boot camp around the holidays

[yurkonis05]

ok well i am leaving on sept 6 05 and i will be gone for thanksgiving next year. can any1 tell me what if any difference it is like on the holidays at boot. im not expecting much. lol. also since i will be gettin home for leave around 6 dec 05 i heard that the schools such as mct and soi are closed down for a period can any1 tell me about that?? thanks!! semper fi!

[jinelson]

Well I spent Thangsgiving and Christmas at MCRD San Diego and it was kinda tough since you could see all the christmas decorations and lights on the homes on the surrounding hills and ya see the planes that could be taking you home right next to the grinder. Just mind games though. I'm glad that you dont expect much because thats what your gonna get. You will get a turkey dinner for thanksgiving but they wont give ya long to eat it, and be careful they just might wanna play games in the pit after chow. At least you will be home for Christmas just dont get dropped. As for MCT and schools I can't remember that.

[DSchmitke]

Spent Christmas of 76 and New Years of 77 in boot camp at Parris Island. The sand fleas had a great X-mas dinner on us.

[Toby M]

Spent Christmas in Memphis in 68 and it was the lonliest time I have ever spent anywhere alone. The base was empty when everyone went home. The following year I was in 'Nam but it wasn't anywhere near as lonely 'cause we were all pretty much in the same boat. I still have the menu from the chow hall..turkey and all the trimmings...We didn't even mind that it was cooked by squids!

[jinelson]

Hey Toby M, I was at NAS Millington in early 68 for school. Your right it wasnt one of my favorite duty stations either. I did find a squid that I graduated from high school with there and on the and on the weekends we would take libo in Memphis or swoop down to Clarksdale Misssippi the drinking age was 18 down there. You remember we had to wear service A's to get off base with our liberty cards and we all had lockers in Memphis so we could get into civies?

[drillinstructor]

nothing special except Church

[Phantom Blooper]

If you go to bed early on Christmas Eve you have visions of sugar plums dancing in your heads! Semper-Fi! Chuck Hall:marine:

[yellowwing]

I was in during May-August. Only 4th of July was a holiday.

We had the regular training schedule, but that evening they did take us out to the grinder to watch fireworks right around dusk.

It was pretty cool. But then one of those fiery Carolina thunderstorms started rolling inland.

I actually started watching the lighting flashing around the cloud tops, more than I watched the man made fireworks.

The only other mental escape we had that summer was when we went to see the Sands of Iwo Jima.

[enviro]

Our drill instructors let us hit the rack 37 seconds early on Independence Day. We could see the fireworks from the barracks.

[Devildog1010]

for thanksgiving we got to watch a film, we were soldiers! They left us alone for pretty much the whole day.

[Lock-n-Load]

:marine: I was on the Island 5 days before Christmas, and I was taken back by the warm air and the palm trees on Christmas Day...it was Holiday Routine [not a training day]...we marched to chapel and had a feast of turkey and all the trimmings...most of the DIs were off the Island...I thought this Marine Boot Camp isn't so tough afterall...day after Christmas 1950, all hell broke loose on top of our heads until we left Marine Boot for our 10 day leave after graduation on 01Mar51...my next Christmas was celebrated on top of Hill #1026 {Punchbowl, North Korea]...no turkey for chow just cold c-rations, and plenty of Gook incoming for dessert...3rd Christmas I was on leave in Boston for traditional/civilian Christmas...4th Christmas was back in Korea guarding No man's Land [no DMZ then] on Western Front [Samichon Valley] had relays going to noonchow for a hot turkey dinner, etc...my 5th and final Christmas was the best of all of them...home from Korea and was processing out of the USMC at the Boston Navy Yard...it was the greatest Christmas of my life 1954...one thing I loved about our Corps...Christmas...was observed in or out of combat...I love a Merry Christmas ever so much from that 1951 Christmas Day of fighting and freezing..the Gooks hated our Christmas and let us know about it!!. Semper Fidelis and to all United States Marines...a Merry Christmas for 2004. :marine: