All Military Vets- What do you remember from Boot Camp?

[timb2]

Thinking of Full Metal Jacket and the Boot Camp scenes made me remember about my Boot Camp .

I got chewed out by my Drill Instructors figured me out at the end. I got yelled at for being an individual. Yes I cut corners ,was slick, trying to stay below the radar.

I remember I had to pull guard duty while everyone was getting their gear. Then I was told to by myself to get my gear alone. I remember my study book was not like the rest . It was already used and had all the study answers written by the previous recruit. Everyone else had a new book with answers blank. So all study classes while everyone was attentive I was scribbling the Dallas Cowboys Mock Draft even then. Suppose to be studying and I pretended but looking over the Cowboys roster. It was my Daydream away from Boot Camp.....Even when in the FMF I cut corners. I was the carburetor cleaner Q- tip guy. You could spend hours with CLP cleaning weapons. Carburator Cleaner was illegal to use but my platoon knew I had it. So instead of hours it took me 10 minutes to clean.. .I also bought a Shower Curtain and bed sheets I never used until inspection. While other guys spent hours getting stuff ready I was already there within 15 minutes. I always thought outside the box of how can I make this easier for myself . On 25 mile humps I had beef jerky which I shared with my platoon. Wore nylon socks than those stupid green socks so my feet could breathe and not blister. Always lighten my Alice Pack as much as possible. I had a girlfriend my future wife and stayed off base instead I remember. How I didn't get in trouble for that I don't know. I think they thought I was already married. Lol.


So what do you remember

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

A few things i recall.

USMC Boot camp wasn't as hard as i expected. I learned don't speak unless spoken to and never ever under any circumstances be last in anything. Especially runs.
Got caught once wearing white socks instead of green, was caught and punishment was swiftly meted out in the form of endless push ups.
A couple of recruits in the platoon always seemed to be in trouble was a bit overweight and not in the greatest of physical shape. Seen the DI's bring him to tears once. Another recruit was from the middle east, i almost felt sorry for the guy. Some of the things the DI's said to him were pretty evil and cant be repeated here. The guy was eventually dropped and moved back a series or 2.
One of the first nights there in receiving barracks there was a fight in the shower, a loudmouth self proclaimed karate expert started some nonsense with a country boy, name was Herrick i believe. The country boy opened the whole can of whoop on him. Bloodied his face good. The receiving barracks DI saw what happened and let it fly.
Also my 3 mile run time was a lot better than it is today

 

[timb2]

A few things i recall.

USMC Boot camp wasn't as hard as i expected. I learned don't speak unless spoken to and never ever under any circumstances be last in anything. Especially runs.
Got caught once wearing white socks instead of green, was caught and punishment was swiftly meted out in the form of endless push ups.
A couple of recruits in the platoon always seemed to be in trouble was a bit overweight and not in the greatest of physical shape. Seen the DI's bring him to tears once. Another recruit was from the middle east, i almost felt sorry for the guy. Some of the things the DI's said to him were pretty evil and cant be repeated here. The guy was eventually dropped and moved back a series or 2.
One of the first nights there in receiving barracks there was a fight in the shower, a loudmouth self proclaimed karate expert started some nonsense with a country boy, name was Herrick i believe. The country boy opened the whole can of whoop on him. Bloodied his face good. The receiving barracks DI saw what happened and let it fly.
Also my 3 mile run time was a lot better than it is today

My 3 mile time in Boot Camp was 18 minutes and 10 seconds

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

My 3 mile time in Boot Camp was 18 minutes and 10 seconds

That's pretty good, did you run track or something in high school? Most of the track guys/etc ran around 18 mins on their PFT. I managed to get mine to around 20:30 before the end of boot. Could do 16 pull ups and the 80 sit ups were no problems. What gave me problems was climbing ropes.

 

[DBOY3141]

I went in the Army thin as could be. I think I was around 5 11, 120 pounds. At least once a day, a heavier recruit would try and sneak a desert during dinner. I don't know how many times, my drill sergeant would snatch their desert and bring it over to me and say "PVT...eat this, you need to gain weight". I gained 25 lbs during basic...lol.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Something else just came to mind.
We hit the racks one night around 9pm fully exhausted. A few minutes later a dude ripped a huge one, which is to this day one of the loudest longest farts i have ever heard. The DI then comes into the squadbay and cusses everyone out telling us to go to sleep. I wish i knew who it was cause i wanted to buy that man a beer the next day

 

[Rockport]

Parris Island - Sand fleas
They paraded the guys who had gone through the mote ditch through our squad bay. They were all covered in mud, some of them crying.
The guy I signed up with on the buddy plan got put back after the initial PFT
Smokers draw 1, non-smokers equal time!
On the march from receiving to 1st phase barracks, 3 got hauled away in an ambulance
The DI's for each platoon seeing who had the toughest Mouse
After rifle qualification the DI's made all those that didn't qualify swirm like snakes on the shower floor that the DI's had dumped trash on.
Didn't have mess duty, instead they put me to help out in the commissary. That was a nice 2 weeks.
In 3rd phase when marching next to the PX, the DI's said eyes right! and there was a beautiful blond in shorts. We lost cadence immediatly.
Graduation - Now that was one of the best moments of my life.

 

[DBOY3141]

Parris Island - Sand fleas
They paraded the guys who had gone through the mote ditch through our squad bay. They were all covered in mud, some of them crying.
The guy I signed up with on the buddy plan got put back after the initial PFT
Smokers draw 1, non-smokers equal time!
On the march from receiving to 1st phase barracks, 3 got hauled away in an ambulance
The DI's for each platoon seeing who had the toughest Mouse
After rifle qualification the DI's made all those that didn't qualify swirm like snakes on the shower floor that the DI's had dumped trash on.
Didn't have mess duty, instead they put me to help out in the commissary. That was a nice 2 weeks.
In 3rd phase when marching next to the PX, the DI's said eyes right! and there was a beautiful blond in shorts. We lost cadence immediatly.
Graduation - Now that was one of the best moments of my life.

That DI would be court martialed in today's world

 

[Rockport]

That DI would be court martialed in today's world

Unfortunately

 

[InTheZone]

Unfortunately

take this as a compliment or an insult but I am 100% surprised by your response lol. Have a great day.

 

[Rockport]

take this as a compliment or an insult but I am 100% surprised by your response lol. Have a great day.

I'll take it as a compliment. I'm a positive kinda guy

 

[Rack]

I remember marching us to chow (as PG). We all wanted to get to the DFAC first so we wouldn't have to wait in line. We would have to march around the building in an orderly manner but the DFAC was right next to us if we didn't have to march we would always be first. So every morning for chow I would wait for the other platoons to to start marching. Then I'd call attention: "Fall out and fall in at the chow hall!".

We were always first and the other platoons would get so pissed. My DS would just laugh at them. One day the DS walked by me as we were in line and he walks by me and without looking at me he says "Good Job."

I miss the food. We weren't allowed sweets (and when someone tried to sneak one we got smoked) but I liked it. I lost 30 lbs in Basic (was 215 when it was over, I'm 190 now).

Good times.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Some things that stand out from PI.

-Getting choke slammed into a bathroom stall for smiling

- Recruit tried to kill himself by drinking the hygene jar

- One the last hike before the crucible, a baby deer ran out and slammed into one of the recruits.

-Gas chamber....nuf said

Whole experience was rememberable and retrospectively good. Those were just a few of the things that stand out

 

[timb2]

That's pretty good, did you run track or something in high school? Most of the track guys/etc ran around 18 mins on their PFT. I managed to get mine to around 20:30 before the end of boot. Could do 16 pull ups and the 80 sit ups were no problems. What gave me problems was climbing ropes.

I was a basketball gym rat as a high school kid. Pullups gave me the most trouble because I had a fractured wrist the year before boot camp

 

[timb2]

Some things that stand out from PI.

-Getting choke slammed into a bathroom stall for smiling

- Recruit tried to kill himself by drinking the hygene jar

- One the last hike before the crucible, a baby deer ran out and slammed into one of the recruits.

-Gas chamber....nuf said

Whole experience was rememberable and retrospectively good. Those were just a few of the things that stand out

Got my foot Locker thrown at me.

 

[timb2]

I remember winning my pujol stick fight and my Senior DI still chewed me out. He thought I should have won easily it was a tough fight.

 

[darthseinfeld]

I remember winning my pujol stick fight and my Senior DI still chewed me out. He thought I should have won easily it was a tough fight.

Did you do yours phase 1? Thats when we did ours. You can't win anything phase 1 lol

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Some things that stand out from PI.

-Getting choke slammed into a bathroom stall for smiling

- Recruit tried to kill himself by drinking the hygene jar

- One the last hike before the crucible, a baby deer ran out and slammed into one of the recruits.

-Gas chamber....nuf said

Whole experience was rememberable and retrospectively good. Those were just a few of the things that stand out

Choke slammed? What year was this?
In phase 2{rifle range} we had our 3 DI's replaced with a new 3 because of something they did to a few recruits. It wasn't even close to as bad as being choke slammed.

 

[Rockport]

Some things that stand out from PI.

-Getting choke slammed into a bathroom stall for smiling

- Recruit tried to kill himself by drinking the hygene jar

- One the last hike before the crucible, a baby deer ran out and slammed into one of the recruits.

-Gas chamber....nuf said

Whole experience was rememberable and retrospectively good. Those were just a few of the things that stand out

Crucible was way after my time but I like it. Speaking of recruits trying to kill them self, in 1st phase platoons were housed on the 3rd deck. I was on the midnight to 3am fire watch. A recruit went out on the mid deck between the other half of the barracks and was crying and saying he was going to jump. I woke up the DI, got my *** chewed out before explaining to him what was going on and he came out in his boxer shorts and t-shirt with his Smokey on top and got right up to this recruits face and said “jump you chicken *** piece of ****. I need to get back to sleep”. The poor guy fell into a heap, the MP’s came and we never saw him again.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Crucible was way after my time but I like it. Speaking of recruits trying to kill them self, in 1st phase platoons were housed on the 3rd deck. I was on the midnight to 3am fire watch. A recruit went out on the mid deck between the other half of the barracks and was crying and saying he was going to jump. I woke up the DI, got my *** chewed out before explaining to him what was going on and he came out in his boxer shorts and t-shirt with his Smokey on top and got right up to this recruits face and said “jump you chicken *** piece of ****. I need to get back to sleep”. The poor guy fell into a heap, the MP’s came and we never saw him again.

They moved the crucible to beginning of 3rd phase I believe. Dont like that. It was good finale. Very tough