My Boot Camp Experience

[MrRobert]

Hey everybody I'm back!

So this is more or less my run down for you disgusting civillians who are gross and want to become un gross by say coming to boot camp.

I ended up taking a bus to PI from FT. Meade. I was none to happy about that but it actually wasn't to bad. I ended up talking it up with this female recruit Chadwick and we had ourselves a good time up until we hit the yellow footprints.

Recieving was laid back and chill. Our platoon's recieving DI was drill instructor SSGT Salcedo. He was without a doubt hilarious. His last words to us before he transferred us to our training di's was "think happy thoughts."

Lol.

Recieving is like walking around and getting stuff. You walk, you wait, you get your trash. You eat box chow. That more or less sums it up. You have your moment of truth. Whatever, no big deal. Don't lie, be honest. Oh yeah, you have your IST. We lost 3 recruits because of the IST. If you fail the IST you are GROSS! Seriously, you are gross, disgusting, and you need pain in your body.

Side note-You get your rack during receiving. If you get a rack by the front hatch learn what to say when certain personel come on deck, i.e. Company Commander, Series Commander. If you know what to say when people come on deck it will make you look good. If you just look at the officer of the day when he walks in you will get crushed. It's not hard, read the post on the bulkhead. Memorize it, thank me later.

Forming. Forming is without a doubt the worst time you will have in boot camp. It is also were you will see some of the funniest things in boot camp. I will not go into to detail with some of the things I saw or what actually occured to me, but forming is rough. Also, if you can do it, do whatever you can to not get firewatch first or last. Wow, I seriously thought they were killing small children during that.

Phase 1. Now I really don't remember much from phase 1. I came down with bronchitis and tried to be tough and impress our DI's and refuse bed rest. Sigh. All phase 1 is if I remember correctly is PT, RTF, and MCNAP. DO NOT FALL ASLEEP IN RTF, I REPEAT, DO NOT FALL ASLEEP IN RTF. Also, DO NOT WRITE LETTERS IN RTF. It sounds simple, but some idiot will always falls alseep or gets caught writing letters. If the person next to you is doing either, do the right thing and stop it.

Side note-Come into boot camp in shape. Seriously, I've read posts here about poolees doing 20 some odd pull ups, running every day. Whatever. Our platoon won mid cycle PFT, and we got *****d out of winning final PFT. We were most likely the strongest platoon in Hotel company. Regardless we had like 5 who could pull dubs at the start of the cycle. PT your ass off pre boot camp.It will set you apart from other recruits and land you a billet.

Phase 2-Names on the cammies. This was a high point for me. That and blousing ones boots. I dunno how to explain it, but these little things make your day as a recruit. Take pride in your uniform, button your pockets, ip your uniform. Carry cuticle scissors in your left breast pocket wrapped up in your glow belt so you can look sharp and not poke yourself. Rifle range. pay attention and listen to your coaches. If you do well it will help you get promoted. You also have mid cycle PFT at this time.

Side note-I'm not sure if the gas chamber is the end of first phase or the start of second phase but since it was one of my favorite events I'll talk about it. Best advice I can give you is stay calm. Seriously in fact staying calm is the key to boot camp. If you panic you will fail. You will fail at swim qual, you will fail at rifle range, you will fail at prac app. Just take deep breathes and think. It's much easier to follow simple instructions while taking deep breathes and relaxing then it is when you are breathing fast and freaking out. So yeah back to the gas chamber. They will say keep your eyes closed while breaking the seal. Don't. It stinks a bit but the enjoyment of watching everyone freak out is awesome. We had a kid make a break for it and he got crushed. It was awesome. Also breath through your nose, for some odd reason it made the effects of the gas easier on my lungs. You will come out coughing and have snot running out of your nose. It's fun it's great.

Third phase. Um you have the crucible, final PFT, prac app, and final knowledge. Plus some inspection, heh. Relax. You will stress out, but you shouldn't. IT'S ALL ABOUT CONFIDENCE AND BEARING MAN. I got so pumped up for the Battalion Commanders inspection during inspection arms for the DI I broke my weapon. Now I was never the best at rifle manual so this moment for me was maybe one of the proudest moments I had at boot camp. The DI actually smiled and called me a beast.

Random advice-Hydrate. We had a kid dropped because of dehydration. I personally saw two recruits get their "core tempature" taken. Wow, that is gross. When you do the CFT, put out 100%. You will most likely vomit. It's awesome. Ration your MRE's during the crucible. Leave yourself a main course to eat before the final hump back.

Random things-Some recruit peed themselves during intial drill. We had a recruit poop himself during mid cycle PFT. Also something inspirational. A recruit broke his hip halfway through the 3 mile run and still completed it under 22 minutes. He crawled past the finish line. That is awesome.

My final group of drill instructors were SDI SSGT Glenn, DI SSGT Graville, and DI Sergeant Peterson. Out of all of them and I love those three dearly, if I could be half the Marine DI SSGT Graville is I believe I could change the world. He is what a Marine should be.

Hopefully I should have some pictures up today or tomorrow.

Pvt. Gilbertz
PLT. 2028
2nd RTBN
Hotel Company

Also can someone please make me a Marine now inmy profile!

[GavinL91]

Good read Marine.I hope to be going to PI soon,and this gives me an idea.I love threads like this.

Sticky,Sticky,Sticky!!!!!

[Frankf5]

Thanks for the advice. Very motivational

[sparkie]

OUT FRIGGIN STANDING,,,,,Marine...... Enjoy your time off and get ready to take the hill,,,,,

[commdog7]

That's some good info for all the poolees looking to ship.

I have just one question, how the hell did a recruit break his hip on the run? I can understand breaking his knee or foot or something, but his HIP? Wow, he must have been an old man....

[JWG]

Great post, MARINE. Thank you, welcome back and enjoy your leave!

[MrRobert]

That's some good info for all the poolees looking to ship.

I have just one question, how the hell did a recruit break his hip on the run? I can understand breaking his knee or foot or something, but his HIP? Wow, he must have been an old man....

I'm not sure if it's always been this way, but there are a ton of pot holes on the road where you run. From what I'm told he slipped in a pot hole and landed on his side. The hip went snap.

[boblasek]

What is the "moment of truth" you are talking about in receiving?

[commdog7]

They really should fill in those pot holes.

The moment of truth is the opportunity for new recruits to confess anything which they did not disclose to MEPS. Things such as criminal/medical history that they hid when signing, really should be explained at the moment of truth, otherwise it is considered fraudulent enlistment and you can be punished under the UCMJ.

[HighRollerII]

good job man glad to see you make it -- i was in 2024 but got dropped in the beginning and was sent to STC in MRP for about two months. Got discharged and sent home for medical reasons. Congrats to the max!!!

[slug]

You must have had a tough time if you can't remember half of boot.

[Zulu 36]

That's some good info for all the poolees looking to ship.

I have just one question, how the hell did a recruit break his hip on the run? I can understand breaking his knee or foot or something, but his HIP? Wow, he must have been an old man....

Hey, who you calling old?

[Siggs]

That's some good info for all the poolees looking to ship.

I have just one question, how the hell did a recruit break his hip on the run? I can understand breaking his knee or foot or something, but his HIP? Wow, he must have been an old man....

It was a recruit in my platoon, 2025. It was actually his femur (biggest bone in the body). He broke it on a fall or something like that and yes he did complete the run in around the 22 minute mark. Amazing imo...

[thablizzit]

Am I the only one that thinks they inject some type of sleeping gas into the air during RTF classes? I'm not the type to fall asleep in class but DAMN!!

[degenerate138]

Please, I'm pretty sure 2024 won final PFT fair and square. We ****ing did DE's pretty much every day and PT'd our free time away every night. So don't say you got screwed out of final PFT because we worked day and night to win that ****.

Also, I was sitting next to a couple guys from your platoon during crunches, and they were integrity violators. Kid wasn't even doing half a crunch and his buddy was counting them. So don't act like your platoon was the shiznit and deserved to win the PFT. We were trained to do all that shiat the right way.