In my day at PI, the whole twelve weeks were a "Crucible".
We not only had our asses ran all over the Island, but kicked all over it as well. Gunny Ermey would have been considered the "Good Guy" in our DI contingent. This was Pre-Vietnam and the DI's had plenty of time to "mess with your mind".
There was not only no "Pogey bait" but God help you if you received a cake or cookies in the mail. You would have eat the whole thing and wash it down with soapy water. And there were no phone calls until you got to LeJuene after Graduation for ITR (Infantry Training Regiment) which all newly minted Marines had to go through.
While the training was thorough it was really a Rite of Initiation into the Brotherhood of the Corps as much as anything else.
Having said that, the Corps has gotten way too PC at the higher levels as evidenced by the persection of the Haditha Marines and others in Iraq. If this is not corrected it will eventually destroy the Corps as a unique organization as it has always been in the past.
ping
Must be those "Hollywood" Marines. :-)
We had to eat the box of cookies dry, finish mail call, then sing 3 verses of Elvis's "Return To Sender" for each miss addressed letter in the stack before lights out. Then sleep at attention for having a crummy singing voice!
Soay water! I wish! :-)
Semper Fi