whocarz

I left home on December 12th last year and entered the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at San Diego. After almost four months of the toughest basic training America has to offer, I'm back. The journey wasn't without it's setbacks, however. I should have graduated on March 10th, but I caught a bad case of pneumonia (and I do me bad; I managed to fracture one of my ribs I was coughing so hard), and had to be dropped from training into the Medical Rehabilitation Platoon (MRP) for eighteen days. I earned the title of Marine this past Thursday, and graduated on Friday with Platoon 2066 Echo Company.

As of now, I'm on my ten days of leave every Marine recieves after completing basic training. Next Tuesday, the 11th, I have to report to the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, California. I will spend another two months there learning how to operate grenade launchers, machine guns, antitank weapons, etcetera, along with MOUT training, and a lot of humping in the boonies.

If any of you have questions about boot camp, go ahead and ask, and I will answer them to the best of my ability. Perhaps I'll be able to clear up any misperceptions some may have about recruit training. Be aware that I don't have a good idea of what life is like in the Fleet, and I won't be around constantly to post, since I have other things I would like to do with my free time (ie: women and alcohol).

__________________
If there exists anything mightier than destiny, then it is the courage to face destiny unflinchingly. -Geibel

Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else. -Marcus Aurelius

Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever? -GySgt. Daniel J. "Dan" Daly

Willravel

Thank you for defending our country, Marine.

Di they make you shave really fast on the first night of boot?

Mojo_PeiPei

Marines do the gauntlet right? How intense was that? Also if you don't mind, what type of shape must you be in to join the armed services?

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To win a war you must serve no master but your ambition.

abaya

Congratulations on your graduation. Becoming a Marine is hard-ass work.

My crew coach in college was (is) a Major in the Marines, though I believe he is in the Reserves, and he talked often of Camp Pendleton. He ran a tight ship on our team, and I respect him for his integrity and the passion he has for his work.

What was it about the recruiting process that drew you in?

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

whocarz

I arrived at the airport in San Diego along with about a dozen other recruits from Colorado at 7 or 8 pm on Monday, December 12th. We went down to the USO to report in, and were told to go get something to eat with the food vouchers we had been given. Twenty minutes later we came back, and all of the recruits that had been there before were lined up against the wall, and there were a few pissed off Drill Instructors that told us to get in line after we had our platoon number written on our forearms in black marker.

We were herded outside and packed onto busses, three to a seat that was meant to only hold two. I was unlucky and got to sit half on the seat and half in the aisle. They make you put your head between your legs during the ride as well, so it's extremely uncomfortable. The bus drives around for about 45 minutes, even though it's only about a five minute trip from the airport to the depot. Once you arrive at the Recruit Admin Building, a DI tells you to get out and stand on his yellow foot prints. Soon enough, you are filed into a room where you have to empty out all of your personal belongings onto a table. Certain things you are allowed to keep (drivers license, bank and credit cards, family pictures, watches, glasses), and everything else is confiscated.

Everyone is then given a warbag that weighs about twentyfive pounds and then lined up out in the hall to recieve your first haircut. Then you are issued a pair of trousers, a sweat top, an eight point cover, a green t-shirt, green nylon shorts, and a pair of briefs. After getting changed in a room full of other recruits, we were then herded into an auditorium to fill out paperwork. Once that was done, we were finally led into our squad bay in the Processing barracks.

I could go on, but it all starts to blur together after that. Just know that we didn't get to sleep until Tuesday night, and yes, we had to shave fast. The Processing barracks squadbay heads were exceptionally small, with about six sinks and eight showerheads, my Processing platoon had 130 recruits in it, and we about twenty minutes to get everyone shaved and showered.

To Mojo, you are probably thinking about the Crucible. It was pretty damn tough, but it could have been worse. If I had gone through it in the summer it would have been a lot tougher, because after nightfall, they aren't allowed to have recruits do much. The only thing we did while it was dark out was humping to and from our bivouac site, and a night assault course.

The reason for the restrictions is to lessen casualties. A recruit from lead series fucked himself up good on the night assault course when he fell into a trench and smashed his head on the trench wall, which was made out of concrete. Another recruit suffered a compound fracture during Field Week while on a three mile night hike, and his femur ripped through his thigh.

There are physical requirements to joining up. There are certain weight minimums and maximums based on your height. Your first week there, you must complete an Initial Strength Test, and you are required to do two pullups, fourty four crunches in two minutes, and a one and a half mile run in thirteen minutes. If you pass, you are sent into a training company, and if you fail, you are sent into the Physical Conditioning Platoon (PCP, also known as the Pork Chop Platoon).

Towards the end of the first month, you are required to pass the initial Physical Fitness Test. The minimum requirements are three pullups, fifty crunches in two minutes, and run three miles in under twenty eight minutes. Note that these are the bare minimums, and the average on the final PFT is somewhere around 10-14 pullups, 100+ crunches in two minutes, and a 21 minute time on the three mile run.

I was not lured into joining by any recruiting trick or ad. My life was going nowhere fast, and I've had the idea that I was born to be a warrior for a while now. So I decided to see if I have what it takes to be one. I'm not quite there yet, but after I'm done with infantry training, I'll have proven to myself that I'm something important.

__________________
If there exists anything mightier than destiny, then it is the courage to face destiny unflinchingly. -Geibel

Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else. -Marcus Aurelius

Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever? -GySgt. Daniel J. "Dan" Daly

dksuddeth

welcome to our elite club, devil dog. We are the finest in the world. ooorahh!!!

__________________
"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

scout

Spoken like a true Marine!

Congrats and good luck!

And most of all thanks for taking time out of your life to help defend the freedoms we enjoy on a daily basis.

Carno

Welcome to the Corps.

Semper Fi

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http://how-to-spell-ridiculous.com/

Psycho Dad

As a Marine dad I am very happy to offer congratulations a thank you. Before my son went in I went to the recruiter with him because I was sure he was going to be railroaded. The recruiter asked if my wife and I would like to see a videotape of boot camp. I expected a Marine Corps public relations masterpiece to unfold on the television screen. Instead a very graphic representation of what recruits have to endure to earn the title of US Marine was put up and I can’t imagine how a recruiter could think that video was a selling point. And attending the graduation ceremony at MCRD was one of the the most awesome experiences I have ever witnessed.

You have accomplished something that only a small percentage of people even attempt to undertake and you should be proud to call yourself a Marine.

__________________
Don't always trust the opinions of experts.

xepherys

A new brother-in-arms on the TFP! All inter-service ribbing aside, congratualtions on your accomplishment!

However, Army Combat Engineers totally smoke Marine Infantry... :-p

Gabbyness

Hey Devil, you said SOI, you a motivated 0311?

Congrats.

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One, two, three, four, fiiiiiiiifth.

abaya

I didn't mean to imply that you were lured into joining... I was really just curious about what attracts individuals to the Marines as opposed to other branches of the military, and also why you chose to join the military in the first place. What does it mean that you feel you were "born to be a warrior?" (I don't often get the chance to interview soldiers, so forgive my nosiness.)

Oh, correction on my last post: I checked the latest info on my crew coach, and he is actually a Lieutenant Colonel these days. He was called to active duty in 2002-03 but is back in reserves now, apparently.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

stevo

Congratulations. Thanks for sharing. My little brother is in San Diego right now he's been there since early Feb, but is now currently in MRP with a cholesteatoma in his left ear. He needs two surgeries before he'll be able to continue training, so there's no telling how long he will be here. Do you have any advice for me as to what I can and can't send him while he's in MRP? I write him about once a week and it takes about 2 weeks for a letter to get to him, but he'll be held up in MRP for another month at least (he's got an MRI on 4/17, the surgeries to follow). What did you do during your 18 days in MRP?

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"If I am such a genius why am I drunk, lost in the desert, with a bullet in my ass?" -Otto Mannkusser

Grasshopper Green

I remember how intensely proud I felt when I watched my then boyfriend (now hubby) graduate at the MCRD. The next 4 years were crazy, but I loved being a Marine wife, and miss the camraderie that I felt at Corps gatherings. Congratulations on graduation, and thank you for the personal sacrifices that you've made and will continue to make for our country!

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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

Redjake

You have excellent grammar and spelling. Any chance you are going to take on a Private Joker (FMJ) role later in the Marines? What are you planning on doing with this career in the long-run?

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Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

pan6467

Whocarz,

Congratulations. Graduating boot camp was a great experience in my life. I feel even as a pacifist everyone should work in some capacity to help the country, whether military, peace corps, or public service of some form.

You are a good man and I am sure you have a bright and great future ahead of you.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

rockogre

Congrats and thanks for serving our country.

__________________
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
Jesus Christ and the American G. I.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom

G5_Todd

w00t congrats...i just finished BCT and AIT with the Army, I graduated on March 2nd....

i entered training on September 22, 2005 and like i said finished on March 2, 2006 so it was a long haul....

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"....and when you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy."

-General Franks

tommyboy

semper fi from a former 0311...good luck man and stay safe

ScottKuma

whocarz: (and all you other jarheads, zoomies, grunts, and whatever-they-call-the-navy-guys...)

From one of the civilians whom you dedicated soldiers sacrifice so much of yourselves to help defend...

A very sincere THANK YOU!

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A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take from you everything you have.

GoogleMap Me

Crack

whocarz: two words... Airforce Women. they will love you, they always did when I was in (the airforece), it was a bit of a running joke...

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Crack, you and I are long overdue for a vicious bout of mansex.

~Halx

biznatch

Congratulations. It feels cool to be able to talk to great men like you. I wish you the best in your military carreer.

Fire

Thank you- I may not agree with some of our current politics, but I am 100% pro military, and respect anyone that is willing and able to serve their country.....

__________________
Thought the harder, Heart the bolder,
Mood the more as our might lessens