The Few, The Proud, The MARINES.

[Lion-line05]

yeah that was good!!! But PUNK is DEAD!!!

[count2infinity]

no...it's just on an iron lung

[Gunner18]

they still use iron lungs in ridge? wow i thought the world modernized them a few decades ago

[punksnotdead]

What the ..........??

[punksnotdead]

Gunner,
Whenever you get a chance let me know how boot camp is, and what all you did.

[Gunner18]

boot camp is the worst and best 3 months of your entire life. ill start from the very beginning....
you go to MEPS one night, wake up at 4 am, spend all day at meps until about 230, get on a plane, go to atlanta, have a layover in atlanta then go to i think charleston sc or savanna ga, one of the two, from there you meet your first marine and it starts, basically he's just there to make sure everyone arrived there safely and theres no problems, he then puts u on a bus that sends you an hour and half away to Parris Island...dramatic pause....at about 1230 in the morning a lovely sgt will step onto your bus, tell you that the word "I" is no longer in your vocabulary and that the only words out of your mouth will be "yes sir, no sir, or aye sir" from here you step on the infamous yellow footprints then go to the admin building, here you strip yourself of all contraband, only adresses and religious material are authorized to be kept. then you make a phonecall home and state "this is rct shmuckatelli, i have arrived safely and MCRD PI, SC, u will be notified in 3-5 days via postcard with my adress, do not send packages or bulky items"...and thats it, then you get sent to a room, sit in a desk and sleep for about 20 minutes, then you start filling out paperwork, then you get a haircut, then go to get ur uniforms and say good bye to ur civilian clothes for 3 months, u get issued everything u willl need for the next 13 weeks, soap, shoes, clothes....everything. you spend the rest of the first week in "recieving" getting all your gear issued to u (rifle, ALICE pack, war gear, helmet...everythign!) then on friday you go to your new home at whatever battalion you get assigned to, saturday morning you wake up to the IST, then when you get back to the squadbay, you meet your drill instructors for the first time. from here expect to lose alot of weight! haha. everything you do, you will have a DI standing over your sholder telling you every exact thing to do...even how to shower (ie, put the soap in your left and and scrub ur right armpit...ok YOUR DONE! haha) u practice drill and pt ALOT, you also get classroom instruction on everything from military customs/curtosies to USMC history to first aid...everything. swim qualification concludes first phase, 2nd phase starts with the rifle range, 1 week learning how to shoot and the 2nd week actually shooting and applying what you learned the previous week. after that is team week, a break from the DI's really, you get into working parties and go out throughout the base and basically just do clean up jobs all week, after that is BWT/A-line...combat training, you learn breifly how to survive in combat, shoot a rifle wearing a flak jacket and gas mask, and rapel. then you head back to ur original battalion, and get ready for the crucible.

the crucible starts on a tuesday morning at 2am with a 6 mile hike to the page airfield. over the next 54 hours you will eat only 3 mre's and get a total of 6-8 hours of sleep. the crucible is all about team work, so if you get put with a good group of guys that work together alot youll have a fairly easy crucible (easy by marine corps standards that is) if you get with a bunch of s***heads that still havent comprehended the team concept, then you will be going thru 54 hours of living hell. my suggestion to you is get some wash rags before you leave for the crucible, and stuff them in the pockets on the inside of the knees of your trousers....this will save your knees alot of pain! at the end of the crucible is a 10 mile hike back "home" where you will shower, change clothes and be treated to a warriors breakfast...same crappy breakfast as every other day on that island, but this time its all you can eat and the DI's sit down and eat with you and chat with you for the first and only time during the 13 week cycle, after this you basically just sit arount with ur thumb in ur but waiting to graduate in 2-3 weeks...u just spend time fine tuning everything uve been tought and cleaning the squadbay and perfecting your uniforms. and thats about it in a nutshell

my biggest suggestion to you is....do what you are told, WHEN you are told...always shout at the top of your lungs no matter what when talking to a marine or DI...and dont be an individual....also being in good shape and knowing ur general orders will help out alot

best of luck to ya and Semper Fi

[Gunner18]

o, 1 final thing, just keep this in mind....

the FASTEST way off that island, is to graduate...so dont try to just quit, get an injury or go suicidal...u get sent to a holding platoon untill u are good enough to resume training...so just suck it up and stick it out to graduation, its more than worth it in the end

also what is ur MOS, maybe i can put in a good word for ya? and do u know what battallion/company youll be in yet?

[punksnotdead]

Yeah, it's Golf Company, 2nd rtbn.. i don't know what my plt. # is yet. My MOS is infantry

[Gunner18]

ahhhhhhhhh 2nd bn! aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! thats horrible!!!! na jk, ull find out eventually why 3rd bn is the best....1st and 2nd bn's are both located adjacent to Peatross parade deck and basically rite in "downtown" PI, 4th bn (females) is at the other end of "town" 3rd on the other hand is off in the middle of the woods where noone can hear you scream, it also has its own parade deck for drill competitions and what not, 1,2, and 4th bn's all share peatross. 1,2, and 4th bn's also average 85+ recruits per platoon with 1 Sr. DI and 2 Jr DI's, where as 3rd bn averages 55-65 recruits with 1 SDI and 3 Jr DI's...so your gettin off pretty easy being in golf. :lol:

[punksnotdead]

Congrats Gunner on your promotion to LanceCorporl. Way to go.