I Got The First Letter From My Son

[miclash1]

It has been 16 days since my son left for boot camp. I just recieved the first letter from him. It was short, and to the point. The ironic thing is he called me his hero, when in fact he is my hero. I am not half the man he is becoming. He's never said that to me before, and when I read that it brought tears to my eyes. He told me not to worry about him, cuz time is flying by....lol imagine that!

There is only one thing I didnt understand. At the end of the letter, he says he got put into the "pit" twice already and that it aint that bad...

What is the pit? The only thing I can think of is that it is where they spar martial arts, or that he got into some trouble and the pit is some sort of punishment. Could someone clerify this for me?

!!!

[GySgtRet]

Thank you for raising a son that is not selfish. I would like to thank him personnaly but, he is at recruit training. The PIT...!!! When I went through it was because of a number of things. Not that a recruit does anything wrong or incorrectly. It could be that it is incentive PT (Incentive Physical Training) as an example of how to do things correctly. We had a pit but the Drill Instructors didn't use it much they would PT or IPT us on the spot.

The PIT is a box with sand in it that when you do the IPT you get covered in sand from the sweat, it kind of gives the incentive of not wanting to go back there for any reason what so ever again. If yourt probably isn't son states it isn't that bad then isn't. The 16 days that it took to get your first letter is not unusual at all. The recruits are very busy, just write to him everyday if you can. He may not get all of your mail because of the volume that the MCRDs recieve on a daily basis.

I hope this answers all of your questions. If you have more please do not hesitate to ask any Marine on the site.

[Osotogary]

miclash1,
Good news about getting the letter from your son.
The pit?
My son said that he visited the pit on numerous occasions. It wasn't because he did anything wrong or of concern himself but more because someone in his area of responsibility slipped up. That's the name of that tune and I believe the good Gunnery Sergeant Retired would agree with me. "S" sometimes happens for a reason
All the best to your son and his quest. Take care of yourself.
Gary

[Chumley]

My platoon spent many early mornings in the pit. It's a sandbox big enough to hold a platoon of recruits, and going there is part of the training day...at least for our platoon it was. Consider that it's actually a little better on the body to do ground exercises in sand rather than say concrete or asphalt. And it's tougher than the grass. The pit is a character builder!! (:

Good luck to your son!!!
C

[miclash1]

thanks guys.... i do appreciate all the answers you provide. i most likely will have more in the near future.

[Marine84]

The pit is a character builder!!

LOL! I know that's right!

[Messenger]

THE PIT, as described, is a very large sandbox where Drill Instructors may have as many as the entire platoon do an escalated workout. The workout gets you tired and dirty very fast. Most recruits will spend a great deal of time in the PIT during their first phase of training ( about one month). Its all about building them up physically, working as a team and building character.
.
At first most recruits look at the PIT as being the one area they wish to avoid over all other areas but as training goes on and their physical fitness is increased to Marine standards, the PIT tends to loose its foreboding imagery and most recruits laugh at it and in many ways dare the DI’s to take them there LOL!
.
Imagine being at a level of physical fitness that surpasses most professional athletes. Now imagine the effectiveness of a threat saying that if you mess up, we will make you work out for ten minutes. They wont literally laugh at the DI’s but they will have a really big internal grin because they know it would be unlikely that they could even break a sweat at that point.
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Sixteen days for a letter seems about right. The first week of boot camp is extremely overwhelming for all recruits and somehow the second week is even worse as this is the first week spent with your training DI’s (AKA Hell Week). I went to boot camp about 21 years ago but I tend to believe it was about the end of the second week and starting of the third week that I to found a few minutes to write my first letter.

[TMann]

Both of my sons (twins) are Marines. Having been to PI twice this year for graduation I have seen the PITs. One of my sons was a Squad Leader. If the squads screwed up then all of the Squad Leaders took an "island tour" of all the PITS. It goes without saying that such "tours" were a motivational tool to square away ones squad.

[latinlady]

yea i remember when u wrote my first letter home, i appreciated my parents like i never have before!

[USMCDrippin]

The letters are short and our recruit is obviously becoming a stronger man. We have a sense of pride in knowing they are removing the child and replacing the void with a motivated man and women Marine. I had some reservations... not anymore.

God Bless you all and we pray for your recruits, Marines and parents.

[jrhd97]

Sometimes the platoon gets "pitted" just because the D.I is bored

[Big Jim]

"YOU WANNA SCREW AROUND ON THE PARADE DECK OR ENBARASS ME AND YOURSELF?!?! JUST FRIGGIN BEND, BEGIN!!!!!!!! TOO SLOW GET BACK....PUSH-UPS, SIT-UPS.....TOO SLOW....MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS...PUSH-UPS...GET BACK...YOU LADIES ARE ****IN ME OFF!!! JUST THROW THE SAND IN THE AIR...ITS RAININ...ITS POURIN!!!!"

Believe me, even just 10 minutes of this will motivate ANYONE to do whatever that Drill Instructor wants you to do!! When it was just 10 minutes we were lucky...usually it was more like 20 or 30 minutes sometimes more up to an hour til we were sucking buttermilk!!! But we learned by God...we learned!!! Just like your son will, everyone goes through it as a rite of passage.

[Dannycanterberr]

Out Of Our Series We Were Called The Pit Platoon.may-5 To July-30 82 We Were Plt. 1043 It Seemed Like Ever Pit We Passed If There Was 3 Min. To Spare We Was In The Pit.towards The End We Were Asking To Go To To Pit, But We Won All Pft's Drill, Range And All. I Overheard One Di Say To Another These Are Some Cock Strong Sons Of ******* Oorah! Tell Your Son Its All For His Own Good

[latinlady]

o trust me thats nothing, i remember we ****ed of our senior so bad one time that she took us "island hopping" which means we took a stop at every sand pit we passed

[sharma]

I remember my sons first letter home from boot. that was just a little over a year now. he's on his first deployment now. he's floating somewhere on the USS Cleveland. I just got my first E-mail from him since he left and man there aint nothing better. I"m anxiously awaiting my first phone call from him. I was hoping it would have been thanksgiving but it wasn't. i've got two international phone cards on the way to him. How long does it take to get mail to them when they are on a ship anyhow?