Hardest/Worst Part of Boot Camp (newer Marines//Cruible)
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  1. #1

    Hardest/Worst Part of Boot Camp (newer Marines//Cruible)

    What was harder, if you had to choose between the Crucible or Gas Chamber? As far as boot camp mentally, how was it?

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  2. #2
    USMC 2571
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    Good question. Your third thread, and all are good.....I can't definitively comment re the Crucible, because it wasn't even around til around 1996 (?) or so.

    The gas chamber is over rather quickly. I would pick the Crucible as the toughest of the two, from what I've read.

    Boot camp, mentally and physically, in 1963, was shocking, more so for the first three weeks but in actuality for the whole 13 weeks. There are probably some ill-informed young-uns who might say current boot camp is tougher, but I wouldn't put money on that.


  3. #3
    USMC 2571
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    (I know this will be irrelevant to you, about to join up in 2014, but if you ever see the movie with Jack Webb called The D.I., a 1957 movie, add physical contact between DIs and recruits along with swearing, and you have a 100% accurate picture of boot camp back then. But I know you're more interested in boot camp nowadays, naturally)---Full Metal Jacket is accurate too, the boot camp part, except that the physical contact part was done 50 times more often in my era.


  4. #4
    How could I prepared myself mentally for Boot Camp? That's what I'm more concerned about. I'm physically fit; my results on the PFT in my JROTC class last week great (65 push-ups in 1 minute, 72 sit-ups in 1 minute, 5:53 Mile) and I'm only getting stronger and faster with PT every morning.


  5. #5
    USMC 2571
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    Well, everyone will tell you to give it 100%. That sounds corny, and in fact is corny, but it's also the truth. They expect you to give 100%, so make up your mind to do that, instant and unquestioning obedience to orders is paramount, and is one of the chief reasons of even HAVING boot camp. So just mentally prepare by realizing that the two MCRDs are there to make Marines out of civilians and they don't have a lot of time to do this, so it is necessarily tough and intimidating, but with a good positive attitude, you will not only get through it but will excel. But you can mentally prepare yourself for the worst, and anything less than the very worst will seem easier. More on this later, but for now, that's my initial reaction to your question.


  6. #6
    So I've read Drill Instructors aren't allowed to use physical contact nor swear at the recruits anymore but I know that's not true from what I've heard from "Boot" Marines that just graduated. I know it's not as bad as it use to, but you'll still get a boot to your chest in a heartbeat if needed from what I've been told. So how physical do the DI's get these days?


  7. #7
    USMC 2571
    Guest Free Member
    (Who knows? That's better discussed via PM.....one of the reasons is that this section is monitored by the Marine Corps Recruiting Service and they in fact pay for this section, so stuff like that that is controversial etc should be done by PM, but you didn't know this, and neither did I til two years ago. No one mentioned it to any of us. We discovered it on our own.)


  8. #8
    USMC 2571
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    I asked a friend of mine, littlegraybook, to take a look at this thread. One of the most squared away Marines I've met, so any advice he gives will be right on target.


  9. #9
    Hey FutureRecruit17,

    To answer your question about preparing mentally for bootcamp, here's what I remember from my bootcamp back in 2011:

    During our last week in Bootcamp (Marine Week), we had a Vietnam War Veteran come to speak to us. He spoke vividly about being a POW and the hardship he endured. Afterwards, my Drill Instructor reminded us that his story was precisely why we (recruits) were treated with such disrespect and unfairness. So to answer your question, prepare yourself to be a POW. Prepare to be treated like garbage but never let that mess with your head. Prepare to respond with speed and volume to every order issued. Most importantly, do not expect kindness, fairness, or decency from your Drill Instructors. Erase your mind of rumors you hear from outside Bootcamp about DIs can't do this or that. Just walk in with your head held high and imagine yourself as a stone-cold killing robot, ready for every order at any moment's notice.


  10. #10
    Thanks, Littlegraybook. That pretty much answered all I had about that question and being prepared.


  11. #11
    josephd
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    Boot camp is not hard physically if you are already in decent shape, it is mentally exhausting though which makes you think its harder physically than it really is.

    The Crucible is harder than gas chamber by far......The Crucible is almost 3 days straight of humping around carrying out various mock missions/tasks....the gas chamber is a quick 10 minutes of having your sinus' cleared

    MCT/SOI is much harder physically than bootcamp, as is MOS school(was for me anyway)


  12. #12
    I agree with Littlegraybook post #9, and for Me, being away from My Young New Bride... We were only 18 & 19 if You know what I mean !


  13. #13
    USMC 2571
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    On a side note, I'm amazed they don't ship folks straight to MCT from boot camp while they are still motivated. I had two PMs last year from newly minted Marines worried that they would lose motivation while at home between boot camp and MCT. In my humble and out of date by 50 years opinion, why be sent home to relax when you're already in the right frame of mind-----in my era we had 13 weeks of boot camp then straight to ITR (our equivalent of MCT) by nonstop bus for another 6 weeks of training, THEN home on leave for 10 days then MOS school.


  14. #14
    Marine Free Member m14ed's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by USMC2571 View Post

    On a side note,
    I'm amazed they don't ship folks straight to MCT
    from boot camp while they are still motivated.

    I had two PMs last year from newly minted Marines
    worried that they would lose motivation while at home
    between boot camp and MCT.

    In my humble and out of date by 50 years opinion,
    why be sent home to relax
    when you're already in the right frame of mind

    -----in my era we had 13 weeks of boot camp
    then straight to ITR (our equivalent of MCT)
    by nonstop bus for another 6 weeks of training,

    THEN home on leave for 10 days then MOS school.
    OH, the "Good Old Days".......
    What did our Corps do to screw this
    PROVEN method for training Recruits
    and New Marines ???????

    Listened too much to the
    "MOTHERS OF AMERICA"
    I betcha...




  15. #15
    USMC 2571
    Guest Free Member
    hahahaha, true......as many have said, as society goes, so goes the Marine Corps, at a slower rate, that is, as society changes, so does the Corps, as is inevitable, but we change at a much slower pace. Anyway, M14ed is right, and look at the MOS situation, where people are wondering when they're 13 years old what MOS they will get if they are taken into the Corps. We had our MOS given to us, no choice, based on Classification Tests in boot camp plus the ever present "needs of the Corps". Of course, this was back when they had phone booths to call home from, and no cell phones, so we are becoming more dinosaur and Neanderthal-like as the days and weeks go by. But, yes, ah for the good old days.


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