Cold weather training camp

[usmc5054]

Any one out there that was involved in the building of Cold Weather Camp at Pickel Meaows?? I was involved in the start of the camp. (1951)

[airframesguru]

No sir, however, I was involved with cold weather training at Camp Lejune around 92 in MID JUNE. BOY THAT WAS WARM. Guess we ahd to get ready some where.

S/F,

Mike

[8th&I Marine]

I know my father went threw cold weather training in pickle meadows in the late 50's not sure exactly when though.

Cantrell:flag: :flag:

[bob wilson]

I Remember Like It Was Yesterday. I Was Hungry Route Marching Up The Hill To The Meadows. I Was So Hungry I Was Eating My Tooth Powder. They Showed Us Movies About Frostbite Before We Left, They Were Pretty Discriptive. Im From New York And Have Been Through Blizzards But I Was Never As Cold As At The Meadows. 1956 Marine

[Zulu 36]

I only did mountain warfare training at Pickle Meadows. The weather was WINDY but not terribly cold. I actually had lots of fun there.

I did plenty of cold weather training in Michigan; believe it or not, with the Air National Guard. One of our instructors was an Army SgtMaj who had taught cold weather survival in Alaska for a living.

[usmc5054]

Bob: You say you are from NY. Let's talk on e-mail as I'm from Rome NY. ejnestved@msn.com

[gilford]

I trained at the Meadows from January & February 1960. Learned snoopn & poopn in the snow. Caught a three foot tree stump between my legs on an exercise. Took twenty MARINES and two Corpsmen two hours to carry me down the slope about 500 yards.. They were laughing so hard that they could not carry my skinny ass twenty feet without falling down. I guess other peoples pain is funny. I sure as hell didn't think so at the time. SEMPER FI. L/Cpl G.D. Vallejos USMC 1960-1966

[shabil37]

Was there in Feb. 1956 constantly changing our socks.If you got frostbite you also got office hours.

Semper Fi

Bill

[Sgt0811]

:marine:
I was there in 1963. We had a fake war with the grunts and we won.

[marinepride]

I haven't personally been there but my dad was. He was there from Nov. 54 until he got out for the first time in January 56.

[Old Marine]

Any one out there that was involved in the building of Cold Weather Camp at Pickel Meaows?? I was involved in the start of the camp. (1951)

I know a civilian who was involved. His name is Leonard Jones and was called Jonesy. He tell a lot of seas stories about the Bridgeport area. I went through Cold Weather Training in 1953 and have never forgot how damn cold it was. Paid off in Korea though.

[usmc5054]

Do you know when Leonard Jones was at Pickel Meadows.??? What did he do there?? Yes the winters were very cold and the snow very deep. In the summer the heat was so bad that we had to work at night only. If you left a wrench out and went to pick it up, you would wind up in sick bay with a bad burn.One thing though. they feed us good. Lots of steak. I tell ya the steak was almost as big as the trays. Xmas there was a blast They even served egg-nog with liq. Glad to hear that your stay up there helped you out overseas. We were field testing the boots and the luberplate for the rifles. Talk to you again. Semper- fy Earl:flag:

[usmc5054]

I remmember one time when a bunch of marines were toobargening(can't spell) down a hill and went right into and thru the officers latreen. They also didn't think it was funny. Semper fy Earl

[usmc5054]

What did your Dad do at Pickel Meadows???

[Old Marine]

Do you know when Leonard Jones was at Pickel Meadows.??? What did he do there?? Yes the winters were very cold and the snow very deep. In the summer the heat was so bad that we had to work at night only. If you left a wrench out and went to pick it up, you would wind up in sick bay with a bad burn.One thing though. they feed us good. Lots of steak. I tell ya the steak was almost as big as the trays. Xmas there was a blast They even served egg-nog with liq. Glad to hear that your stay up there helped you out overseas. We were field testing the boots and the luberplate for the rifles. Talk to you again. Semper- fy Earl:flag:

I talked to Jonesy yesterday and he told me about this MSgt that was supposed to be the only Marine ever to be Knighted by the Queen. Jonesy called him MSgt John. You have to remember that Jonesy is 75 these days, but seems to have a good memory. Were the boots you were testing (Mickey Mouse boots) (Thermal Boots). When you kept moving in those things they would make your feet sweat and if you stopped, then your feet froze from the sweat.

[usmc5054]

Didn't notice the problem with the boots as you did. They were hard to get used to after using field boots all the time. Any answers to my two questions?? I've heard about a marine being knighted by the Oueen. Jonesy is 75 and I'll be 77 in Jan.

[greensideout]

Any one out there that was involved in the building of Cold Weather Camp at Pickel Meaows?? I was involved in the start of the camp. (1951)


Didn't help build it but I got to enjoy the resort in '64. Snowshoeing, skiing, sleeping in a snow hole and freezeing my gonads off!---lol.
I remember coming off the mountain to return to Pickel Meadows. They had a steak dinner with strawberry shortcake for us. I could only eat about two bites as may stomach had shrunk to the size of a walnut.

I had never been that cold before! We didn't have the cold weather gear then that they have now. We used the stand issue leather boots and field jacket with liner???

[jebollenbach]

I was stationed there from 94 - 99
:flag:

[Desert Rat]

I was there in early '55 and like every other camp attendee enjoyed sleeping in the snow cave. Yeah right.... I took about 18 pr. of socks along and changed every chance I could to avoid the frost bite. By the time I joined they had called a CSMO in Korea so after Picle Meadows they decided that Libya might need straightening out so they sent me to another lovely camp, 29 Palms. Went from 35 below to 115 above in about a weeks time.

The sad part of this tale is due to being in Balboa Naval Hospital for 5 1/2 months during boot camp I had my original orders changed resulting in my trip to Pickle Meadows. I was supposed to go to Hawaii for aviation electronics. Oh well, why would anyone want to give up frozen mountains and burning sands of the desert just to go to Hawaii??

Semper Fi!
Wally

[brn2bwldbt]

WOW cold weather training.I did mine at fort drum , ny during the blizzard of 1977.The only thing i remember about it was i got a meritorious mast out of it and got the true meaning of cold. Pardon my spelling but im sure u get what i mean.

[gyrene59-63]

Went to CW training FEB 60?
Bought W/Lightn`>>cut it and sold it $5/canteen.
Lost my stripe/cut up a lumberjack in a bar brawl-w/my belt.
Made the final march 30 miles..2 days up/1day down.
Carried a baseplate (81 mm Mortarman) as punishment.
Glad to get outta there alive!
L/Cpl John Svendsen H&S Co. 2Bn.6Mar. 59-61 Iwas Ammo CPL and known as
"Cpl Sweeney" Cause nobody could say my name!
We were active-Served on 5 different ships/did carib cruise and Solant Amity
Vertical Envelopment on LPH 4 USS Boxer even found time to invade Santo
Domingo (1960)!
ANYBODY??

[mensajanitor]

i was at pickle medows in dec. '58. i got lucky, i had mess duty while i was there. we also tested "mickey mouse" boots. colder than a well diggers lunch box. that's when i learned i didn't want to ski.

[SgtHopperUSMC]

Did mine at Ft McCoy Wisconsin. That was very cold. It was colder than Norway. Operation Black Gap. 1989

[jebollenbach]

I was stationed there as an instructor from 94 - 99