Drill Instructors I need your help....

[mgkusmc]

Okay having been out of boot for over 2 years now I need help in finding something.

I am looking for a copy of the speech the Senior Drill Instructor gives on the first day they pick up their platoon.

The two phrases I distinctly remember from it are

" I am (insert rank and name) your Senior Drill Instructor assisting me in my duties are Drill Instructor (insert name and rank) and Drill Instructor (insert name and rank)"

and the other phrase is...

"I will not give up on you, even have you have given up on yourselves"

I am looking for a copy of it not only to read all the way through but my mother wants a copy for a scrapbook she is making.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Enigmatic]

I'm pretty sure I saw the whole thing in that book Making the Corps by Thomas Ricks. I bought it before I went to boot camp like 5 years ago but I can't find it right now. You would think it'd be all over the internet, considering it's one of those speeches that few who hear it ever forget.

[Ed Palmer]

Creed On The Drill Instructor's Monument At MCRD-SD






Dedication / Leadership / Integrity

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
DRILL INSTRUCTOR CREED

THESE RECRUITS ARE ENTRUSTED TO MY CARE.
I WILL TRAIN THEM TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY.
I WILL DEVELOP THEM INTO SMARTLY DISCIPLINED.
PHYSICALLY FIT BASICALLY TRAINED MARINES,
THOROUGHLY INDOCTRINATED IN LOVE OF THE CORPS
AND COUNTRY. I WILL DEMAND OF THEM AND DEMONSTRATE BY MY OWN PERSONAL EXAMPLE.
THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF PERSONAL CONDUCT,
MORALITY AND PROFESSIONAL SKILL.

[Ed Palmer]

Off subject but interesting for the New guys
I was looking for something else and ran across this and it took me back 50 some odd years and I found it very interesting so enjoy it.
Ed Palmer

About this page and me...CPL Castle

I created this web page because I wanted to share my experiences, and what I went through in Marine Corps bootcamp. The 13 weeks of recruit training changed my life forever. It made me appreciate the simple things in life more.

My name is CPL Castle (Promoted September 1st 2004, picture of me in Iraq) I am currently serving with 1st Battalion 5th Marines 1st Marine Division. My MOS is 2311/Ammo Tech.

I graduated from Platoon 1106, C. (Charlie) Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, October 25th, 2002, MCRD San Diego, California. My drill instructors where...

Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Sagredo(is currently with 1/5 Weapons Co.)
Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Baldoc
Drill Instructor Sergeant Shaw
Drill Instructor Sergeant Hansen

I was in bootcamp from July 28th, 2002....till....October 25th, 2002. I would have to say those 13 weeks where the WORST 13 weeks of my life. I would have never thought it would be that hard to get through 3 months of recruit training. After the fact when my training in bootcamp was over and my Senior Drill Instructor said those unforgettable words "Platoon 1106, Dismissed!" I knew what I did, been through, and survived was worth it.

Below I have broken down recruit training week by week and what I had to go though.



Recruit Training Schedule Charts (From USMC.mil)
- MCRD San Diego Recruit Training Schedule
- Paris Island Recruit Training Schedule

Some charts to let you see what hell....I mean, training awaits you.



Week 0 - Receiving - Location: MCRD

Receiving...there is so much that comes to mind, and it's hard to translate into text, but I will try. Being in receiving is scary, shocking, you feel lost, and tired.

Receiving starts as soon as your ass gets off the big white bus. But before you get off the bus, I want to kind of go step buy step what happens before that. After you get off your plane at San Diego air port you report in at the USO. You talk to the woman or man at the front desk with whoever your with and she/he will hand you a 10 minute phone card that you will be using later. At this time you should have already dumped ANY drugs or weapons you brought. Since you have gone this far...and if your serious about becoming a Marine...you should not have any of those on you. If you get caught with anything illegal on you, you may get a Dishonorable discharge. This usually means you will be working at Burger King for the rest of your life. Anywho....after you get your phone card take a seat and wait for the Sergeant or Staff Sergeant to walk into the office and tells you to form it up outside next to the famous white bus. After standing at the POA (Position of Attention) for a while the Drill Instructor will come back out and tell you to get your ass onto the bus. While in the bus...you are not allowed to talk or to have your head up. So this means your head is between your legs. The point of this is to disorientate you. After 20 or so minutes..the bus will stop...you will hear the drill instructor say to whoever "Close my windows!", So if your sitting next to a window on the bus and it's open you best close it quick.

After a few minutes another drill instructor will run onto the bus...and yell something about get your heads up and the the hell out. I was feeling nervous..and scared. After your run off the bus there are 2-3 more drill instructors outside yelling at you to run faster and to get onto the famous Yellow Footprints. Once everyone is off the bus and is standing on the footprints you will be TOLD to take a right knee and listen up. The drill instructor will read off a red board some rules and regulations quickly you probly will forget after a few seconds. I can't remember what he said to us. From there your told to file it off into a big room with red booths. Your told to get behind one and you BETTER fallow the directions the drill instructor says. You will dump out your pockets of anything useless. Then you will get into another line and wait to get your stuff inspected by one of the 3-5 drill instructors. You dump whatever you have in your pockets and hands onto the desk of a red booth and have it quickly inspected by a drill instructor. Once anything that isn't useful has been removed you stick it into a camo bag called a "Money Valuable Bag" and that will never be touched by a drill instructor or another recruit. That is yours and should be treated as if it where gold. You will only be allowed to keep important stuff, and DON'T have more then $50.00 on you. If you do it gets taken and is sent home. You will need a few bucks later on in training.

From the red booths you go to processing. Non-stop paperwork and you receive your "Smart Card". This contains your medical info and a few hundred dollars. So don't lose it. After receiving your card I believe you get your head shaved. There are a few rumors...if you go bald you DO NOT get biced (using a Bic razor and shaving your head until there is nothing but skin.)

All of what I described above happens within a few hours of day one. Through out the rest of the week you go through the same boring routine. Till about Wednesday or Thursday you do your first PFT (Physical Fitness Test). The usual routine you go through in the PFT is decide by the Senior Drill Instructors. Most of the PFT will go in this order...Pull-ups, sit-ups, and finish it off with a 3 mile timed run.


The PFT requirements are NOT hard to pass. The minimum requirements are...
Pull-ups: 3 (any grip, and you can change your grip without touching the deck/floor)
Sit-ups: 45 (your elbows have to touch your thighs, and backs must touch the deck)
3 Mile Run: 24 Minutes


The recruits you arrived with on the bus are usually the recruits that are going to be with you in your platoon. You will assigned 2 receiving drill instructors. Now you don't want to **** these drill instructors off. Usually if they are Receiving drill instructors they did something bad to get down sized to receiving. Usually they hit a recruit or something on those lines. Physical abuse is absolutely NOT tolerated. If a drill instructor is caught hitting a recruit he/she will be panelized. They could get pay taken (which is very important) or get down sized in rank...so if they where a sergeant...they could get busted down to a corperal.

Durring processing week you spend a LOT of time standing at the POA in line waiting for whatever the day has planned. You do a lot of paper work. In receiving you get a little taste of what living in the barracks will be like.... you will get firewatch ( 1 hour shift ), you'll **** in groups...3 recruits to 1 urinal and 3-4 to a "****ter" (toilet). Durring this week you will be culture shocked...you will be trying to adjust to the military lifestyle. Many things will change...you won't take a crap for your first week your there. I know.....shocking...but 90% of the recruits in my platoon would joke about their first week...and not being able to **** for the first week and in some cases like me...a week and a half. You must hydrate (drink water) even if you don't want to or feel like it. After the 2nd day you'll be told to **** into a cup and you'll see everyone's clear cup that their **** is dark orange...this isn't too good....so try to drink water...it's very hot there durring the summer I was there. 3-5 water bowls a day is good.

Friday, your first Friday on MCRD....aka "Black Friday". You'll hear many things about this day. Some of what you hear is true and some may not be. It depends on your Drill Instructors and what your Senior decide. But you will be guaranteed a lot of stress and confusion.

I was in Charlie company, so I don't remember much of my Black Friday. Everyday was like black Friday in our platoon. Get ready for hell that day. In our platoon we got our foot lockers dumped and sea bags dumped. Unless we marked our stuff we where crap out of luck. From what I remember you start off in one of many of MCRD's classrooms. Your company commander speaks to you. Gives you the old never quit speech. Blah blah blah....thousands have made it and you should too...blah blah. After he speaks he will introduce your Series Gunnery Sergeant, and here come your Drill Instructors. You will meet all of them....after they recite the Drill Instructors Creed, the J Drill Instructor (the Drill Instructor in charge right under the Senior Drill Instructor) takes over. Durring the last days of Recruit Training our J recited the speech he gave us on the first day meeting our Drill Instructors. I remember the beginning..."Sit up straight and get your eye balls on me!" From there you get into your new home for the next 7 weeks. Once your in your baracks...A LOT of things happen...you get your items dumped onto the deck and is mixed with everyone else. I can't remember much but I remember it was chaotic.



Week 1 - Training - Location: MCRD

Many things start happening this week. You start PTing with your company. PT is usually 3 times a week as a company, and you may do more if your Senior Drill Instructor wishes so. Whenever my platoon where done with PT my Senior would send the whole platoon to The Pit(The Pit is usually right outside of your squadbay. It's a big sand/dirt plot. It's like the quarter deck but the whole platoon is involved.). PT isn't too bad...usually it's a 2-3 mile run...or you do the circuit course. The circuit course is a lot of things mixed up. Different stations and you spend a X amount of time at each station. Stations I can remember are....pull-ups, dips, military press, monkey bars, curls, steps (with ammo cans), leg lifts, and jump rope. It's surprising how tired you get so quickly.

You also go through a number of classes on Core Values, History, Customs and Courtesies, and UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice). In these classes DO NOT sleep! Sleeping or dosing off in these classes will case a number of things to happen. You could get a "love tap" from the recruit next to you. Which is just a simple HARD slap to the back of the head, or being pointed out by the instructor witch could lead to quarter deck time if your Drill Instructors are around. Everything in these classes are in this blue book you receive called "Recruit Knowledge". You will have this book till the day you graduate, and then some. I find myself refering to it time to time.

Most of your time this week will be spent in classes, learning how to march, and adjusting to bootcamp. This is not an easy week...none of the weeks are easy, but this one is very difficult because you have to adjusting to a new lifestyle is a short amount of time.



Week 2 - Training - Location: MCRD

Durring this week you will attend a lot of classes on first aid. Pay attention to these classes, because when it's PRAC time durring the end of your training cycle the knowledge you learned in these classes will be on the test.

Also durring this week you will be doing Pugil Sticks. This is very fun. A good chance to release some anger of training onto another recruit. You will be only doing this 4 times the hole time in bootcamp so go all out. You will only go once or twice if your lucky. As you saw in Full Metal Jacket, you wear a football helmet, chest protector, and a padded cup. You get a big faded stick. Red is your bayonet, and black is your buttstock. The Drill Instructors are looking for clean hits and head shots. First to get either wins.

Near the end of the week you will be doing the obstacle course. The Drill Instructors will ALWAYS demonstrate before you do anything on the course. If you can do the minimum requirements on the PFT, you can do the obstacle course.

Oh yes, lets not forget MORE DRILL. You will learn to like this time. Your not PTing, just marching on the parade deck. You quickly learn you want to look good when your marching. It shows pride and skill.



Week 3 - Training - Location: MCRD

You start this week with the first part of the Confidence Course. If you have any fear of height you will quickly overcome it. I sure did.

Also this week you sign up and do paperwork for your new bank accounts at Pacific Marine. It's an ok bank, but you will hear from your Drill Instructors, after you get sent to your duty station switch banks. They aren't the best service in the world.

You will also do the 2nd part of Pugil sticks. This time you don't do it in a sand pit. You do it on a bridge. It's only a few feet off the sand, and your objective is to knock the person off or get a kill. This is also VERY fun.

The BIG event this week is Initial Drill. This will be the first time your Drill skills will be evaluated. Depending on the card your Senior Drill Instructor pulls you will be graded on...coloum right & left, pivot sequence, rifle manual (rifle salute, right shoulder arms, cut sequence, etc...). My Platoon came in 2nd place and won a red trophy. You know what they say about 2nd place. 1st place losers. My platoon was proud of the 2nd place trophy.



Week 4 - Training - Location: MCRD

Durring this week you start off with the Confidence Course again. You will do new obstacles. A little more challanging...but very fun.

You also will do more Mac-Map. It's a martial arts program developed by the Marine Corps. When you graduate from bootcamp you will get a Tan web belt. The moves you learn are very basic and easy. They are ment for combat...when you have a heavy load on. You can't do a round house kick with a 60+ pound pack on. You do things like jabs, rear hand punches, forward kicks, side kicks, chokes, hammer fists, etc... Remember what you are taught. Of course you will be tested on this later on in your training cycle.

You will also be doing your 3 portion of Pugil sticks. This one is for a trophy. This will take place at "The Thunder Dome, Two Recruits Enter One Recruit Leaves A Winner" All the Thunder Dome is an enclosed area outside with camo net over the top, and a platform for the Drill Instructors can watch and yell from.

Also durring these four weeks of training you will doing classes on fighting with your rifle. How to correctly and effectly hit your enemy when your out of ammo.

All durring the week you will be preparing for the series inspection. Inspections suck. Your standing at parade rest or at attention for hours in the sun. Hydration is important. Durring inspection your not allowed to make head calls or move unless your told to. Inspection consists of personal hygiene, uniform appearance, knowledge, and your rifle (NEVER call your rifle a gun.). When the Drill Instructor from another platoon comes in front of you, you have to say "Good Morning/Afternoon Sir! Privet (last name here), (your MOS ex:2311) (MOs Title ex: Ammo Tech) ( Regular or Preserve) Sir!" The drill instructors will ask you questions about your rifle and about knowledge you learned in the classroom aka School House. Usually they ask History question. What's the Marine Corps birth date? November 10th, 1775, or Where is the 1st Marine division located? Camp Pendleton, California, and more on those lines. You will also be questioned on your General Orders. YOU SHOULD KNOW THESE BY HEART.



Week 5 - Swim Week - Location: MCRD

Well, the title of this week should really give you a hint on what you will be spending most of your time doing.

This week you change out of your woodland cammies and get into your desert cammies. This is an surprisingly motivating. Knowing your moving along in your training.

All you need with you when you leave for the pool is a grunt roll. These will be made the night before. They are very basic. 1-Green Towel, 1-Skivy Shirt, and 1-Skivy Shorts. You will roll the Skivies into the green towel and wrap 1 shoe lace around it to hold it together. This will all be showed to you by your Drill Instructors.

While at the pool, you will stick your grunt roll into a "cubby". REMEMBER where your cubby is. A lot of recruits forget and in a rush put on the WRONG cammies. Also BE SURE to stick your cover into your cargo pocket and button it down. Yes, there will be recruits trying to steal your cover (hat) because they lost theirs. As you will hear....treat your cover as if it where gold. Don't be the odd ball out who loses their cover. You will be noticed by your Drill Instructors, and this will cause un-wanted attention. You know what I mean.

Before you step into the pool...you will be putting on a pair of old style cammies, and boots. You will take the shoe lace from the grunt roll and use that as a belt. After that you will always get a briefing on what you will be doing that day. There are 4 levels of swim qualification you can earn. Going from best to ok... CWS-1, CWS-2, CWS-3, and CWS-4. Each day you advance the higher qualification you earn. Now, for the sorry saps who can't swim...they get sent to a special class for the basics. If they panic they get yelled at by the instructors. If you can't swim don't be afraid. There are tons of instructors around ready to save you IF you happen to go under.

Usually recruits get to CWS-4, and CWS-3. Every day in swim week there is a test. Each day you move on moves you up in qualification. If you only happen to make it to CWS-4, you don't have to go to the pool anymore that week. You stay in the squadbay and do whatever your Drill Instructors instruct. Usually it's study or cleaning.

I made it to CWS-2, so I'm a 2nd class swimmer. Depending on your MOs you must get a certain level to keep that MOS. If you MOs requires you to be a CWS-2 swimmer and you only get CWS-3. You may have to change your MOS. The next day of swimming after the CWS-3 test. It gets pretty difficult. You swim with full packs on and with cevelar helmet. Don't worry...your Drill Instructors show you how surprisingly buoyant your pack is. You can throw the pack in the water and it will float.

The hardest part for me was on CWS-2. We had to jump off a 10 foot platform into the water with the pack, helmet, and boots on. Our instructors showed us the emergency release straps and how quickly and easily it can be removed. After I jumped into the water and floated to the surface, I pulled both release straps to remove my pack and use it as a floatation device. The strap on my right shoulder came off as it should have but the strap on the left shoulder was warped twice around my arm. It wouldn't come off. My boots made it difficult for me to stay afloat so I was going under and popping above water a lot. A instructor was watching me like a hawk with a life booy ready. I continued to pull on the strap hopeing it would come off but it wouldn't. I thought I was going to go under. I heard a instructors voice yell "STOP!" I looked over at him and he told me to stop "****ing around" with my pack and look behind me. When I turned around I saw my pack floating there. It was still tangled around my arm, but I could bear hug the pack and swim over to the other side of the pool. As soon as I got out of the water...I was still shoken up, but VERY relieved. Anywho...back to training....

You will only spend a few hours a day in the pool. Anywhere from 2-3 hours.

Also this week you will be tested on your Mac-Map. This test covers everything learned in training. Rifle fighting, bayonet fighting, punches, kicks, throws, how to fall properly, etc.... The test isn't too hard, but there are some mentally challanged recruits who fail, and get sent back in training...don't be one of these morons. You will most likely review with your Drill Instructors so failing will be very hard.



Week 6 - Team Week - Location: MCRD

Team week use to consist or your company working in the chow hall (at MCRD, personal chow hall, and chow hall "up north" Camp Pendleton) and doing maintenance. After my company went through a few companies later they stoped using recruits in the chow halls in MCRD and in Camp Pendleton. So, I guess now recruits are stuck doing work around base. Maintenance and yard work. You spend time away from your Drill Instructors durring this week. It seems like the preasure is letting up a little because your Drill Instructors are not around. DO NOT start acting hanus. Your Drill Instructors know some will get that way and will quickly snap that out of them. This week is supposed to help build team work for the hard weeks that lay ahead, but all the recruit and I knew it was just another way for the government to save some money.

On Friday night you pack EVERYTHING into your sea bags and get ready to relocate for a few weeks. Everything in the squad bay is packed up and gets ready to be moved to Camp Pendleton. On Saturday afternoon you load up the big moving trucks with items from your squadbay and all your personal belongings(sea bag, body bag, and war bags). You ride on the bus with your war bag, barracks cover, and rifle. The bus ride to Camp Pendleton is only about 45 minutes.

My bus ride up to Camp Pendleton took us about 4 hours. On our ride up to Camp Pendleton the weather was very hot. Going up this hill the bus started to over heat and we had to pull over. Our Series Commander (Capt. Kelly) tried to get us another bus, but for some reason we couldn't get one. We where instructed to remove our blouses, so we wouldn't over heat. We waited for a few hours till the weather started to cool off, and then we where able to leave. We didn't get to Camp Pendleton till it was dark. My platoon and another from my company where stuck in the "Crack Houses". Old barracks that had quite a few problems. The squad bays where smaller, but I some ways that was better. Easier on field days.



Week 7 - Grass Week - Location: Camp Pendleton

This week is fairly easy. You spend the majority of the time with your PMI's(Primary Marksmanship Instructors). These PMI wear the campaign cover your Drill Instructors wear, but are not Drill Instructors. PMI's wore the campaign cover before the Drill Instructors did...it was later used by the Drill Instructors. That's another story you'll hear from your PMI's or Drill Instructors.

You also get issued your field gear and pack. This is when everything starts to suck. After you are issued all your gear you finally put your pack on. This is not an easy load to hump around. With your helmet, flack, and rifle you are carrying a load of at least 50 lbs. You will usually be bringing your pack everywhere you go...escept for the chow hall.

Your PMI's are experts at what they are teaching you. Which is SHOOTING. You will spend A LOT of time with your PMI's durring Grass Week. Mostly in class which is outside. They teach you sight alignment & sight picture. You will learn a lot from these men be sure you pay attention. The better you listen the better you shoot. The better you shoot the faster you get promoted. Not everyone will be a rifle EXPERT as I am.

You will also spend a lot of time in the circles practicing to aim when your standing, kneeling, and in the prone. Standing and kneeling are the most unstable positions. Prone is the most stable since you are on your stomach. The kneeling is the worst! After 15 minutes of it you start going numb and you start to ache bad. Do **** right the quicker you get to do something else.

You will also do some firing on an computer simulated room. This is VERY fun. You have electronic M-16A2's which are very life like and you shoot at a digital image. This shows you how well you aim and what not. You even get kick with the rifles, very life like.

Now, I know you're wondering about THE REAPER. I was told The Reaper was many deferent mountains...but durring The Crucible my Drill Instructor showed our squad the correct mountain we climb. When entering the PMI circles for classes look to your right. You will see 3 mountains that look like they overlap each other a little. The first one on the left looks like it's been cut off at the top compared to the other 2 mountains right next to it. The mountain with the top looking like it's been chopped off is THE REAPER. When your looking at it...that is actually the backside of THE REAPER. Don't worry....the front is 100x worse. You'll see soon enough. Hehehe...

Oh yes, I almost for got. You will also have to do your first 3 mile hump on Tuesday AND a 5 mile hump on Saturday. Your first hump is a 3 mile hump from hell. This will be the first time you will be humping long distance with your pack. This hump is very fast passed, and you will be going up some hills. This hump takes only 45 minutes, but with a 50 lbs. load it's quite a *****. Just remember hydrate a lot durring the week, pack your pack TIGHT, and since the pack high and tight to your shoulders. You will learn the tighter your pack is and the higher it is on your shoulders it will make it a little easier when humping. Then on Saturday you have a 5 mile hump. There won't be as many hills on this hump as the 3 mile one but there will be some hills. Remember, DO NOT fall out and quit. These wussy little humps are preparing you for your ultimate revolution that awaits you. You know what I mean, The Crucible.



Week 8 - Firing Week - Location: Camp Pendleton

In this week you move from the PMI circles to the shooting range. Finally, you get to put some rounds down range. Durring this week you fire from about 200-300 rounds. So, your rifle will get some use in it. You will have 4 days to practice firing from the 200, 300, and 500 yard lines before Qualification day. On qual day you will find out if your a Marksman (Pizza box), Sharpshooter, or a Rifle Expert. Half of a platoon will shoot in the morning and the other half will be shooting in the afternoon. Where does the half go you ask? Well, the recruit go into the pits and work the targets. Working the targets is very very dull, and it just sucks. Something you have to do.

This Saturday you have your 8 mile hump. This hump seems like it lasts forever. Durring this hump you get a 5 minute break at about the half way mark. You get to remove your helmet and hydrate. Don't get too comfortable...it's only 5 minutes. There is not much I can say about humping. Just try to stay focused and push through the pain. It will help you greatly in the long run.



Week 9 - Field Week - Location: Camp Pendleton

Durring field week a lot of things happen. One thing is you move out of your barracks and into to bivowac site(home base). This will be another 2-3 mile hump to. Prior to this you should have a hooch mate. This recruit will be the one you will be sleeping with in your hooch. Don't worry you won't see much of eachother. Before you stepped off you will already know how to set up a hooch in under 5 minutes. Very simple to do with 2 people. By the time you get to your bivowac site your pretty tired, and it's time to set up the hooches. Now you don't just build them anywhere. The hooches need to be covered and aligned. This is the beginning of a long week.

That day you do your first fire and movement course. Your taught how to go under barbed wire, fire team rushes, etc... I don't want to cover the combat courses too much. This is where you learn how to fight in combat. I rather you learn that from your Instructors and experiences.

The day after that you will be having a class on NBC(Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical) in the afternoon. This class is preparing you for 1 big event you have planned a few hours later. The Confidence Chamber aka The Gas Chamber. This will probably be the first time you will be introduced to CX gas(tear gas) unless you where in riots. You will be taught now to remove your mask put it on correctly, clear the mask, and trouble shoot most problems you MAY run into. There is nothing I can tell you that will prepare you for this event. CX gas is unique and is uncomfortable. Just DO NOT PANIC!!!! IF you happen to panic and try to run for the door....you will be told this...there will be BLACK belt Drill Instructors in the chamber as well as your Drill Instructors in the chamber, and they have permission to take you to the deck in the MOST dirrect manner. I think you can figure out what this means. If no one flips out in the chamber you will only be in there for about 5 minutes. You will be breaking the seal of the mask 3 times, and will have your mask off in the gas. You can try to hold your breath, but you have the mask off too long and will eventually have to breath it in. It feels like inhaling sand paper, and since your nervous and sweating. Your skin starts to burn. It all ends soon so just suck it up and take it. Once your done you will turn to your right and file out. Once your out you will be told to remove your mask and hold your hands out to the side. DO NOT touch your face or it will just burn more. When you get out you will be oozing snot and spit. Coughing up odd flem. The CX crystals flake off within 20 minutes.

You will also do more field firing. On targets that pop up and fall down when hit. It's pretty fun. Also you do some night firing with your gas mask on, and your are issued tracer rounds. These are very sweet. It's pretty cool watching them fly about. While you are night firing your Instructors are shooting up flares into the sky lighting everything up. It seems like your on the battle field.

Oh yes, durring this week you will be eating nothing but MRE's. You will learn to hate these and will learn what the best MRE's are. You will also learn how to mix certain foods to make it a little better. Here's a little trick I learned with my MRE. If you ever get Pound cake & coco powder do this... While the package of pound cake is still sealed crush it up with your hand. Once done, open it up and remove the plastic packet inside that absorbs moisture. Add the hole packet of coco powder into the crushed pound cake. Once done add some water. Not a lot, just enough to turn it into a paste. When your done with that, stir it up, and enjoy.

At the end of the week you will be moving from the field back to your barracks only for a few days. You do this because you will be having company inspection in your Bravos, or whatever your company First Sergeant says. This will be like anyother inspection you had but your in uniform.



Week 10 - Crucible - Location: Camp Pendleton

You start this week off with a Company Inspection as I said at the end of Field Week. As usual you will be out there at parade rest and at attention for 3-4 hours.

I'm not going to into detail about The Crucible. That is your Crucible and it is what you make of it. All you need to know is it's 54 hours long and you hump around 40 miles in those 2 1/2 days. At the end of The Crucible you will hump The Reaper. A mountain I described earlier. You will pass this hump, DO NOT fall out. You came this far in training and falling out now will just prove you are a quitter.

Recruits no longer become Marines at the top of The Reaper. You become Marines the day before graduation at your Eagle, Globe, and Anchor ceremony.

At the top of The Reaper you gather as a platoon and read about Edson's Ridge. This time is spent with your Senior Drill Instructor. He can talk about what he wishs. You rest for about 20 minutes, and then your back on your packs. This is the end of The Crucible. You just complete something more then 3 quarters of the United States will not do. It's not completely over. You still have to hump back home. So, you hump down the back side of The Reaper. This is the worst part of the hump. Going this long distance down hill. Once you hump down the mountain you hump back to the parade deck and prepair for a talk with your Series Commander and get your feet looked over by Corpsmen.

I think you can guess what happens after this...the glorious WARRIORS BREAKFAST! Something you've been looking forward to since Training day 1. All you can eat....eat till you puke. You've earned every mouth full.

The rest of the day you spend in your "go fasters" (running shoes), and cleaning your gear and rifle. The next day you FINALLY get rid of your pack. This day should be very motivating. You get to dump your pack and not see it again for a few weeks.

After equipment turn in it's back to packing for your trip back "Down South" (MCRD). You should be very glad about this moment. The hardest part of training is OVER. A few more obstacles in the road ahead, but nothing you can't handle. OORAH!!



Week 11 - PRAC/PFT - Location: MCRD

About this time..your training is ALMOST complete. You finished the crucible...and graduation is around the corner, but don't start acting "hanus" because your drill instructors will put your ass on the quarter deck. Durring these week you prepair for 4 main events, but only have 2 to worry about in this week. This week you have PRAC and your Final PFT. Durring these 2 events you prepair for the other 2 big events, Battalion Commanders Inspection, and Final Drill.

These last 2 weeks go very quickly, and you have to get back into the rhythm of marching. All the basics you learned in your first 5 weeks of training are not lost, but you have to refresh your memory on the basics of it. It's odd how you can get so hanus at matching after comming back from up north. You notice yourself and everyone else moving faster. You have to get use to moving at marching pace. You don't have that 40 pound pack anymore.

You spend countless hours on the parade deck and in the squadbay. Your cleaning your rifles for hours at a time, studying Prac, and pressing out your shirts and trousers. It's amazing how dirty your rifles get up north. When your cleaning your rifle DO NOT cheese dick it and zone out. The Battalion Commanders Inspection is VERY important. If you fail it because your rifle is dirty they can hold you back 1 week in training. You don't want that, because your parents and loved ones will have to get new plain tickets and change their hole schedule because of that 1 mess up.

Preparing for final drill is very difficult. Trying to get everyone in sync with their hand cuts and movements. The night before final drill the Drill instructors do not try to stress you to much. They back off a little. They don't want you nervous and have you mess up. My drill instructors let us have 1 hour to just shoot the breeze with the other recruits and they let us listen to the radio. I was shocked at this as well. The morning of Final drill my platoon was the first up. My Senior pulled card 4 I think, and we did our best. Sad to say we got 3rd place. We got 50 points and the first place winners got 55 points. We lost points on our column left and right. Our J hat Drill Instructor thought we did outstanding, so did we.

Final PFT is just like all the PFT's you've had before. The typical 3 mile timed run, max pull-ups, and max sit-ups. Give it 100%, because this is your Final PFT before you go to school, and into fleet with. My Final PFT score was 245 out of 300.

Prac is like everything else in bootcamp built up to be something hard and impossible, but really is simple IF you paid attention and studied your recruit knowledge. Prac covers... General orders, General order scenarios, rank structure, rifle disassembly and reassembley, rifle safety rules, and first aid. You will pass...it is very very hard not to. But a few recruits do seem to fail. All the topics covered are topics your Drill Instructors cover constantly. By week 2 or 3 you know your general orders verbatim (word for word), and in the squadbay you are doing first aid all the time prepairing for Prac.



Week 12 - Inspection/Drill/Graduation - Location: MCRD

All Sunday you will be prepairing your Alpha's for the Battalion Commanders Inspection. You will be evaluated on Knowledge, uniform, and your rifle. Not knowing some knowledge and having a little flaws on your uniform will not fail you, but having the smallest spot of rust on your rifles will fail you. When you are cleaning don't **** the time away. Use it to get into detail with your rifle. The condition of your rifle shows the type of Marine you will be come.

Some things that you will be quizzed on is General Orders, Marines Hymm, Rifle Creed, general knowledge, chain of command, and history. It pays to study.

The day after your Battalion Commanders Inspection you will have Final Drill. This will be graded in detail. This reflects how well your Drill Instructors have taught you. The way you drill is a direct reflection of them,n so try your best.

Don't think since you are so close to the end of your training you can start acting like ass. Your Drill Instructors can IT you till T-63(Training day 63). Which is the day of graduation. So, they can have your ass on the quarter deck the night before graduation. Don't mess up.

A few days after final drill is the day recruits dream of since day one at MCRD. That is Visitors Thursday. You finally get to see your family. You get to spend a day with them and have base liberty. You can go anywhere on base, but you can't leave MCRD. Take them out and have lunch and dinner. Spend time with them. You will love this day.

Here is come words of advise on this day of liberty. DO NOT stuff yourself with candy and burgers. You will get sick because your not use to all that sugar and crap, and you'll be up all night crapping your guts out.

But before you have base liberty with your family you get to do 2 more things. You do a Moto run that is about 5 miles. This run goes so quickly and seems like nothing. It's so motivating because you see family members cheering you on and get cadence from a Sergeant Major.

After the Moto Run you have a PT shower and get dressed in your Charlies with **** cover. You begin marching out to get ready for your Eagle, Globe, and Anchor ceremony. You will now receive your Eagle, Globe, and Anchor and become Marines. Depending on which squad your in you may recede your Eagle, Globe, and Anchor from any one of your Drill Instructors. Usually 1st squad (I was in) receives it from your Senior Drill Instructor, 2nd squad receives it from your J Drill Instructor, and so on. You will know the chain of command with your Drill Instructors. Once your recede you Eagle, Globe, and Anchor You pin it to your **** cover and feel complete. You only have 1 more thing to do and it's graduation. Once your company is done pinning their Eagle, Globe, and Anchors on. You hear your First Sergeants voice yell..."Senior Drill Instructors, Dismiss your platoons!" This dismissal just clears you for liberty. Have fun...enjoy yourself.

Graduation day...the day you've been wishing for. This day starts early in the morning and you must stage your gear on the side of the Parade deck. Your Drill Instructors will show you how to stage the gear. This is the last graded event you will have in bootcamp.

Graduation ceremony only lasts about a hour, but don't be a moron who zones out and forgets to cut a salute or go to parade rest. Be sure to pay attention to your Senior Drill Instructor's commands to halt or to rolling mark time. Once you've complete the graduation ceramony...you hear your First Sergeant's voice yell.. "Senior Drill Instructors, Dismiss your platoons!" Senior Drill Instructor: "Platoon 1106, DISMISSED!" Marines: "Aye, SIR! OOORAH!!" From there you shake your fellow Marines hands...and find your family. From there it's up to you. You have 10 days of leave to go home and see family and friends.

What do you do after those 10 days.....hehe...well, if your MOS is Infintry you go to SOI(School of Infintry), and go to ITB(Infintry Training Batalion) for about 6-8 weeks. If your MOS is anything other then infintry, you go to SOI as well but go to MCT(Marine Combat Training). It's only 3 weeks. You will be briefed on that before graduation. MCT and ITB is a different story. Nothing you are about to do will be harder then what you've already gone through. You've been through 13 weeks of the hardest training in the United States.

If your lucky and get recruiters assistance after your 10 days leave that's just more time at home. After I had my 10 days I had 2 weeks for recruiters assistance. So I was home for 24 days. Working for your recruiter isn't too much fun. You have to work 6 days a week. On Saturdays you usually do PT with the poolies, but that isn't too bad. Usually just a run. It's up to you if you want to take recruiters assistance.



Let the bodies hit the floor...
Let the bodies hit the floor...
Let the bodies hit the floor...
Gimme more PT 06 can't be beat!
Highly motivated, truly dedicated!
Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Sagredo!
Pain is merely weakness leaving the body, SIR!
Guide: Lock it up!
DRILL
Guide: Lock it up!
DRILL
Guide: Lock it up!
DRILL DRILL DRILL!!!

[NoRemorse]

I thought that part about receiving drill instructors getting stuck on receiving duty was crap. I was always lead to believe that drill instructors go on quota and work a billet like that.

[usmc0331]

no ten miles humps?

we did a 3 5 and ten mile

[Quinbo]

You will walk don't run ... san onefre beach .... freakin tighten it up ... tighten it up. I've seen snails move faster than you ... get up there. Ankle deep in sand sweat pouring off of you

[usmc0331]

tighten it up "aye sir" over and over and over and over lol

[Petz]

san onefre.... we ran from las pulgas to san onefre once... unless you count running back a second time.

[BR34]

God I love this...I can't wait till I have the opportunity to become a Drill Instructor.

[Zulu 36]

I thought that part about receiving drill instructors getting stuck on receiving duty was crap. I was always lead to believe that drill instructors go on quota and work a billet like that.

When I went through Receiving Barracks in 1971, our Receiving DI told us that he and the other RB drill instructors were assigned there as a break from running regular platoons for a month or so. I have no reason to doubt him, especially now after seeing what regular platoon DIs have to do for a living.

[NoRemorse]

When I went through Receiving Barracks in 1971, our Receiving DI told us that he and the other RB drill instructors were assigned there as a break from running regular platoons for a month or so. I have no reason to doubt him, especially now after seeing what regular platoon DIs have to do for a living.

Exactly my point, Sgt. It's not a punishment; it's a break from the 24/7 for three months straight.

[usmc0331]

God I love this...I can't wait till I have the opportunity to become a Drill Instructor.

I wish I could turn back time and do it. My cousins best friend who is a decorated recon marine just graduated DI school and is on his first cycle. Motivating as hell...good luck devil dog!

[MUSTANG0369]

Its not a punishment, but let me asssure you that if you are good you still push regular cycles.....6 green, 2 SDI, and 2 ser gysgt..no breaks, or quota......some at receiving needed a break, and some were not so hot. same with MRP, PCP, and RSP. then if you could swim you went to the pool.

[Petz]

sir, can I ask you... did the other boot lueies get intimidated by your stack? I really have to know. Semper Mustangs!