the desire for a better life, these men tried hard to meet Marine Corps requirements. Within two weeks those who met the qualifications received notification to report to Fort Defiance for induction into the Marine Corps. From the many who applied during the recruitment, only 29 of them made it into the program. Since 30 were authorized, many stories have surfaced about the absence of the 30th recruit.

On May 4th, 1942, the 29 recruits boarded a bus at Fort Defiance and headed for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California.

While at boot camp, these Navajos were trained like all others. They lived in an all-Navajo platoon. Cultural differences added to the difficulty. In Navajo tradition looking at someone in the eyes is rude and in the marines a drill Sargent may demand a recruit look him in the eyes for long periods of time. Navajos seldom raise their voices but drill instructors demanded responses louder and louder. Navajos were more successful than most living on the desert with little water and night time drills. After graduating from boot camp, the special assignment began.

The Navajo team had to learn about military codes and decoding. They were asked to develop a code using the Navajo language. They would develop a new alphabet based on the Navajo language, choose common Navajo words to substitute for frequently used military words, keep things short and easy to transmit and memorize.

At first the asssignment seemed impossible. Many of the Navajos had not graduated from high school and many knew nothing about life off the reservation. They faced the challenge using teamwork. Each man contributed his knowledge. They started with the alphabet. They agreed on a pronunciation of the code words and tackled the alphabet one word at a time. They would repeat these code names until everyone knew them by heart. They would come up with 211 Navajo words to substitute for common military terms. They chose familiar terms which somehow related to what they were trying to describe. For example, "Two stars" meant "General" and a "Colonel" was "Silver Eagle".

In Navajo culture everything is in memory from songs and prayers to the language itself. Memorizing the code was easy. They were dedicated to perfecting their skills. They strove for accuracy in translating English into Navajo, then from Navajo back into English.

The code was accurate and fast but could it be broken? U.S. intelligence tried for three weeks to break it, but failed. There was no pattern, no sequence, and no repetition. Their code talk training ended September 1942. Other classes were taught by 2 of the original 29 until 420 code talkers were trained throughout this wartime.