Posted on 08/26/2004 7:45:01 AM PDT by Preech1
Hi Fellow FReepers... Many of you folks have been in the military, I am looking for your stories and memories of Boot Camp. They need to be clean stories. I have never been in the military myself, but I have had friends who sent me mail from USMC boot camp and want to explain to my children what Boot Camp is all about, from the middle of the night marches to some of the weird things DI's have made recruits do. Websites are welcome, but I prefer to read first hand accounts from fellow FReepers.
At Ft. Knox, we had a guy in boot camp that walked and talked in his sleep.
We made him stand for hours at a time at attention at the foot of his bed.
He would wake up the next morning and could not figure out why he was so tired.
I like it...keep them coming...
If there were any locks left locked together after the time expired we would get thrashed in the pit or something.
Go to the Sea Stories link, click on archives, and check them out. Here is one that I wrote. Why do you ask, BTW?
Wish I could say this one happened to me, but it didn't. I can't remember where I heard the following story, and if it isn't true, it damn sure oughta be lol.
A Private was walking along the parade deck on the way to Chow. He had recently been standing Firewatch in the squadbay when his relief had come to replace him for chow.
Deciding that he was on his own for a bit, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. (For those who are not familiar with Marine Corps Boot Camp, this is a HUGE no no)
As he approached the Messhall he figured he'd better get rid of the Cig before he got within eyeshot of it.
Flicking the cigarette butt onto the ground, he was satisfied (temporarily) that he had gained a bit of freedom from the Dictatorial Drill Instructors.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
A voice boomed from behind him.
C'MERE PRIVATE!!
The young man froze in his tracks and wheeled. Standing behind him was the Drill Instructor from another platoon. The young man dutifully ran up to him and reported "SIR PRIVATE SMITH REPORTING AS ORDERED SIR!"
The DI looked at him and said. "Come with me scumbag. Who do you belong to?"
Private smith told him what platoon he was with. The Drill Instructor marched him to the Messhall and informed his Drill Instructor what he had just witnessed.
To make a long story shorter, the Drill instructor marched the entire platoon back to the squad bay and had Private Smith break out a shovel. He then had the entire platoon standing at attention while Smith dug a regulation Grave.
He was then made to put the butt into a "Coffin" which was actually a matchbox, and then center the matchbox inside the grave. Several attempts were made to get it right, but the Drill Instructor with his eagle eye could tell that the box was not correctly centered.
Finally he got it right and as he is standing there, the DI tells him that he must now perform a Eulogy for this poor departed Cigarette Butt.
The private gave the eulogy and the DI made the private bury the butt.
A couple of hours later the deed was done (did I mention that the entire time this is going on, the rest of the platoon is still standing at attention?)
The DI finally dismissed the platoon and as the guilty private started to run off the DI barked.
C'MERE YOU!!
Where the hell do you think YOU are goin?
The private, sweating and scared tried to respond coherently. The DI cut him off.
"Listen Maggot, if you think for one minute that you are going to pollute my Marine Corps Deck with your scummy Cigarette Butt, you are sadly mistaken. NOW DIG IT UP AND TOSS IT IN THE SHITCAN WHERE IT BELONGS!!"
Semper Fi :)
If your friends have the time and strength to write you from Marine boot camp...something's very wrong....LOL
Your story sounds plausible, but no Drill Instructor would have called the young man a private. When in boot camp, one is referred to as a RECRUIT.
I was at Ft. Knox during basic. Out on bivoac one rainy night a buddy of mine went out to pinch a loaf. Unfortunately, said loaf rolled into his pants. He then proceeded to perform clean up with the closest vegetation which happened to be poison ivy.
Last I heard, at PI, 2nd Battalion recruits were called "Privates" instead of "recruits." One of my brothers went through 2nd Bn, and it was that way in 1990. Of course, we had no access to cigarettes in 1992, as far as I know, in ANY battalion. :)
I am interested because I was trying to describe "Boot Camp" to my kids, and since I was never in it, I wanted some input from you folks...
"Your story sounds plausible, but no Drill Instructor would have called the young man a private. When in boot camp, one is referred to as a RECRUIT."
Hmm, our Drill Instructors called us "Private" quite frequently.
I have two, although the first was just my ignorance or stupidity.
First, joined the Navy in April of 78. I went to Boot Camp at Great Lakes, IL (40 miles north of Chicago) on 26 April.
It was 78 degrees in Raleigh when I got on the plane, and all I had was jeans and a t-shirt. You can imagine what I encountered when I got to Chicago that night.
Second, when we marched, two recruits marched in the rear of the column who were "road guards." The road guards were required, when ordered, to sprint to the head of the column and post themselves in the street that the company was to cross, to stop any traffic. There were some places where you had to dodge items on the sidewalk when posting, because there was not enough room. My fellow road guard had a habit of hurtling a certain fire hydrant at one point on the base. One time he was unable to gain enough "altitude" to clear the hydrant, and cracked his jewels! Funny for us, not funny for him!
Navy boot camp was nowhere near as bad as I expected, after hearing stories from my brother-in-law (Marines, vietnam era) and my Dad (Army, WWII). It was mostly head games.
Things probably change from era to era. My DIs were quite insistent about us not thinking of ourselves as privates until we had graduated.
There was a guy in my platoon who was trying to get of the Boot Camp by always urinating on himself. To prove he was not faking, whoever was on firewatch had to wake him up at night every hour on the hour, walk with him into the head, check off on a form whether he had peed or not.
Enjoy!
I remember him telling me a version of the story you just related...but I think it was a bug that some boot swatted & killed...and then made them dig it up again...after telling the boot that they had buried it face down.
FRegards,
In the Army you could get pushups for calling a DI "Sir".
An Army drill sergeant would have dropped him for 20 after that.
"YOU DO NOT CALL ME SIR ! - I WORK FOR A LIVING !"
A drill sergeant's title in the Army is "Drill Sergeant" regardless of actual rank, from E-5 to E-9. The Smokey the Bear hat is their badge of rank, which is of course, next to God.
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