Semper Fi

The New England Journal of Medicine ^ | July 1, 2004 | Pamela Grim, M.D.

[JoeSixPack1]

31 years ago today, July 3, 1973 I finally graduated from PI.

Life is still good, but it sure hurts a lot more!

Semper Fi

[doosee]

This article brought back some memories. Army boot camp, Ft. Dix, NJ, where two guys attempted suicide in my company. You know, the DI's never even told us if they made it or not. Never found out. Memories, memories.

[LadyX]

I perhaps am the only Marine you can **hug** without getting into trouble..:))

LOL

Oops! Race Bannon's mother was a Marine in WWII, though!

[TexasTransplant]

31 years ago today, July 3, 1973 I finally graduated from PI.

 

31 years ago Monday (July 5th 1973) I got off the plane in San Diego, (with hair)  seems like yesterday, the bus ride to RTC what a hoot.

[JoeSixPack1]

I perhaps am the only Marine you can **hug** without getting into trouble..:))

Only if you're willing, otherwise, you're just like the rest of us! TROUBLE!!

Happy 4th, LadyX
X X X X

<|:-)~~

[RaceBannon]

Well, Dont forget MudPuppy!!

And Fairfaxwatch, too, She is a WM! :)

[RaceBannon]

My mask fell out of my carrier and I got caught picking it up.

The second time through was actually not so bad! :)

I was used to it by then, I was kind of amused at how much everyone was spitting and choking and I was able to just listen and watch and cry.

But I will never forget it! :)

I wondered if I and the rest of the guys I went through it with the first time looked like that, I dont know, Maybe I was too busy seeing the snot fly out my nose and throat and the geysers out of my eyes, but I SWEAR we didn't make all the noises as the squad who was there on my second attempt.

[lainde]

bttt

[LadyX]

"31 years ago Monday (July 5th 1973) I got off the plane in San Diego, (with hair) seems like yesterday, the bus ride to RTC what a hoot."

BUS RIDE?!!
Why, back in the Good Old Days of The Corps, during the Korean Conflict, we had something "a little different"..:))

Sworn in at Jacksonville Naval Air Station, the entry point for Florida Marines, on 25 June 1952, I was placed in charge of the 8 of us WM's going to Parris Island. We went the next day by train, me clutching all the meal tickets, to Yemassee, SC - that name made famous in a certain Cadence Call..:))

Nice smooth-riding BUS from there the 26 miles to Port Royal, near PI?
Oh, no - we transferred to an ancient (I swear it was from the 1800's and the Civil War!) coal-eating steam locomotive with four cars, complete with AIR CONDITIONING - - as in huge no-glass windows so the hot air could properly envelop us!
We chugged slowly past farmlands in an oven with wheels - - LOL

Debarking at the station at Port Royal, there was a bus there for the short hop to PI, and also hundreds of male new recruits.

It was at that moment we first heard that catchy name - shouted loudly and with enthusiasm - "Look, BAMS" !!

It took a while for me to figure out that really meant:
Beautiful American Marines..:))

Hey, Joe - we came to FR and the Whitewater Days around the same time. I lurked from the fall of 1997, and registered in April of 1998.
In those days, a reply stayed on the Front Page of the Latest Comments for most of the day!!

Be good to Florida - Land of my Birth and Childhood until 18, with return engagements 3 more times...have sons in the West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale areas...

The Corps is doing us proud - as always will be - -

~ ~ ~ Parade Deck - Parris Island, SC ~ ~ ~

[LadyX]

We WMs went through the gas chamber, but I did not have an extreme reaction.
It is probable we were not in as long a time as the men...

[Lancey Howard]

I was quickly corrected when I called him by name: you call each patient "recruit," and he calls himself "this recruit" — no "I" allowed.

(Actually, in 1st Battalion at PI it's "private" and "the private".)

Great article!
BUMP!!!

[Diver Dave]

Proud to know ya, BAM
Happy Fourth of July.
Happy Birthday America!!! Land that I love!

[LadyX]

Look at what I found on the same Google site as the Iwo Jima Monument at Parris Island !!
There were more photographs of past days of The Corps - - -

Arriving at the Yemassee Train Station:

Old Platoon Photo:

[dixie sass]

You sure don't look old enough to have been in the Corp during the Korean War.

[LadyX]

Love your tagline, Joe - -

(Freedom Stands Because Heroes Serve.)

[deadhead]

Happy Independence Day BAM :-)

[LadyX]

Hey, cuzzin dixie!
You know what it was to be part of the Marine Corps....
can't be explained in mere words.....

[Lancey Howard]

Incredibly, my platoon never did the gas chamber. Something happened the day we were supposed to do it (I forget what) and the schedule was tight (I was the admin private - - every night I printed up the index cards with the next day's schedule that the DIs put into their campaign covers) so we had to skip the gas chamber.

I got plenty of tastes of CS gas during infantry training at Geiger, though.
Nine seconds, heck - - I got that mask on in less than six.

[JOE43270]

God Bless them all. The DI's methods may not be politically correct, but they get results that are very good. I'm not a Marine, I am an Airman. My sergeants taught me so much and expected a lot out of me and when I became a sergeant I carried on in their tradition. My son who is twelve years U. S. Navy has told me that I was like a Gunnery Sergeant when he was growing up. I was only an E-5 but I accepted this as a compliment and was proud to be thought of like someone in such a great group of people. I can tell you this that it works be cause if my son would have only made me half as proud of him I would have gotten more than I deserved. God Bless all of these people in uniform because they are the Best of the Best.

[Shooter 2.5]