Field day?

[Sweeney10]

This doesn't have to do with recruitment type stuff but just curious,What's Field day? I hear so much about it.

[Natadog]

When you clean the Barracks. It's usually Thursday Night, and becomes a drunk fest with all you stuff in your room ending up in the hallway. Spotless Clean!

[Apache]

A more complete profile will reap a more complete answer

Short answer
Field day is cleaning
Living quarters-- equipment--- whatever
Sometimes accomplished with a toothbrush

[Old Marine]

A Field Day is the complete cleaning of your barracks area from top to bottom to include the head. This usually takes place once each week mainly on Thursday evening/night.

[jp2usmc]

A field day is like a big party where all your Marine Corps buddies get to hang out with you. It is almost as much fun as policing the parking lot.

[Sweeney10]

Ah alright thank you, So I guess whats the whole "Lets get wasted or lets get drunk Field day is tomorrow"

[afraziaaaa]

Ah alright thank you, So I guess whats the whole "Lets get wasted or lets get drunk Field day is tomorrow"

It's a drunk fest only if you make it one.

[jaggerace]

It's an all-night barracks party......oh and you have do some cleaning. Ahh thirsty thursdays how i miss you

[Omegaham]

Just in case you wanted a more in-depth answer:

On Thursday, there's a formation in the afternoon, usually around 1730 or so. The barracks sergeant takes roll, makes any sort of barracks announcements, (There won't be any hot water on 3rd deck, they're changing the water heater) and then tells the deck NCOs to take the Marines and do cleanup. You then spend the next forty-five minutes cleaning the common areas, usually the laundry rooms and the lounges. After that, you form it back up, they check the common areas to make sure you actually cleaned them, and release you to clean your own rooms.

You then clean your room top to bottom, go to sleep, and go off to work the next day. Sometime around 0800-0900, a corporal or sergeant will walk through the room and inspect it. If it's not to his standard, he fails you. Generally, the penalty for failure is getting put on a working party to clean the barracks again, this time more thoroughly... they then reinspect on Friday. If you fail again, Bad Things happen.

Generally, it's just a "Make sure your stuff is clean" inspection. You dust your surfaces, make your bed, clean your sinks / toilet, etc. Basically, make it look nice. However, there are plenty of times when you get a dickhead sergeant who wants your stuff to be completely immaculate. In that case, an hour of cleaning turns into four hours of using Q-tips to clean all the dust out of the corners and air vents. I usually keep a bottle of cheap bourbon for those days, as doing it while not drunk is a recipe for insanity.

I've had inspections where a sergeant took a peek in, said "Looks good," and walked out. I've also had inspections where a sergeant failed me for a single hair in the sink (and hazed me for six hours the next day). It's a wash, depending on how much of a douchebag the NCO wants to be. Every room can be failed for SOMETHING, if you look hard enough. The only question is how hard you can make the person look for a discrepancy to hit you on. If the guy wants to fail you, he'll fail you. Luckily, those NCOs are rare. They sure make life interesting when you're stuck with them, though.

[the802]

My first field day in the fleet went like this... My room mates and I stayed all night cleaning in fear for the outcome of failing a field day... we had heard bad stories... well, the NCO came through and couldn't find even a speck of dust...so he goes over to the lamp, unscrews the light-bulb, finger ****s the socket and his finger comes out black. Boom, failed my first field day.

[jp2usmc]

That's pretty good, Omegaham, but you left out some details.

When we were sent out to clean our rooms, they were typically followed by a squad leader's inspection of them within an hour. If it failed (and generally it did), you had to clean again. This continued on until the platoon sergeant came around to inspect at 10 o'clock or so.

Room inspections the next day occurred for us around the same time (0800 to 0900), but if we failed we would get to do a much larger cleaning project the following weekend.

Sometimes, particularly after a change of command, everyone would mysteriously fail and the whole company would wind up having to scrub the whole weekend.

Yeap. Field Day was certainly a party!

How many of you sat on top of one of those electric floor polishers while your buddy held the controls? LOL - good times.

[robbyj]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZElrCjBpvY

Here's an idea of what happened on a field day a few weeks ago :marine:

[BaseCommCLNCdaw]

It's a drunk fest only if you make it one.
It's also a day when an entire unit, such as a battalion or a regiment, goes out into the field or boonies, competes, consumes beer, and chow, and generally enjoys the camaraderie of good company.


MY ALBUM (pictures 15-22) (http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/album.php?u=93015) shows some photos of a big field day we had at Camp Lejeune after a field exercise back in '64. Our unit was the Second Service Battalion aka 2nd Shore Party BN. Second MarDiv.

[Sweeney10]

Thank you all for the helpful Stories and information, I loved the video and the stories actually oddly make me look forward to it a little bit even though I'll probably hate it when it comes ha.

[robbyj]

Everything in the Marine Corps is how you make it, anything can be fun.

[Tennessee Top]

You dust your surfaces, make your bed, clean your sinks / toilet, etc.

In my day, beds were called racks...just say'n.

[SGT7477]

It can be like Boot Camp all over if it isn't right,Semper Fidelis.

[Phantom Blooper]

What is a room?

[Omegaham]

My first field day in the fleet went like this... My room mates and I stayed all night cleaning in fear for the outcome of failing a field day... we had heard bad stories... well, the NCO came through and couldn't find even a speck of dust...so he goes over to the lamp, unscrews the light-bulb, finger ****s the socket and his finger comes out black. Boom, failed my first field day.

My favorite was when my sergeant pulled my fridge out of its place to look for dust underneath. We'd anticipated this and had cleaned the hell out of it... so he stuck his finger through the radiator coils. Cue "WHAT THE **** IS THIS," "stand the **** by," etc. It went badly for me because I gave him my "Are you freaking serious" face instead of my "I'm in trouble, I'm scared" face. Haven't had a very good relationship with him since... but then again he was out to get me to begin with.



When we were sent out to clean our rooms, they were typically followed by a squad leader's inspection of them within an hour. If it failed (and generally it did), you had to clean again. This continued on until the platoon sergeant came around to inspect at 10 o'clock or so.


My squadron doesn't do this, although they'll probably start if people start failing more. Inspection in our shop is handled by our own NCOs, so basically it's like having your squad leader inspect it the next morning instead of that night.

[SGT7477]

What is a room?
:D,Semper Fidelis.

[GunRock0811]

All I remember from field days is lots of screaming and inhaling an insane amount of chemical fumes while trying to get my room cleaned......I hated Thursday nights with a passion.