[NormsRevenge]

I am so glad that I took advantage of a San Diego layover on a cruise last fall and spent a couple of hours viewing the Museum at MCRD and the grinder and parade ground area.

The quonset huts are long since gone, but that darn airfield next door where recruits almostweeped as they watched planes come and go for 3 months or so still remains.

God Bless all those who passed thru the portals of MCRD San Diego and Parris Island as raw recruits and emerged as United States Marines.

[NormsRevenge]

Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego

http://www.mcrdsd.usmc.mil/

[Michael Barnes]

MCRD San Dog warms the heart....

Mount Mother F*cker bump...

[Marine_Uncle]

"God Bless all those who passed thru the portals of MCRD San Diego and Parris Island as raw recruits and emerged as United States Marines."

I second that with a really really big HOOOOOORRRRRRAAAAHHHH.
I only vistied Parris Island for a three day stint on grad day of nephew a few years back, but I can only say I felt like a 20 year old again! It was simply fabulouse to walk all over the place, talking with Marines. Loved it!
When on Fridays final ceremonies where conducted and those new Marines passed in review........and they started to play Semper Fidelis..............the tears had no place to hide!

[TexConfederate1861]

Yes...unfortunately Naval Training Center, San Diego, and Camp Nimitz, were closed in the last round. I attended Boot Camp there in 1978. Right next door to MCRD.

[JoeSixPack1]

San Diego? MCRD, San Diego? Hey, isn't that where they make those new fangled Hollywood Marines??? Ya know the ones that get Navy issued Sunglasses???

I thought the girl scouts took that place over long ago! :-)

Semper Fi
MCRD, PARRIS ISLAND, S C, Grad: 7/3/'73 (Home of the indestructable sand flea!, a protected species!) :-)

[King_Corey]

I wondered if anyone would mention "The Grinder". Whenever MCRD San Diego is mentioned that seems to come pretty quick. My older brother went to the Navy side in '81 and spoke of it too. Must be a MEMORABLE piece of real estate.

[Lancey Howard]

Parris Island sandflea bump.

[CT]

God Bless all those who passed thru the portals of MCRD San Diego and Parris Island as raw recruits and emerged as United States Marines.

Platoon 3110 - October 1970.

And later had the honor of working at Merrill Lynch with the former base commander, General William Joslyn.

[GSWarrior]

The Pit bump.

[BBell]

I would have rather dealt with the sand fleas then watch those planes come and go everyday and night. I will never forget being on fire watch and watching the planes come and go, the boats in the harbor come and go(some with Christmas lights), and of course the cars on the highways. All the lights of the City surrounding the place and you are here, stuck for the time. I wanted to jumped the fence sooooo bad. I remember that when I went to ITS and we had our humps we dropped a whole lot of Parris Island Marines. They only humped through the sand there, no hills.I got so sick of those guys calling us Hollywood Marines. They must have brained washed them there to think that they were better.
All I can say is that I would have rather stared out in to the dark then into a City.

[kellynla]

Well, I'll be sorry to see MCRD close if it is.

Hollywood Marine, 1968

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[BBell]

I forgot. Spending our free time on Sundays washing our cloths by hand. The Parris Island Marines had their's done for them. I even remember a few who didn't believe me when I told them we washed our cloths by hand. And of course, we were issued boxers where they were issued briefs. But in San Diego we were allowed high and tights, they all were bald.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

Semper Fi bump

PLT 1114 MCRD San Diego
Oct-Dec 1974

[The KG9 Kid]

Quonset huts were there when I went through MCRD-SD at the end of Reagan's second term. I seem to recall six of them or so on the far side of the chow hall from 2nd Bn along the gates facing the San Diego Airport flightline.

I remember:

1. I was a local SoCal boy and was dropped off in the EARLY AFTERNOON by my recruiter, that bastard. The Marines hazed me all day until the buses full of recruits showed up at midnight. I was given a traditional first meal of hard chipped beef and tabasco sauce, white bread, and applesauce on the side. Revolting. I had nothing but that to go on for the first 24 hours, which was pure agony.

2. The bus ride from MCRD to RFTD in 2nd phase. We had to keep our heads down in the bus so as not to be seen by civilians. That was the only time I remember napping during the day for a blissful 40 mins.

3. The frightening leadup to the dreaded 'Mount Mother****er' at RFTD. What a letdown when I finally saw it. I zipped right up to the summit. In the fleet, I climbed hills far worse carrying far more not too far from Mt. Mother.

4. The amusing little signs over the 'Slide for Life' on the Confidence Course that warned of disturbing the habitat of endangered guppies.

5. The disagreeable platoon Guide we had who thought it was his job to terrorize fellow recruits when the DIs went to sleep. In first phase, he fell from the top of the rope climb into the sand pit and shattered his ankle. I laughed and got burned for it by the DIs. I know he was still in PCP platoon when I graduated because he had to 'Gangway, Marine!' for me at the chow hall with my high & tight, cardboard-stiff utilities, bloused cuffs, shiny boots, and coveted 'elite' green t-shirt while he had a gray sweatshirt, crutches, and a cover that looked like 'Jiffy Pop®'. Yes, he was still yelling at some other PCP recruit as I came up from behind him. Quite happy to leave that miserably unlucky schmuck in my wake, I was.

6. The crack of rifles at 6:00am on Edson Range when the early morning fog smells like sea salt and decaying seaweed.

7. The red clay dirt ("California Loam") from the pits near the barracks at Edson Range: "Hi Ho! Hi HO! It's TOOOO the pit we GO! To bend and thrust and eat some dust ...Hi HO, Hi HO, Hi HO, Hi HOOOO!"

8. "Indy 500" the week before graduation: Put your footlockers on your bunks, fill two GI cans with soapy water, kick them over, grab your white hand towel, assume 'mountain climber' position on the floor, and use your feet to propel you in 100 slippery laps around the perimeter of the squad bay in an ocean of water until someone collapses from exhaustion or the SDI ("Daddy") comes in and saves you from the juniors. Worst punishment ever endured in all of USMC Basic.

9. I actually *liked* the gas chamber. I got in trouble again for laughing with snot running from my nose to my toes with my arms stretched out to the side. I wanted to go in again. Worst trouble I ever got in was when the prohibited MRE gum (two green Chicklets) fell out of my chest pocket *while* I was bending for some other perpetration I was guilty of.

10. Saved the best for last: I found a whole unsmoked cigarette on the ground near the porta-crappers in the field at RFTD. It was fresh too. I carried it around surreptitiously all day in my chest pocket (buttoned up this time after the lamentable 'Chicklet incident') until nighttime where I smoked it all alone in my fighting hole. That still counts as one of the finest seven minutes of my life. I returned the favor later on in the fleet when I dropped a cig or two near the same recruit training area as I was passing through in a LAV-25. If some recruit got caught, that's his problem.