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View Full Version : What was the hardest part of bootcamp?



03Infantry
12-06-02, 10:16 PM
I am going to Bootcamp in about 4 months and just want to know what the hardest thing was and what I should do to get myself fully ready to go.

wrbones
12-06-02, 10:33 PM
Read the rest of the posts in the Poolee Hall forum!

Ain't none of it easy, though some folks like to pretend differently!

Yer other answers are posted in the Poolee Hall Forum and Marine Mentor Forum.

03Infantry
12-06-02, 10:40 PM
I don't want it to be easy. I am glad it is not. If I wanted it easy I would join something else.

SHOOTER1
12-22-02, 06:53 PM
The Hardest Part? Keeping your mouth shut, your eyes and ears open , and the smile off your face,(yes we somtimes smiled, usually when someone else was on the step-up bench, other than that it was a breeze, If you like Tornados,. Lifter? good for pullups and pushups, bad for the runs, and remember the Corps is one for all, all for one, if the guy next to you needs help, give it.

mrbsox
12-22-02, 08:52 PM
I would have to go with the.....

FOOTLOCKER Manual of arms as the toughest :D

03Infantry
12-22-02, 09:15 PM
What is the step up bench and the Footlocker Manual of arms

wrbones
12-22-02, 09:38 PM
I thought rack drills were the toughest, myself.

Earle Comstock
12-23-02, 03:31 AM
Blanket party's were kind of fun if it wasn't thrown for you! But if it was , I don't think I would have liked it. Semper Fi , Do Or Die , Cpl Commie , Kill A Commie For Mommy:rambo:

firstsgtmike
12-23-02, 04:44 AM
03Infantry,

I forget the height, but the step-ups were like standing in front of a curb, step up, one foot up, then the other foot up, step down, one foot down and then the other foot down. Try doing THAT for five minutes, non-stop.

The foot-locker Manual of Arms was just that. Instead of running through the Manual of Arms with a rifle, you used your loaded footlocker. Right Shoulder ARMS, Left Shoulder ARMS, etc.

THe foot locker drill was bad, but doing it with a fully packed seabag with your complete issue in it, including your bucket, was a REAL butch.

Sand Field days were fun too. Quanset huts, not barracks. Move EVERYTHING out, footlockers and double decker steel bunks. Everyone, all 78 of us in the platoon, would then get a bucket of sand and dump it on the deck (floor). Following that, each of us would have to pour a bucket of water over the sand. Then, armed with regulation issue scrubbing brushes (about 2 by 5 inches) clean up the place, return the racks and footlockers and stand by for a barracks inspection.

On one or two occassions, if the barracks didn't pass, we had to do it over again.


Those were the good ole days. God, how I miss them!

Barndog
12-23-02, 05:40 AM
You mean your barracks actually passed inspection in boot camp, Top? Whoa...... (Barndog begins taking notes)

Sand Field days - boy I miss those. We used the sand in place of Comet and Spic-n-Span. And, for the life of me - I have never seen anyone since then, wax and highly buff shine a concrete floor so that it looks like a mirror your could shave in!!

Man I miss those days. My fun-bucket was full all the time.

Art Petersn
12-23-02, 06:02 AM
The hardest part was elbow and toes. This might go back a little to far for some. I don't thingk I had any skin on my elbows all the time I was in boot camp.

wrbones
12-23-02, 11:08 AM
We did the elbows and toes thing....with the blasted locks fer our footlockers! LOL.

Try unlocking a lock on a footlocker while perched on yer elbows and toes on the floor in front of it.....

Ed Fleming
12-23-02, 01:49 PM
It was all tough, till you learned the basics of keeping your mouth shut and listening to what you were told. I found my Senior D I two years ago and spent a whole weekend with him. He asked me if he had ever thumped me and I had to reoly in the negative. I must have done something right ! Semper Fi Ed Fleming P I July August September 1955

Red Dragon
12-23-02, 03:05 PM
The shock that I no longer was a snot nose 18 yr old teenage who knew it all. That I was just another maggot and would grew/be trained to become a Marine.

The Red Dragon

mardet65
12-23-02, 05:30 PM
I went through PI March '65 and four of the worst were:

1. foot locker drill.

2. holding your arm out straight with your M-14 hanging from the crook of your finger by the front site blade.

3. THE IRON CROSS...hanging from the pullup bar by your armpits with your arms over the bar and your hands grasping your belt.
I believe I spent more time on the cross than off it!

4. WATCHING TV...peched on your elbows with your feet on the bar of the bottom rack behind you. If you've never done it, it's something like an inclined plane where your feet are higher than your head and your body is inclined downward balanced on your elbows on the deck. It gets really hairy when you change channels by reaching out with one arm pretending to turn the knob. Are we havin' fun yet???
Any old salts remember these?
:banana:

wrbones
12-23-02, 06:01 PM
didn't do the iron cross, and it was the M-16 fer me. A couple pounds lighter.....but still..... LOL

AKAMarine23
12-23-02, 06:47 PM
I can't wait for BootCamp.And being a female it is rare to look forward to a challenge like The Marines but all you can really do to help yourself ...is to suck it up .I leave in about two weeks and I am gettin nervous. Good luck poolees

Art Petersn
12-23-02, 07:23 PM
mardet65


Where the hell did the TV come from. Of course in 1955 I don't thingk they had more than a coulple TV's on the whole base.

03Infantry
12-23-02, 07:47 PM
Thanks for all the help. I know it is going to be hard but I want more thing to be a Marine

donaldduct
12-24-02, 09:11 AM
Flood and Airraid drills were real great.DI would come in after lites out,turn on the lites,yell flood or airraid and you would have to either climb on top rack or get under bottom rack with your foot locker of course there would two you trying to share the same space. God I love that now

Kalbo
12-24-02, 09:44 AM
Art,

In 1990, we had the so called "opportunity" to watch TV. We had two choices, "The Weather Channel" (the static on the tv when there is no signal) or "In Living Color" (the color panel when a station goes off air).

Semper Fi,
Kalbo


Tonight's episode of "In Living Color":

Kalbo
12-24-02, 09:50 AM
The weather channel, their forecasting snow:

leroy8541
12-24-02, 08:20 PM
hardest part was trying to get used to staying organised hence comes the term unorganised grabastic pieces of sh1t! If you can't keep your bedroom clean and you clothes hung-up in your closet now your in for a rude awakening mister.

ecomsg68
12-24-02, 10:32 PM
Let me see ... I'm thinking ... don't rush me!

The whole experience, from the date I hit the yellow foots in 68 till the day I graduated and was called a MARINE! It was and still remainds the most difficult single act I've ever accomplished!

I can't start picking it apart because it would be like seperating the pain from the blisters, depression from enligthment, sorrow from excitement, lonineness from comradeship and the EGA from Semper Fi! No easy task ...

Art Petersn
12-25-02, 02:06 AM
One of the hardest parts of boot camp was spending Christmas there 1955, 47 years ago. Time sure does fly.

mrbsox
12-25-02, 06:44 AM
The sand fleas.... I forgot the sand fleas....

Oh, wait..... maybe 'bones needs an explination of sand fleas.... what with his Sunglasses and all :D

Remember the movie GREMLINS ??? Thousands of teeny tiny Gremlins, just waiting for you to "just fukc!ng BEGIN" :p

Yep... the sand fleas. But only P.I. Marines would understand

DSchmitke
12-25-02, 06:56 AM
Yes I remember the sand fleas. As Senior Drill Instructor Gysgt. Ford would say after chow. You had yours now it's time for the sand fleas to have theirs

03Infantry
12-29-02, 01:01 AM
D@MN I WANT TO GO TO BOOTCAMP NOW!!!!!!!

wrbones
12-29-02, 01:39 AM
Yep. Sunglasses, sun tan lotion and mai tai's. Standard issue in San Diego!

I miss the mai tai's myself...havin the DI serve them to you twice a day....

Gettin up late....hell we didn't have to get up til reville! That was sleepin in to me! Free food! Get yer own bed! Hell, they even give a rifle! Fer free! How can ya beat that! Yep. Ain't nuthin' like boot camp is there! Easy as pie!

:banana:

firstsgtmike
12-29-02, 05:12 AM
In bootcamp, I guess you learn to appreciate the little things in life that we usually take for granted.

I graduated in December, and was given boot leave before going to ITR. MY folks were living on he East Coast, and I was in San Diego. I told them I wouldn't be coming home but would probably get a hotel. (I ended up going home with a boot camp buddy.)

My mom said that she guessed the first thing I'd be looking for was a beer. I said No. My dad said the first thing I'd be looking for was a broad. I said No.

What I was REALLY looking forward to was being able to sit down on the crapper and be the only one in the room. The only farts I'd smell would be my own.

The other thing I wanted was to take a shower and know that the back I was scrubbing was MINE.

Then I wanted to spend an hour or so in a hot tub..

The beer and the broads came the second day.

Art Petersn
12-29-02, 06:43 AM
Top You are so right I almost had forgotten how I had felt trying to shower, take a dump and shave with a bunch of strangers the first day in camp. No wounder I never want to stay with anybody when I travel. I get a lot of people mad at me because I will not stay at somebody's place.

firstsgtmike
12-29-02, 07:55 AM
The story is about an annual convention. One of the managers snored so loud that he rattled the hotel windows.

They always put a new guy in with him and had a good laugh over his horror story when he came down to breakfast in the morning.

This year, apparently the newbie had heard the story. Everyone was waiting when he came down to breakfast. He had no comment to make, and looked totally and completely rested.

His roommate manager came staggering down, looking shell shocked. He waited until the newbie finsihed and left and related what happened.

RHIP. He showered first, got into bed, and was looking over his notes for the followingday. The newbie came out of the john, wearing purple silk pajamas, walked over, kissed him on the cheek, said goodnoght and got into his own bed.

The manager said, " And I wouldn't close my eyes, even to blink, for the rest of the ******* night."

USMC-FO
12-29-02, 09:20 AM
I looked at this and thought, like most of us, of things like sand fleas, foot locker drill, holding an M-14 out at arms length, and even the occassional "whuppin" as my list. THEN I saw what Top had noted and just howled with laughter--enough so that my 9 year old son just came in and asked what the ruckus was about. He also read Top's message and had a good laugh too! So that brought back the really great memories: like Top noted, showering with 50 or more naked recruits and really being being worried about whose d**K was pressed up on your leg. Or when my mother sent down my wallet and my two ADI's discovered my school mates grad pic in it as they picked through the wallet--we had joined under the buddy plan--and they hauled him up to the front of the squad bay and made us hug and rub the back of each other's a**es in front of the whole platoon. Fortuantely no kisses !! There was Pvt Rao, who's mom sent him two big boxes of cookies and since she did not send boxes for all of us he was going to eat BOTH boxes on his own--chased with a canteen of warm water--followed some bend and thrusts until, well let's just say he made quite a mess on the deck. But the most memorable moment was when some stupid jerk failed to flush the toilet after a dump! Our senior DI saw that and marched the entire platoon into the head where we reached in and ALL picked something up ! We formed up and went out on the 3rd Bat grinder to show the other platoons what we had in our hands. From there across to the marsh where a suitable military funeral was held for the "Pvt's remains" I will never forget that event as long as I live. At the time I could not imagine a more difficult thing to do. Now I just smile at the moment but also reflect that every swinging d**k in the platoon did exactly as ordered--no one balked. So obviously we were learning something at PI about following orders.

Platoon 359 Aug-Nov 1962

mardet65
12-29-02, 10:14 AM
Originally posted by Art Petersn
mardet65


Where the hell did the TV come from. Of course in 1955 I don't thingk they had more than a coulple TV's on the whole base.

Art:
Somehow you missed the point on this.
Watchin' TV was the term used for the punishment inflicted upon us by the DI's for our transgression -whatever it may have been at that particular time. THERE WAS NO TV!!!!
Try to imagine your body in a pushup position, inclined upwards supported only by your elbows on the deck and your toes on the frame of the lower bunk behind you. Now imagine reaching out with one hand to turn the IMAGINARY knob to change channels.
That was the ONLY TV watching we did in boot camp.

Art Petersn
12-29-02, 12:01 PM
Mardet65 you went through boot camp a little after me. Who's to know mabe things had changed a little. I don't have to imagine the pushup position I did it ten years before you did. It was just as bad then.

Sparrowhawk
12-29-02, 01:27 PM
sleeping at the position of attention!

Art Petersn
12-29-02, 01:34 PM
Hawk when you could do that you knew you were going to make it.

03Infantry
12-29-02, 07:51 PM
AAAH I WANT TO GO TO BOOT CAMP NOW!!!! 4 MONTHS AND COUNTING

mardet65
12-30-02, 08:52 AM
Originally posted by Art Petersn
Mardet65 you went through boot camp a little after me. Who's to know mabe things had changed a little. I don't have to imagine the pushup position I did it ten years before you did. It was just as bad then.
No problem Art, I'm sure you know what a pushup is... I just wanted to make sure you "Old Salts" didn't think we had it too much easier than you did!



http://www.usmc0311.com/images/bin/sigs/gerald.gif
Semper Fi

JRtheSTAR
12-30-02, 09:04 AM
Hey MarDet65, you must have got a hold of Willie, your signature looks good.

mardet65
12-30-02, 12:32 PM
Originally posted by JRtheSTAR
Hey MarDet65, you must have got a hold of Willie, your signature looks good.
JR:
I sent you a private message thanking you but you beat me to the punch viewing my new signature. Anyway, thanks for putting me on the right track. Willie was the guy for the job and he did a great one on this. I appreciate the help of all who assisted.
Jerry

http://www.usmc0311.com/images/bin/sigs/gerald.gif

Art Petersn
12-30-02, 02:26 PM
mardet65

I visted PI last year and I know even today it isn't easy. I was just funning you a little . I thought mabe you would come back with something like (who are you kidding, you probley didn't even have TV went you went through PI.) The truth is TV had not been on the market for very long in them days and only a few families had them.

Your signature does look great. Impressive to.

semper fi art

USMC0311
12-30-02, 08:20 PM
Originally posted by 03Infantry
I am going to Bootcamp in about 4 months and just want to know what the hardest thing was and what I should do to get myself fully ready to go.

the hardest part of Boot is the time between the Yellow foot prints and Graduation

wrbones
12-30-02, 08:32 PM
LMAO There ya Joe! Short but sweet! LOL.

I wasn't sure I was a Marine til that final "DISMISSED!" rang out!

MillRatUSMC
12-30-02, 09:44 PM
Some "Hollywood Marines" might remember Camp Matthews Rifle Range.
There was a gully that went by the name of "Big and Little Agony".
A favorite of many Drill Instructors.
Had to "Duck Walking" up and down the sides of Big and Little Agony" holding your full seabag over your head.
Till the Drill Instructor got tired.
Those were the days my friend and we thought they would never end.
Couldn't complain because everyone was being treated the same.
Instead of looking at the worst of boot camp, we should look at some of the best parts of boot camp.
Drilling and shooting come to mind.
When you were able to do those things, you look at what you and the platoon had accomplished in such a short time.
You knew then that you were going to accomplish what "FEW" had before you and many have since then.

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo 1687399 also a "Hollywood Marine"

SHOOTER1
12-30-02, 10:00 PM
I remember Big and Little Agony, and not with love, and you picked my two favorites also, Drilling and Shooting, kept up the shooting, it did come in handy, in and out of the Corps.

MillRatUSMC
12-30-02, 10:58 PM
Should have read;
Had to "Duck Walk" up and down the sides of "Big and Little Agony" while holding your full seabag over your head.
Till the Drill Instructor got tired.

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

greensideout
12-30-02, 11:40 PM
Oh yes, the duck walk up and down Mt. Agony---I still have the stretch marks on my legs. (Was that good for us?--- A little humor injected to brighten the day.)) We did it with our footlocker on our shoulder. The DI stood at the top, (high ground of course) and I remember him shouting----MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!

I really didn't like it.

Semper Fi

JRtheSTAR
12-31-02, 05:43 AM
Ahhh..........Mt. Agony, you guys are bringing back memories. I think the last time I heard of Mt. Agony I was still in the Corps.

mardet65
12-31-02, 07:43 AM
Hey:
You "Hollywood Marines" just gave me something to appreciate about Parris Island... it was flat!

jbavol
01-15-03, 01:35 PM
Hardest part was:
1. Not smiling, I rack was by the quarter deck and when anyone was digged I would look over or smile and I'd be right there with them.
2. Sand fleas. Try not to scratch and kill the sand fleas, they will get you into trouble.
3. Eating (but only at first) Eating in less than five minutes with your heals together and feet at a 45 degree angle and with one hand. DON'T EAT IN LINE!

jbavol
01-15-03, 01:37 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot the Exorcist Game. That is when right after a meal you have to drink water until you puke. This was done until everyone in the Platoon puked. Then you got to clean it.

Otherwise it was the stupid games played like come here, go away or whatever you do is not fast enough so you have to do it again. It's all bad going through it but you'll have fond memories afterwards.

Semper Fi

Ed Fleming
01-15-03, 03:42 PM
Try taking footlockers into showers and rowing them like a boat, with the showers pouring down on everyone. The best part is trying to find your gear and get it back into the footlocker after the D I secures the "activity". From 1955. Found my senior D I last year and spent a day with him at his home in San Clemente. He retired as a Major. GOD I LOVE THAT MAN !!!!

JChristin
02-08-03, 02:49 AM
Oh the memories of those fun filled packed 14 weeks of absolute misery and character building events.

All of boot was hard. We'll not every moment. I "sneaked" a smoke one day. Funny thing is, I don't smoke! But I had one anyway! Some nice Sgt. passed me a smoke and said, "take it into the head private." Then afterwards, I just knew the Senior Drill Instructor would smell it on me. Didn't happen. At that moment, I knew there was a God. But I was also aware the SSGt. Price sat on the right hand of the father. I didn't push anything again.

The funnest day for me was standing in line waiting for our shots. We all looked like cattle waiting for death to leap out at us. Male Recruits and Female Recruits alike. It seems like we stood in line for ever. I watched a few of the male recruits passing out and others crying. Then my turn. Oh my god, they're coming at me with those shot guns. It was all over in a split second. Still wear those shot marks on my arms with pride.

Best thing I ever did, other than have two sons, was to become a Marine. When I think of a ooh rah, it comes from the inner lining of my gut. OOOOOH RAHHHHHHHHH

Semper Fi my band of Devil Dog
JChristin

FREDDY
02-08-03, 11:35 AM
Man the memories after all this time its still there

Alexander Haile
02-19-03, 08:59 PM
I heard from my Senior Marine Instructor that the first two weeks are the hardest. Not to say that the rest is easy, but is the first two weeks really the hardest?

J. WILSON
02-19-03, 09:14 PM
ONLY UNTIL YOU GO THROUGH HELL WEEK, 2ND PHASE, AT PENDLETON.

Soon2BkidTx
03-09-03, 03:44 AM
Im going to Pendleton....Alexander Haile, thats the same thing i heard...its bc the DI's are trying to get the people that cant hack it to quit...but i heard that was the first 3weeks which i thought those were the hell weeks...cuase after that, thats when you start training...like grass, feild, team, rifle, swim and etc...J. Wilson, what weeks are Hell Weeks, if you dont mind me asking?

Brian

Roberto T. Cast
03-09-03, 04:20 AM
The hardest part of Boot Camp? All of the 8 weeks of Boot Camp were hard and those who couldn't hack it, were taken into the DI hut and you could hear the banging of the wanna bee marine against the office lockers with the DI's shouting at him. Because of their **** up, we all had to pay the price with extra push ups in the sand pit until the DI got tire. If the recruit still did not shape up, then they were thrown by the wayside, and transfer to another platoon. Back then, there NO BABY BLUE MARINES (I want to get out). Eight (8) weeks of HELL with 13 more months tour of duty of Vietnam HELL. Some of us MARINES are lucky to be a little bit sane. And to top it off, those of us who made it back, we came home to fight another war, a home front war full of protesters.
:marine:

Earle Comstock
03-09-03, 04:30 AM
The hardest part of Boot Camp was getting off the bus when I arrived at Parris Island . Although that only lasted for a New York minute , then the fear settled in . Oh yea , then when you met that real nice Marine , I think we called him our Senior Drill Instructor . I just don't remember any part of Boot Camp being easier or harder than another . It all starts with that bus ride in , unless of course you are a Hollywood Marine . Them lucky Marines got Limo's , and are even issued sunglasses . I had a choice , I wanted Parris Island , if only I could do it all over again . I WOULD , IN A HEARTBEAT !

Roberto T. Cast
03-09-03, 08:21 AM
I flew from San Antonio, Texas to San Diego, Calif. We had no limos or buses. I remember very well, like it was yesterday. We boared cattle truck from the airport to MCRD in San Diego. We were herded in cattle truck at night and we did not sleep all that night. I too would sign up and go active in a New York minute.

cooper210
03-12-03, 08:21 PM
After slamming a full canteen before hitting the rack and suddenly awaking to the steps of a D.I. walking past just minutes before the lights go on and coming to the terrified feeling that worse than anything you have to pee.........Lights go on and you can't think straight......you get online and play the back in forth game with a bladder just about to burst......then you get online and the D.I. says "PORT SIDE MAKE A HEAD CALL".... of course you are on the starboard side.. you don't dare move because that would just prolong the pain with a morning "pit" call. Then you hear "YOU HAVE 10, 7, 4, 2, 1" REPLIED WITH, "FREEZE RECRUIT FREEZE". Hopefully if all the guys on the port side made it back on time, you will make it to the head just as your bladder explodes!!!!!
The Moral: Make yourself wake-up about 2 hours before lights on and go pee!!!!
Your body will get adjusted to doing it automatically about the middle of 2 phase!!!

wrbones
03-12-03, 09:06 PM
I remember that! That last half hour was a ***** sometimes! LOL

'Course we were all awake anyway! Just layin' there waitin'.....