Posted on 11/04/2007 10:38:56 PM PST by Reagan is King
One in a series of articles about three teenagers and their wartime enlistment in the Marines.
CAMP PENDLETON - A Marine recruit stumbled from the ranks and collapsed on a dirt trail. A corpsman, her medical bag bouncing in the dust, hustled over to the fallen man. The recruit was bathed in sweat, his face clammy and sickly green.
As the troop column marched on, the drill instructor cried out, "Here comes the silver bullet!"
The recruit was about to receive the ultimate indignity -- a shiny rectal thermometer to check his body temperature. It happened on the trail for all to see: Pants down. Buttocks bared.
The column kept moving.
It was the final day of the Crucible, a three-day ordeal in the harsh, scrubby foothills of Camp Pendleton. If a recruit survives the Crucible, the midpoint of the 13-week boot camp, he will likely survive to graduation.
Seven weeks earlier, three friends from Santa Clarita, just 110 miles north but a world away, arrived as eager recruits. Teenagers Daniel Motamedi, Daryl Crookston and Steven Dellinger signed up for the buddy program, which put them in the same boot camp platoon.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
link redirects to registering before being able to read the entire article.
Hmm, it didn’t ask me to register so I must have done it at some point in the past and it saved my registration. Oh well, it’s free and it’s a one time thing if interested.
Hooo Ahhhhh ... Sailor here - watched the Jarheads work-out on Sundays while we sat on our butts ... if I had to do it over again I would have enlisted in the Marines. Circa: ‘ 60 San Diego.
nothing like those yellow footprints showing you the way as you step off the bus and waking up to the melodic clanging of trash cans ..... good times, good times.
Log on to www.bugmenot.com . You don’t have to register for these big city newspapers anymore.
Articles like this worry me—gosh, I hope my son has the strength to make it through and become a Marine!
Did they change when they hold the crucible? Or is this wrong, it was the last exercise before receiving their Eagle, Globe and Anchor.
Anyone know if the FMF still does the MCCRES?
I think it has to do with the fact that West Coast recruits go to Pendleton for field training/rifle quals during the 2nd phase of training, which is the midway point of boot camp. Paris Island has their field training/rifle quals right there on the island.
I’m a pre-crucible Marine so I don’t really know, just guessing.
There’s not much time to do it with the current operational tempo for units rotating in and out of Iraq, but the infantry battalions still do it as part of work-ups for the MEU.
Second the sentiment. It was a well written and inspiring article. Just visited the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico last weekend. I highly recommend it - very well done. It’s just a short drive from D.C. Allow at least a half day to tour it. We only allotted 2 hours and that wasn’t enough time. Have to go back and do the rest. Here’s the museum website:
You know I couldn’t believe it, but I looked it up and you’re on the money. It still does not make any sense to hold the defining event in your training in the middle of basic.
1) We had no women corpsman in the FMF
2) When Marines went down from dehydration we didn't stick a thermometer in their a$$. We already knew they were over-heated. The response was to get fluids in them and on them to cool them down. Get them in the shade, or get them to the rear.
Bullshit story.
I second that, unless doctrine has changed dramatically since I was in. I was with the FMF my whole tour as a Navy doc as well, and what you stated is the procedure we followed, not what this article describes.
I sent my son, an YO boy off to boot camp - he came home 4 years and two combat tours later, a MAN.
He is the kindest, most gentle soul I know - and I have no doubt in my military mind he would make you dead is less than 10 seconds if you forced the issue. The 1000 yard stare is what worries me sometimes, he lost so many of his buds..... I just don't know if he will be 'happy' again.
God bless your wonderful son - I hope he will be happy again.
I’m glad your son got home and pray that time heals his troubles.
Mine is on his third tour and so far so good.
Good evening and the very best to you and yours.
Semper Fi
Tommie
Thank you for your kind words.
I hope in the long run it turns out all good.
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