stuff

[Lorix]

I just want to know about stuff, like how's laundry done in boot, or what's for chow, how does it taste, etc.?

[Master Sephiroth]

Everything will be revealed when you arrive on the Island

[jenrmurray]

Laundry is done quietly... at night. Cammies are sent out, though (on Parris Island, at least).

I don't want to ruin anymore surprises, though. haha

[Future-USMC-LT]

Sent out? BTW, do we keep the utilities and boots or do we have to buy our own after graduation? As for chow, several officer candidates have told me that the chow at OCS was pretty good, so I'm guessing it's just as good at both MCRDs.

[LivinSoFree]

Cammies get done in the base laundry- "team weekers" staff it along with civvie contractors. The reason for this because cammies have to get washed with special detergents that don't have optical brighteners in them- which most commercially available detergents do. If you wash your cammies in that stuff, it will show up like a freakin' neon sign under NVGs/Thermals.

Your PT gear and such, however- that's done in the squadbay by firewatch. Here's a tip- make SURE that firewatch keeps track of who's getting what at night. What tends to happen, because each recruit is only on firewatch for an hour or two at a time, is that they'll forget to change the loads and where they started passing out PT gear- so the recruits at the front end of the squadbay will end up with a ****load of PT gear, and the ones down at the far end will end up with nothing at all... and that's just more mess to straighten out.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL! It never fails to be important

As for the chow, yes, it's repetitive, but it is good. Chilimac was my personal favorite.

Yes, you will keep your issued cammies/boots. Here's another tip- if you need ANYTHING: cammies, boots, green t-shirts, etc. BUY THEM AT CASH SALES BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE DEPOT: They stock uniforms, boots, etc. there that have come off of "washouts." Boots that were barely worn, cammies that got issued and never used, etc., and it's all DIRT CHEAP. Pick up an extra set of deserts, if you can, and keep them for inspections, 'cause your two sets of issue deserts will be JACKED UP from the range, BTW, and Crucible. An extra set of green cammies is nice too, 'cause they won't have that "recruit funk" in them.

[lprkn]

Hmm, never heard of the farming out of the laundry. At San Diego we did it all ourselves.

FYI - MARPAT cammies are not treated for any kind of reduced visibility. That would require SDN (Solution Dyed Nylon) or EP (Enhanced Polymer), which is too expensive to put on cammies. However, the new flacks that some Marines have been testing in Iraq do have reduced visibility treatments on them.

That whole "invisible to NVGs/thermals" thing is a another one of those myths that seem to get retold and retold throughout the Corps, like Mr. Rogers being a scout/sniper, etc.

[0300poolee]

What was he, Lance Corporal lprkn?

[Kaziganthi]

Isn't laundry duty given as punishment to recruits? I'm just curious...

[jay2120]

no it's not given as punishment everyone has to do it. You usually do it on sundays or firewatch does it at night

[jay2120]

Oh and the chow isn't bad but thats because you are so hungry you would eat anything. It's all very healthy for you and besides you don't have time to taste your food just to eat it. Believe me laundry and chow should be the least of your worries just get your mind set right and by the second week everything is repetitive you'll just know when to get your things done.

[LivinSoFree]

lprkn- It's not that the cammies are treated for "special" reduced visibility under low light/NVG conditions, it's that the UV brighteners in the detergents make them MORE visible. Basically it's the same idea as wearing a white t-shirt under a blacklight- the brighteners reflect certain spectrums of light more profoundly, which cause your clothes to be brighter. This is generally a good thing, however, when you're under NVGs, it causes you to be more visible.

Check the care labels/MCO on uniform care, it'll tell you there not to use detergents with optical brighteners for your cammies.

For fun, see if you can borrow a pair of NVGs when you go on your next field ex. You should be able to tell the difference. Additionally, if a Marine is properly camoed up (paint/boonie, not a lot of extra gear) and laid in right, he's almost invisible under NVGs at any sort of a distance outside of 10 or 20 meters... the pattern we have now is, in fact, superior to the old poplin utilities...

If you want to see image comparisons of some various gear and patterns (and it's actually good education- shows you what your gear looks like to the enemy), check out this link. Read the story about the MARPAT development too, it's good training

http://www.militarymorons.com/misc/misc.html

[lprkn]

Ok, I see what you're saying. Just read the label. When I was in boot camp, I was never told about that. We just washed ours with Tide or whatever.

0300poolee, Mr. Rogers ran a television show for many years called 'Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.' Sure you heard of it. There's a persistent myth that he was in Vietnam and was a sniper, and that he always wore those cardigan sweaters to hide his crazy tattoos. It's all a load of bull. Fred Rogers was never even in the military. He went straight from high school to college, and from college to seminary. He was a Presbyterian minister his entire life.