Boot Camp Then and These Days?

[joseywales]

My sons friend from high school, recently graduated from Marine boot camp. He was telling us how he had always heard older Marines talk about how hard phy. and mentally thier bootcamp was. How ever he said it must have really changed, because he said high school football practice was harder. He told my son Troy that his sister could have aced it. I dont know about today, but in my time bootcamp was a bruiser, even for the phy. fit. I cant see a woman getting through the bootcamp in my day. It must really be more like a toned down training exercise now

[the802]

Having just graduated a month ago, I can tell you that physically, it's a cake walk. They leave the physique up to the individual Marine these days...Having said that, and with Mothers of America taking away alot of what the DI's can do, they have become creative..the DI's that is. They are finding new and creative ways to mess with recruits. It's still the same training as always, just without the PT.

[Marine1011]

There are young folks nowadays who say PI and SD boot camps were easy, just like the person the original poster talked with. I don't think the Corps is the same Corps, if we're gonna go all soft on the recruits.

[civgrunt05]

I've been complaining about the quality of our boot drops for a couple years now and saying that the Corps isn't doing what it once did to indoctrinate young men.

I'm in a reserve 03 unit, and here's the synopsis of the last 5 Marines we've gotten in:

Marine 1: High quality.
Marine 2: Late his first drill, still intoxicated from night prior. Fell out of hump his second drill. Harder to get ahold of to tell him to do "between drill" taks like update some MOL BS.
Marine 3: Late his first drill.
Marine 4: Could give only 4 of his general orders his first drill, was late to formation his second drill.
Marine 5: Showed up his first drill, the "D" word came up and he was UA his second drill. Won't return ANY phone calls and removed Corps related info from his facebook page.

Even outside of that, the others that have shown up before them weren't scared of anything. When I came to my unit in 2005 my buddy and I were scared of everyone because we had been thrashed so much in bootcamp and SOI. I got NERVOUS when an NCO spoke to me because in boot and SOI they were usually yelling at us or punishing us.

I've thought about writing a few anonymous "what the .....heck?!" letters to senior Marines at the recruit depots.

I spend a lot more time then my NCOs did trying to spin up a Marine to the way he should be versus focusing on training.

[BauerBrat]

Haskins I got you by about 12 years. Boot for me was really tough. Back then them D.I's would thump you good and you had to take it or look at serious brig time. Don't rememberr much about the PT training I just remember we never got much rest

Can't say much about today's Corps except what I read on here. If the young Marine who posted said it was easy then I have to believe him

[Baker1971]

What amazes me is that boots are not even scared during boot camp!

[Old Marine]

When I retired in 1973, I went to work on MCRD, SD as a civilian and used to see many Recruits on graduation day. The Corps was changing then and had really changed by the time I left my civilian job on the base 13 years later.

By now, I'm betting that it has really changed and not for the better. It is a shame, but it is what it is.

[Marine1011]

The direction we're headed, reckon the whole thing might all be done online someday?
I can see it now "Log In To Continue Training".

[Mongoose]

I dont have any thing I can compare my bootcamp to, since I only went through it once. I can only go by what a lot of Marines today say. Most Ive heard say its a snap. Not so in my day. Besides a lot of phy. hands on by he D.I.s it was both mentally and phy, a living nightmare.

[civgrunt05]

The direction we're headed, reckon the whole thing might all be done online someday?
I can see it now "Log In To Continue Training".

It's funny you mention that. If the other NCOs and I are talking about some particularly crappy Marine we often say something like "PFC Smucatellee better get his head out of his ass" -- "Yeah, that mofo must have gone to bootcamp online."

[PJones64]

A distinguished guy from another branch of the military just told me that it could be like the University of Phoenix, I don't know if this would work or not.
And we could privatize the boot camp system, so Boot Camp Incorporated would run it.

I can see it now, a BA in Boot Camp. All online.

And as long as boots are not afraid at all, might as well tone down the DIs to where they would be called Recruit Friends.

[civgrunt05]

I dont have any thing I can compare my bootcamp to, since I only went through it once. I can only go by what a lot of Marines today say. Most Ive heard say its a snap. Not so in my day. Besides a lot of phy. hands on by he D.I.s it was both mentally and phy, a living nightmare.

I'm sure it was pretty hellish back in the day, but I can tell you as far back as 2005 a recruit that got aggressive got a gang whooping from some DIs and sent to the hospital. We had one get his eyebrow gashed getting pushed into the hatch, faces were grabbed and moonbeams were shoved down throats when recruits didn't sound off, stuff was thrown at us, your fingers got bent up whenever they weren't curled tightly at attention, you could expect to get pushed around if you got too close to a DI, you were sometimes quarter decked and pitted until you passed out.

When I went to SOI we were hazed up pretty well too. Much of the time we were referred to as "pigs" instead of "Marines" there. We'd field day all freaking night much of the time. I remember one combat instructor pouring sugar all in a Marine's fighting hole during defense week. If we didn't do something right, we did it over, and over, and over again.

I have some buddies who weren't 03 trained because they were in before my unit changed over to infantry. They went to SOI recently and said that it was a joke. They said MCT was harder back in 04/05 with the females and that a lot of times they'd "correct" some of the boots and the combat instructors would come to them and say "Hey man, you really can't do that kind of thing here."

[joseywales]

Then why do so many of today's Marines act like they went through a real boot camp? That one is tough to figure out.

[Marine1011]

Well, I just hope no young uns come on here telling us how bad boot was, cause now we know for sure that it's now a cake walk.

[DrZ]

Please don't tell me that my Marine Corps turned into a kinder, gentler place!!!

Our DIs were tough and hard as nails....and would not pass up the chance to kick the crap out of any recruit who screwed up.

The mothers of America need to leave the Corps alone and let it revert back to what it was. The training, while tough, saves lives... and I will believe that to the day I die.