Boot Camp Observations

[PerXes]

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.

Well, this is taking longer than I thought, and I have to report to my unit at 08 tomorrow, so I'll finish this up later..17 more things to go over.

[SmokeyBandit]

Thanks for the help thus far. This is extremely helpful!

[jinelson]

Welcome home Marine and welcome to the family. Also thats some good advice that I dont think has been provided here yet. Enjoy your leave you dang sure earned it bro. Ya gotta get that Pfc chevron up though you are out of uniform.

Semper Fi

Jim

[WannabeDevildog]

Thank you very much for the info, I'm sure it will come in handy once I get to MCRD.

[Shrike]

Thanks a lot, it will save many recruits from making mistakes for sure!

[RomanNose]

I know I will make mistakes in bootcamp, to tell you the truth guys I'm really scared, but not the type of scared that I don't want to do it, the type of scared that I have no idea whats coming, I hear tons of horror stories about usmc bootcamp, and wonder if any are true. I guess I just have to found out right??? Which brings on the scare in me.

[Marine84]

That's funny as hell.................I had forgotten about the mad dash to the showers - you got 6 or 8 showers and 5 minutes for 70 some odd women to get in and out of.

A few of us even tried that "helping out" thing one time and the next thing we hear "WHAT THE...........?" - needless to say we got chewed out the rest of the day but it was all good cause the ones of us that did it GOT our showers that morning. And we weren't even allowed to shave or wash our hair in the showers - we had to do it (incorporate into) our free time in the deep sinks in the laundry room.

[JWG]

PFC. Rob Jones:

Thank you for that awesome advice for us Poolees and Wannabe's!


Motivated,

-Jon

[Static_Sky25]

there are 6-8 "****ers", 10-12 "facebowls", 7-9 "heads" (for sit downs) and 5 spigots per "raintree" 4 trees in the "rainroom" my squads fieldday duties were to clean the "head" so unfortunately I spent alot of time around alot of unpleasant areas lol... nah it's not so bad... but I agree with jim... Very good advice... I remember the waffle/sausage/scrabled egg/peanutbutter/saltpacket sandwiches for breakfast... still eat one every now and again lol... Boot is an interesting place folks... you'll make friends for life... and you'll never forget it

Joe

[yellowwing]

Yes indeed! Start by learning how to sh**t, shower, shave, and walk a straight line together. Then learn how to shoot and jump over logs together. Then begin learning how to fight together.

We are definitely the best bang for the American buck!

[rktect3j]

My dad gave me one peice of advice prior to going to boot camp. He said "son, whatever you do, do not stand next to anything. Everybody there is "recruit" so when the drill instructors want somebody they will say "hey you, recruit, next to the trash can" or "hey you, recruit, next to the wall.""

[JWG]

Well, this is taking longer than I thought, and I have to report to my unit at 08 tomorrow, so I'll finish this up later..17 more things to go over.

Can't wait to read them!

Good stuff, PFC!


Motivated,

-Jon

[Static_Sky25]

My dad gave me one peice of advice prior to going to boot camp. He said "son, whatever you do, do not stand next to anything. Everybody there is "recruit" so when the drill instructors want somebody they will say "hey you, recruit, next to the trash can" or "hey you, recruit, next to the wall.""

that's so true!

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

Makes me glad I was in a very small platoon, especially toward the end. When we were finally allowed to take care of hygiene issues on our free time, we had it easy. With 26 recruits in a squad bay, it isn't nearly as difficult to get everything done.

[PerXes]

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.

More to come soon, once I get a camera. Look forward to: How to make a rack, how to roll sleeves, and advice on specific events that you'll be doing.