Recruit Training Survival Tips - Page 11
Create Post
Page 11 of 14 FirstFirst ... 7891011121314 LastLast
Results 151 to 165 of 200
  1. #151
    I agree with Zulu 39 about the terminology. It goes a long way and if you don't get used to it in 13 weeks, it'll earn you a trip to the Dirt or Quarterdeck. It depends on your team of Drill Instructors if they want to take you to the Quarterdeck, but some Drill Instructors love playing with you in the Dirt.

    Personally, I preferred the Quarterdeck than the Dirt because you don't get dust and debris kicked up while you're doing mountain climbers. I'd rather get slayed on the Quarterdeck if I had a choice, but you don't because that's how our Corps works.

    Have fun!


  2. #152
    I just copy pasted this into a word doc so I can save it, thank you very much for writing this nelson


  3. #153
    Use common sense. My DI said it all the time, its like people get to PI and lose all their common sense. Don't think things through so much, just do. Get use to the screaming and playing of games as quick as you can. Mark everything, i mean everything. Volunteer for stuff, trust me. It makes it go by a lot faster, and beats just standing there. And if you do good, your DI will begin to like you...just a little though, haha. If you make it to the rifle range, you'll be doing good. After that your DIs will actually start to talk to you, joke around a little bit, well mine did a little. Don't take that as its done though, we got hazed the worst during that time.


  4. #154
    I want to think all the Marines who gave us poolees these tips, I'll keep them all to mind especially the shut the hell up part. Thank you for your help look fowared to learning more from all of you Marines before I head off to RT.


  5. #155
    Whats up i was just wondering how much do you guys run for PT everyday...jus wonderin so i know if i need to run more everyday?


  6. #156
    Quote Originally Posted by jinelson View Post
    I have taken the thread below by PerXes originally posted in Poolee Hall and removed the comments. These are the best and latest recruit training survival suggestions that I am aware of and will be of great help for those about to ship for one of the MCRD's. OORAH!!! Jim

    Boot Camp Observations by Pfc Rob Jones USMC

    When I was a poolee, I was always concerned with what I liked to call the "little stuff." Like head calls, and the everyday things. Well, I went and found out first hand, and I will now pass the info on to you. Most of you will pick a lot of this info up, or be told it by your DI's, but it doesn't hurt to know ahead of time.

    1. Head Calls. When I was at RT, I accomplished more unfathomable feats of the bladder than I ever imagined I could. I'm talking about REALLY having to go, and then holding it for another hour or two. So if I can do it, you can too. Not that asking to make a head call isn't allowed, but you have to be smart about it. If you're platoon is in the middle of something, you'll only be holding them up, which is lame. Drill, for example. If you're out there drilling, the platoon has to wait on you while they could be tightening up Present Arms from Left Shoulder Arms. You've all gotten used to the ability to go whenever you want. Trust me, you CAN hold it. On the other side of the fence, though, if you do know you're going to **** yourself, you might want to ask. Another thing: don't be too shy to get really close to the guy next to you, cause when you only have 30 seconds, that giddy stuff goes right out the window.

    2. Hygiene. Obviously a very important thing that recruits don't get a lot of time to do. 120 seconds to shower, 120 seconds to shave/brush your teeth, while 75 other recruits are all trying to do the same thing...it's tricky. Here's what I did: usually it would only be half the platoon in there at a time. The DI says, "Port side shower up, Starboard side scuzz em up(your boots)." So, Port side rushes in. Here's where you can get ahead: freaking GO FAST. There are only a few sinks, and a lot of people just slime in there. Get in there and get to a dang sink. My advice is: shave/teeth first. Most of the time, there is a huge rush to the shower, and there are plenty of sinks open. Thus, if you go fast at shaving and brushing, you can get in the changeover line quick, and get your own shower too. Just because it's "your" shower doesn't mean you shouldn't let the guy next to you rinse off while you soap up though...gotta look out for eachother. Another thing I suggest is not using shaving cream. I found it to be a huge waste of time, since I could get plenty close without it, and it kept the sink a lot cleaner. In the shower, you don't have time to wash everything, so MAKE SURE you wash all your cuts and rashes first, then wash the areas where skin contacts skin(behind the knees, armpits, elbows, etc), then on from there.
    On another note for hygiene, make sure you use hand sanitizer all the time. Also, DON'T SCRATCH, you undisciplined POS! Scratching will only spread germs, and could lead to cellulitis(you don't want this, it eats your skin/muscles in the late stages). And keep your nasty hands out of your face, too. Oh, and don't cough either, nobody wants your freaking germs(you WILL get sick). And if you can't help it, cough into your damn elbow and not all over the other recruits around you.

    3. Chow. Obviously, you have little time to eat chow. Two things you should ALWAYS eat are bread and fruit. These two things are also the only things you should eat for breakfast when you have PT or a PFT. You need the carbs. Plus, some of the greasy foods they serve will dehydrate you. Speaking of dehydration, stay the hell away from milk and ESPECIALLY ice cream and the fruit juices they have. Just drink Powerade and water. Now, as far as chow goes: you'll need to pick something good, but also pick something that you can eat fast. For example, given the choice between pasta and rotisserie chicken, take the pasta, it eats much faster. One way to eat faster is to make sandwiches out of your stuff. This way you can eat your main course and your bread at the same time. And make sure you put salt on your food to avoid hyponeutremia(not enough sodium to retain your water), and thus don't become a heat case.

    4. Boot laces. No offense to any other Marines who do this, but laces that are wrapped around your boot just look nasty. Lace them left over right, pull them tight, put knots in the end, pull the loops until the knots are at the end, and tuck those babies in.

    5. In the early stages(receiving/forming) especially, but also in the later stages, it is a freaking excellent idea to make sure you know where all your trash is. When your DI says, "go back there and get your whatever and get back on line, 20, 19, 18.." and you spend 10 of those seconds trying to think about where it IS, you're screwed("oh, you want to take your own sweet time? good, face feet. We'll play this game until every recruit is on line with whatever"). Plus, it just plain made me more secure, knowing where everything was at all times.

    6. When you first get into your squadbay, you'll most likely just pick the first open rack you see, but consider this, if you can manage to somehow maneuver and choose a rack: the DIs like to talk from the middle of the squadbay. So, if you are hard of hearing, and/or want to make sure you hear what they say, you will want to position yourself in the middle. Also consider: if you're near the rear hatch on either side, you'll be able to get out faster, but if you're near the front quarter deck, you'll be able to get in the head faster, but you'll be more visible to DI's. As far as port side vs. starboard side goes, you will always do a "wagonwheel right," so if you're on port side you're near the end of the line. This is especially important for PT showers, where everyone is SUPPOSED to walk through the showers and keep going, but some retards like to stop in the shower and hold everyone up. You'll see what I'm talking about when your DI is at 30, and you haven't even made it to the rain room yet. However, if you're on Port side, at least in my platoon, you got to shower/shave first.

    7. Marking gear. You'll have to mark a lot of gear with your marking kit. Most of the time you'll mark white tape, and put clear tape over it. The problem is: if you put too much ink on your marking thing, it will become a blob when you put the clear tape over it. The two solutions are, first, you can stamp a piece of paper with your stamper until there is barely any ink on there, OR you can just color the stamper with an el marko(marker). Either one works.

    8. More on hygiene. This may be irrelevant now, since recruits are being issued MOLLY gear instead of cantenes, but make sure you keep what you drink your water out of clean. I would bleach my cantenes every Sunday. This just involved putting a drop of bleach in my full cantene and swishing it around, and then i would wash off the mouth too. I don't know if you can do this with a camelback, but i'm sure there is some way to do it. This will further help you stay healthy. If you think about it, you are sick, and you drink from a pool of stagnant water, so the germs just stay in there...you need to get rid of them.

    9. This probably isn't a good idea in the beginning, but as the cycle goes on, you will get into the swing of things, and know what your DI is about to order you to do. Thus, it can be a good idea to "get ahead," as I like to call it. For example, when we prepared for hygiene time, if I had any extra time after getting all my stuff out, I would unblouse my trousers and loosen my boots. Now, this can also get you in trouble, as it did me("did he say unblouse your trousers? Good, pick up your foot locker, hold it out in front of you. Squat. Lower, back straight.") You gotta have common sense. You can also get ahead in other ways that won't get you in trouble, such as rolling your sleeves once you get your cammies back from laundry, and making grunt rolls when you get your fresh skivvies. Use your dang free time for squaring away your trash, not writing freaking damn letters. You'll see these people in 3 months anyway.

    10. Shut the hell up. Seriously. Just shut up. Close your damn mouth and stop getting your platoon in trouble. If everyone listened to this advice, their cycle would be SO much easier. "Good, you want to talk? Did I say run your nasty fat mouths? *commence punishment*" Also, OPEN YOUR FAT MOUTH as well. Scream for your life you lazy recruit! Oh, and don't act all hurt when you get in trouble, and if you are in pain don't show it. If you are wincing and ****, your DI will just say, "NOBODY CARES! JUST DIE ALREADY! IF you're going to faint, then faint so I get to watch you bleed!" Example: sometimes for some reason, recruits would throw up after getting out of the chow hall. The DIs would simply say, "Did I tell you to throw up?" Oh yeah, and DON'T SPIT LIKE A NASTY THING. "Who just spit?" "THIS RECRUIT SIR!" "Good, pick it up. Put it in your pocket." Plus, it's just plain nasty. I swallowed more loogies than I can remember, and I'm fine, so you can do it too.

    Before I continue, I forgot something with the showers: make sure you remember where you put your trash. Personally, I would usually take one of the corners, and arrange my trash in such a way that I would be able to recognize it. You know how many times I saw people that were unable to find their stuff.

    11. The Gas Chamber. There's not much advice I can give you here besides practice holding your breath after doing 15 sidestraddle hops. The gas burns your face and your throat and eyes, but it goes away pretty quickly and really isn't that difficult to bear. Don't sweat it, and don't get freaked out by the pathetic weaklings who have to barge out of the chamber early..no discipline.

    12. CWS 3 Qualification. Easy, but there is one annoying thing. After you do the first part, you are lined up in the pool for a pretty long time. After that, you have to survival stroke for a while. Now...you've been standing around in cold water for like..half an hour and now you're swimming. Can you say TIGHT muscles? Jesus I thought my legs were falling off or something. Make sure when you're standing in that line you keep your legs loose or it'll be a painful 50 meters.

    13. Pulling Targets. Stuff can get hectic in the pits. It takes a little time to get used to it, too. But, if you and your partner organize who will do what job, it'll be really helpful. Also, there is a distinctive noise when a round goes through your target. You will be able to tell that it was your target without even looking. Not that you shouldn't look, you should always have your eyes on your target. The sound is louder than the other sounds around you, and you will hear it in BOTH ears, and it will usually kind of make your ears ring. It's different from the sounds to your right and left, because usually you only hear those in one of your ears.

    14. Hydrate. All the time. And make sure you hydrate BEFORE you need water. For example, if you have PT in the morning, you'd better drink at least 2 cantenes the night before. Don't be like Recruit Art and go down 3 times with a temperature of 107 and get sent home. Be smart. They say to drink 12-14 cantenes a day...now, that's not really possible, but the minimum of 6 is definitely reachable. There's no reason you should go down due to lack of water.
    If you weren't a Drill Instructor, you should have been, Jim.

    Damn classy signature!


  7. #157
    I've seen a few Marines on here saying that they started recruit training with X number of recruits in boot and only ended up with Y number at graduation. Is this attrition because of recruits failing different aspects of recruit training and having to roll to another platoon and graduate later, or are these recruits getting kicked out? I guess I was just wanting to know what percentage of recruits just don't make it through at all for whatever reason. Thanks for any info.


  8. #158
    Marine Platinum Member Zulu 36's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Seminole County
    Posts
    6,153
    Credits
    20,890
    Savings
    0
    Images
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by Hog Wild View Post
    I've seen a few Marines on here saying that they started recruit training with X number of recruits in boot and only ended up with Y number at graduation. Is this attrition because of recruits failing different aspects of recruit training and having to roll to another platoon and graduate later, or are these recruits getting kicked out? I guess I was just wanting to know what percentage of recruits just don't make it through at all for whatever reason. Thanks for any info.

    The different in numbers can be due to all of the above. My platoon started with about 75 - 78 and graduated 65. Of those 65, about 50 were originals.

    We dropped recruits for injuries, illness, fat farm, motivation platoon, inability to adjust, emergency leave, just about every reason to drop. We also picked up people from the fat farm, moto, sickbay, etc. We even had one intra-series transfer of a recruit into our platoon.

    When I went through, missing three training days (as a no-duty, bed rest, illness or injury, etc) was a cause for drop. Only one recruit I knew of escaped the three day rule. Me. I was bed rest sick with the flu for three days, but my drill instructors stuck up for me with the Series and Company Commander.


  9. #159
    IIRC, the drop out rate is somewhere between 12-15% I think.


  10. #160
    Quote Originally Posted by Zulu 36 View Post
    We dropped recruits for injuries, illness, fat farm...
    By fat farm are you talking about Physical Conditioning Platoon? Sorry, I'm trying to familiarize myself with military lingo.


  11. #161
    Quote Originally Posted by Hog Wild View Post
    By fat farm are you talking about Physical Conditioning Platoon? Sorry, I'm trying to familiarize myself with military lingo.
    You got it.


  12. #162
    Marine Platinum Member Zulu 36's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Seminole County
    Posts
    6,153
    Credits
    20,890
    Savings
    0
    Images
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by Hog Wild View Post
    By fat farm are you talking about Physical Conditioning Platoon? Sorry, I'm trying to familiarize myself with military lingo.
    Yep, the fat farm was PCP.

    Motivation Platoon no longer exists. If regular boot camp was miserable, Moto Platoon was hell on earth. Every nasty thing regular recruits did, Moto people did triple and more. Moto platoon people began and ended every day covered head to toe in mud. All in the name of instilling some motivation into them. It was supposed to make one happy to be in a regular platoon. Sometimes it worked. Most times it was just a Senior DI's way of getting a good crack at someone before they got thrown out.


  13. #163
    Quote Originally Posted by Zulu 36 View Post
    Yep, the fat farm was PCP.

    Motivation Platoon no longer exists. If regular boot camp was miserable, Moto Platoon was hell on earth. Every nasty thing regular recruits did, Moto people did triple and more. Moto platoon people began and ended every day covered head to toe in mud. All in the name of instilling some motivation into them. It was supposed to make one happy to be in a regular platoon. Sometimes it worked. Most times it was just a Senior DI's way of getting a good crack at someone before they got thrown out.
    They also had a lame platoon.


  14. #164
    Marine Platinum Member Zulu 36's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Seminole County
    Posts
    6,153
    Credits
    20,890
    Savings
    0
    Images
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by SGT7477 View Post
    They also had a lame platoon.
    Yeah, that one was very similar to the present Med Rehab Platoon. It was kind of funny to watch all the privates with leg injuries try to march in step while on crutches.


  15. #165
    Quote Originally Posted by Zulu 36 View Post
    Yeah, that one was very similar to the present Med Rehab Platoon. It was kind of funny to watch all the privates with leg injuries try to march in step while on crutches.
    STICKS and gimps gotta love em


Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not Create Posts
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts