View Full Version : On This Day 54 Years Ago
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 11:20 AM
10-31-63----I arrived at wonderful Parris Island. Halloween Night. Trick or Treat. No yellow footprints; they would not be there for a couple of more years.
In those days, no choice of MOS except Aviation Guaranteed. We took Classification Tests at boot camp and those scores plus the ever-present Needs of the Corps determined what MOS would be handed to us. We had no idea that anyone in the Corps was anything other than a Marine. We never thought of them as having specific jobs.
No Internet, no one to ask questions of, we went in with little or no knowledge of what was to come, and we had no idea what job we would be given, nor did we care.
The job I was handed turned out to be the best job I ever had in my entire life, before or after the Corps, including my present one. New MOS designation is 2621, formerly 2571, Morse Code Intercept Operator, 2571 (Special Radio Operator) now 2621.
We joined the Corps to become Marines. To us, everything else was quite secondary, including what MOS we would have.
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FistFu68
10-31-17, 11:44 AM
God Duty Country
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 11:46 AM
That's the way it was, Jack. And of course everything was ten thousand times simpler than today. The Corps did not reject applicants who were otherwise qualified but had this or that issue or problem or whatever. Unless you could clearly not hack it, you were much more likely to be allowed to enlist back then than is the case today, where it seems to me that every little thing is a disqualifier.
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 11:49 AM
And, at the time, I had quit high school after my second year. No problem, come on in anyway, get your GED while in, which I did do. Nowadays, 15 college credits if you have a GED and no high school diploma. And so on and so forth ad infinitum.
FistFu68
10-31-17, 12:01 PM
You and Guys like You where Men not Mice S/F
Semper Fi, Dave.... that was THE OLD CORPS... although at that time, it was still the NEW CORPS... the more things change, the more they stay the same...
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 01:38 PM
Thanks, William....and Jack.
advanced
10-31-17, 01:48 PM
Were you at Bunker Hill Dave? I heard that was pretty bad.
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 03:10 PM
It was awful. We ran out of ammo, Russ, and had to fire pieces of rock and glass, and it was just horrible. The sun reflecting off of our enemy's bright red coats, and, well, I'd rather not talk about it.
Mongoose
10-31-17, 04:01 PM
Russ, you do know Moses was Dave's Company Commander....
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 04:13 PM
That's right, Billy, and going through that desert was bad, too.
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 04:14 PM
Now that was OLD Corps.
FoxtrotOscar
10-31-17, 07:54 PM
Russ, you do know Moses was Dave's Company Commander....
So those rumors are true... Dave was a "Road Guard" at the parting of the Red Sea..
I also heard he was on mess duty for Christ's Last Supper as well....
FoxtrotOscar
10-31-17, 08:02 PM
Entering Boot on Halloween is about the best your going to get, Congratulations Dave... Semper Fi Marine...
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 08:21 PM
Thanks, Mike....Semper Fi back to you.
Kegler300
10-31-17, 09:08 PM
31979
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 09:13 PM
Yeah, I guess it was kind of long ago. :)
Kegler300
10-31-17, 09:22 PM
Long ago, but seems like yesterday ...
USMC 2571
10-31-17, 09:38 PM
Yes-----20 of us from my last duty station, which was the last 2 years of my 4 year enlistment, are still in touch on an almost daily basis. To us, it seems like yesterday that we were in our unit.
Rattlesnake
11-01-17, 02:00 AM
You're the real deal.
Semper Fi,
USMC 2571
11-02-17, 07:31 AM
Yeah, Ed, I know I'm a boot. You probably went in a month before I did. LOL.
Dave-
somebody had to say it ,
you know it-
IF I hadn't - somebody else would have.
Doesn't mean somebody else cant come along
and boot the bunch of us - ??
Old Marine-
Oldtop
Dozens of senior Marines to us in here my friend..
Semper Fidelis- never give up
???
Are you still playing with your "SmallFonts"
??
USMC 2571
11-04-17, 03:54 PM
Semper Fi back to you, Ed.....
Mongoose
11-05-17, 06:58 AM
Dave....you didn't answer Ed....are you still playing with your small Font?
USMC 2571
11-05-17, 07:01 AM
That's correct, I did not answer him. He already knows about small fonts.
Kegler300
11-05-17, 07:00 PM
Bunch of old salty farts up in here ...
Yeah, Ed, I know I'm a boot. You probably went in a month before I did. LOL.
I went in August 63;believe I was after Ed, and before Dave. I was in Plt.257;L Company; 2nd. Battalion. Parris Island
Kegler300
11-05-17, 08:19 PM
Like I said ...
silverdollar
11-06-17, 04:46 AM
Plt 263 2nd bn pI 1954
Mongoose
11-06-17, 06:43 AM
George did you know Presley O'Bannion ??
USMC 2571
11-06-17, 06:52 AM
George fought at Gettysburg......when I went in we had to DYE our shoes black, from the leftover brown shoes they had been issuing up until around Oct 1963.
Dave, we were STILL having to do that in Feb., 1966.. depending on SIZE, of course... mostly those with small fonts... He, He, He.... just sayin.....
advanced
11-06-17, 11:16 AM
George fought at Gettysburg......when I went in we had to DYE our shoes black, from the leftover brown shoes they had been issuing up until around Oct 1963.
Dave, believe it or not we had to do the same thing in Jan of 67. Had to dye them black and then spit shine them.
USMC 2571
11-06-17, 11:18 AM
Small fonts,,,,,thanks William!!!!!!! and Russ and William, that's surprising that as late as 1966 (you are boots) you were still doing that. I figured they would have made the transition to black shoes by then. They must have had millions of surplus brown ones.
Just saying, as Russ says.