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Whitey
12-24-07, 07:09 PM
How the heck do I get used to not being in boot camp? Tonight my family and their friends are over and are excited to see me but every little thing out of organization and order is making me mad beyond belief. Everytime I go in public I end up returning home just ****ed off.

how do I snap back into reality?

Wyoming
12-24-07, 07:15 PM
How the heck do I get used to not being in boot camp? Tonight my family and their friends are over and are excited to see me but every little thing out of organization and order is making me mad beyond belief. Everytime I go in public I end up returning home just ****ed off.

how do I snap back into reality?

Back to reality? When??

As soon as your leave ends!!!


When I got back from the RVN, the family and friends were having a BBQ in the backyard. A car backfired in the front of the house (they prolly don't do that anymore).

Anyway, I rolled out of the lawnchair and hit the deck. Most thought it was funny. Not my Dad or Uncles, WWII Vets all. They understood.

I didn't stay home for the entire time.

Whitey
12-24-07, 07:36 PM
well about 10 minutes ago i was eating again and doing it how i was used to in boot camp and my mom went to brush something off my face and i just got royally peeved and came up to my room. i feel horrible but stupid little things like that **** me off.

jahhead88
12-24-07, 08:00 PM
Just remember they don't understand what you've been through. I was the same way when I graduated from Parris Island in 1988, and thought everyone in my hometown was wallking cluster*&&^%.

A former Marine took me aside and reminded me that these people don't understand. Also keep in mind, your mom just can't turn a switch off and stop being your mom. Heck my mother used to say embarrassing things about me when I was in my blues. I finally had to just chalk it up as she meant well, and we were able to work something out.

semperfi170
12-24-07, 08:04 PM
Seriously, don't let the little stuff annoy you. Remember civilians live in a different world than you, and their habits won't change because you have. Remember she is your mother and is the one who cleaned your dirty as* and held you when you hurt. Don't do anything to hurt her! After all she raised a boy whom became a Marine!

yellowwing
12-24-07, 08:59 PM
My Mom and Sister came to Graduation. On the drive back home we stopped at Shoney's to eat. I was done eating and I looked up and saw that they were still only on their salads. It took awhile before I realized that I had more than 4 minutes to eat chow. :D

Whitey
12-24-07, 09:15 PM
haha yellowwing thats really wierd cause it was the same place i first ate in front of my family. we all got the buffet and i was done with my 3rd plate when they were barely into their 1st

Covey_Rider
12-24-07, 09:25 PM
Hey it's something that you'll get used to. I still despise walking through the malls and being around nothing but civilians. You'll always have to hear the petty things that they'll have to complain about and you'll learn to nod your head in agreement without showing how much it bugs you. Give it time. You'll adapt. But you will always look at everything differently.

LeonardLawrence
12-24-07, 09:54 PM
Lifelong problem.

Try to ignore it as best you can and when in Rome....let the Romans be Romans. Good luck.

Korzeniewski
12-24-07, 10:04 PM
The Lance Corporal who is a Rec Aid in RSS Syracuse said to me one day "It may get frustrating, but you cannot hate civilians and the poolees for how they act. They never have lived any other way."

Covey_Rider
12-24-07, 10:18 PM
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

-Aristotle

gutinstinct
12-24-07, 10:44 PM
Let me just say this about snapping back to reality after boot camp. It's going to take some time. I graduated boot camp in 1982. Till this day when ever someone puts the lights on while am sleeping I jump out of the rack. My family thinks it's funny. I don't. Just be patient. They have no idea what we went thru.

Whitey
12-24-07, 10:49 PM
my uncle is a gysgt at cherry point and i stayed at his house the night after graduation. my brother thought it would be funny to yell "lights lights lights" where i was sleeping. my uncle also got online as well haha.

Achped
12-24-07, 10:50 PM
I graduated in September...totally still get disgusted when I'm around civilians, and I'm in a place where its bad to act "boot-ish", you'll see when you get to the fleet/a big Marine Corps area, Marines actually try to act like civilians because they...well I don't know why, but they do.

But a Marine acting like a civilian is still a Marine, it shows.

249gunner
12-25-07, 12:33 AM
Didnt your Drill Instructors tell you that no one else will ever understand you but your Marine brothers?

Oh and the thing about "war stories", they'll never understand or how much it sucked. The only people that care about what you go through are Marines around you and poolees that will go through it some day.

davblay
12-25-07, 12:43 AM
It seems that I am going to have to change my last few letters to recruits before they graduate. I will try to prepare them for civilians when they are on leave from now on. We Marines, on this site, spend so much time preparing poolees for the training that we forget to mention the "what comes after boot camp" things they really need to know!

This thing your going thru, Whitey, is as common as boot camp itself! We all go thru it......always have and always will I guess! I graduated boot on 17 July 1969...and... well I am a Marine still! You can't unring the bell....ever! You will adapt, I promise. Civilians are a nessesary part of this country, they are where WE come from after all!

Be kind to your mom and remember that she loves you more than anyone in the world! She is your best friend and always will be, as long as she lives!

Semper Fi, my younger brother.

Dave

Phantom Blooper
12-25-07, 07:32 AM
Be kind to your mom and remember that she loves you more than anyone in the world!

Be thankful it was just the crumbs she was trying to wipe Whitey!:beer:

You can take the Marines out of the Marine Corps,but you will never take the Marine Corps out of a Marine!

Your normal...if there is such a diagnosis! Don't get butt hurt when your around your family. They see you as a man.....however you will always be your mothers baby.(SIC) She hasn't seen you in weeks and she is just doing HER job,the best she knows!

You will find that a civilian which you were a few short weeks ago has the awe for the military and as you were told unless one has been there and done that, they don't know,but are interested and want to know.

Disorganization was there before you joined the Marine Corps,the family and friends are the same as you left them.....you have changed...by virtue of marching across the grinder and becoming a Marine. The Marine Corps is new to you....but,it is newer to them. The saying overcome and adapt is paramount.

When you get off leave and go back to SOI/MCT or your MOS school you will be back in your element. Enjoy the time you have with them. You are used to a schedule and the home life doesn't have one....in time you will go back to being a slug with your chow at the family table,(and the mess hall in the fleet) right now your body is vigilant and waiting for the element of surprise. Keep that vigilance as you will always need it in life but harness that energy and save it for when you really need it further in your tour. It will be a skill of life.


Your life has taken a new path and you will always be on the outskirts of the Twilight Zone and be looked at in a totally different way. Your haircut is still high and tight,but even if you get out after your hitch or retire after 20/30 ...the way you stand,the way you talk and your bearing will undeniably show that you were in the service....and notably the Marine Corps!

Even though a Marine is a Marine 24/7 365 and to wit should act like such you need to remember that you are now on their grinder and they are the captain of the ship. Each leave or 96 will get better and more relaxed as you progress in the fleet.

And even though one is a Marine for life ,one day the orders will come down the pike to the civilian sector.Your orders will read transferred to Camp Recliner with 2nd CIV DIV for extended duty as a short range remote control and mouse operator. And you will be back in the element from which you were first born,longing for those crumbs to be wiped off your mug!



:evilgrin:

Phantom Blooper
12-25-07, 06:49 PM
Well, Whitey did you behave yourself today or did you jap slap anybody at the table for getting in your chow space?:evilgrin:

Sgt Jim
12-25-07, 07:23 PM
Whitey,after bring out for more than 30 years i still have problems with civilians and there stupid ways.I had joined the Marine Corps League to be around Marines of like thinking and mind .As far as mom,mom is going to be mom,love her aways.Semper FI Marine

zackmerc
12-25-07, 07:37 PM
Don't worry, getting used to the civilian life will be easy. When you go to SOI, you might slip back into the recruit mindset. You are one of the older guys so you'll be mature enough to begin looking and acting like a Fleet Marine. Most of the 18 and 19 year olds will act like they did at boot camp. That's why we call each other "Maruits" here. Marine Recruits.

Of course, that's just a portion of us that are that heinous. Most of us act like we should.

Zulu 36
12-25-07, 08:30 PM
You think YOU'RE upset with nasty civilian ways? Now you have a better idea how your drill instructors felt about you and the other filthy pukes they had been cursed with. :evilgrin:

The DIs had 13-weeks to fix you, you only have 10-days to fix your family. Give it up as a bad job - they ain't buyin'. Go with the flow, bro. :D

Welcome to the Marine Corps.

Whitey
12-26-07, 02:25 AM
i told my nephew today if he didn't behave i was going to make him scuzz the kitchen lol

1-1Heavygunner
12-26-07, 02:44 AM
Whitey, just wait till you have been in 2-3 years and you come home on leave and see what your old high school chums are doing. Going to college or working at BK. Me and my old buddies were inseperable back then. Now, I haven't even gotten a Christmas card from a single one, and I don't care. My Best buddy in the suck? Hell, he lives 300 miles away. We've been out 9 years, and we have never missed a year getting together and we talk on the phone every month or so.
My parents, I love more than ever. Buy your Mother a "Proud Marine Mom" sweatshirt and let her be proud of you and be proud your mother cares. Don't sweat civilians. You can't fix them and they aint going away. You are a Marine 24/7 of course, but on leave, you can relax a little. When you get to MCT and MOS school, your instructors will gradually give you more personal time and respect. By the time you get to the fleet, you'll have lots of freedom to go wild and consume copious quantities of adult beverages. But, you'll have "Senior Lance Corporals" who may make your life miserable because it was done to them. The fleet can be trying for a year or 2, but do your job, do your MCI's and get promoted and enjoy it. You'll want it back when your out. Semper Fi, brother.

capmarine
12-26-07, 03:10 PM
i still have problems today,the war and such.you will loosen up and not be so uptight.let your family members know what you did in bootcamp,talk to them about that and your future in the Corps.bring them into "your" world.they are not the enemy or outsiders.

Apache
12-26-07, 03:37 PM
Adjust-Adapt-Overcome-
Those who know not cannot be held to your standards.
As long as a life is not in danger or your mission impeeded roll with it.

If one of the above happens-do what ya gotta Marine

rayh
12-26-07, 09:04 PM
October 1957 My first meal at home after boot camp with the whole family
including my WW2 Marine father, I made the mistake of asking my kid brother
to pass the F###ing butter well my mother looked at me and asked what did you say? and my father in a very soft voice said I think somebody better
pass that Marine the F###ing butter. Every one cracked up including my mother who made the remark she had another Marine she had to put up with.

davblay
12-26-07, 09:25 PM
This all falls under the "HOW YOU GONNA ACT" syndrome! All of us Viet Nam Veterans know what I mean! ;)

Semper Fi

Dave

Sgt Leprechaun
12-26-07, 10:23 PM
LOL. BTDT, and got the T-shirt for sure.

You will ALWAYS, as my former Marine wife says..."Scare the straights".

Something you'll have to deal with the rest of your life, but it's a good thing. Don't worry, you'll eventually learn to deal with it, and just remember, they have not a clue what you are, what you've done, or where you've been.

That's why all of US are here....esp those of us that aren't around that many Marines anymore...

Welcome to the Big Green Gun Club!

Achped
12-27-07, 12:23 AM
Hahaha! That's funny! :thumbup:


October 1957 My first meal at home after boot camp with the whole family
including my WW2 Marine father, I made the mistake of asking my kid brother
to pass the F###ing butter well my mother looked at me and asked what did you say? and my father in a very soft voice said I think somebody better
pass that Marine the F###ing butter. Every one cracked up including my mother who made the remark she had another Marine she had to put up with.

Big Jim
12-27-07, 12:49 AM
I've helped at least a dozen people transition from Marine Corps life to civilian life. Now, THAT is a huge adjustment! Most people there have the same issue you're having though on how to act around civilians. Some are scared into "culture shock," but most are happy to be out and leading a "normal" life again. But, one thing for sure, it does take some adjustment. Just like all the advice you got from all these fine Marines here...just be patient and have the understanding they are civilians and you are a Marine!! There IS a difference, They don't know what you are priviledged to know. Its always best to pratice OPSEC, Operation Security and try not to have them understand what you are doing. that way you're sure to stay out of the limelight and out of trouble!! Good luck!

Christ0ph
12-28-07, 09:57 PM
Hey when you get to the Fleet you'll realize how much of bootcamp was straight up BS.