Getting the Boot (A 34 yr old reporter joins the Marines)

The Evening Sun Online ^ | July 04,2004 | Bill Cahir

[alfa6]

Stripped naked in the office shower room, I was appalled.

I had been jogging every other day for several months. Still, when I looked in the mirror, the man I saw was fat and soft, almost unbelievably so. I wondered:

Was there a United States Marine in there somewhere? * * *

The recruiter was ignoring my calls....

Apparently the Marine Corps wasn't dying to sign up a 34-year-old reporter from Washington, D.C. Ordinarily, the Marines recruit young men and women 17 to 27, and college graduates as old as 29. I was far past the regular cutoffs.

Diligence produced a meeting with an officer in charge of recruiting in the Baltimore-Washington region. The major was intrigued. He had me take the Marine Corps physical fitness test.

I ran the three-mile track in 21:10, did six pull-ups and 84 crunches. A perfect score was 18 minutes, 20 pull-ups and 100 crunches. My run time was decent. The recruiters took up my cause.

[MilesVeritatis]

Agreed. I don't think it is any mistake that the reporter's DI called him a "motherf---ing communist p---y." Bill Cahir excluded, the appellation (with an emphasis on communist) is well-earned on the part of many in the press.

[stylin_geek]

A patriotic loon?

[alfa6]

Ah, found it, all hail google, eh.

Making the Corps by Thomas E. Ricks

If you can get a copy of it you will get a pretty good insight on how the Corps trains its members. Mr. Ricks alternates between following the boots and what life was like where they came from and what life will be like after boot camp.

All in all a pretty good read.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[BluH2o]

I went thru Parris Island back in the mid-60's ... I've also visited the "Island" since. Basic training today, at least the physical part, is every bit as demanding. There is much more emphasis on hand to hand combat now, part of it designed along the line of police training ... subduing a individual without killing them. Useful in urban warfare. Back in my day the so called mistreatment of POW's at abu-Ghraib(sp?) prison was a cake walk in comparison to what we had to tolerate as recruits. The treatment of recruits today by DI's is closely supervised by officers and senior NCO's ... "thumping" a common occurrence back then, has been virtually eliminated in todays recruit training cycle.

[SAMWolf]

In October 2003, the recruiter asked the decisive question: In the future, would I look back and regret my inaction if I didn't enlist?

I signed.

Smart recruiter. Marine Corps Bump!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

GREAT READ PING!

alfa6; : Thanks!

[Soaring Feather]

bump

[dts32041]

See post 26, I remembered, of course, I don't know if they were on the set at the same time.

[beckett]

You made it Ca-heer

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

[The Mayor]

BUMP!!

Interesting read..

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[BulletBobCo]

Would that be "Boot" by Daniel Da Cruz? That was a good read. I sent my nephew a copy before he went to boot camp at San Diego.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Got it.

[Ed Straker]

Right. Very strict rules. One of the first things DIs were required to do when they picked us up in 1989 was ask if any of us would be offended by certain words. (absolutely true story!) Of course everyone was too nervous to say anything, so they took that as a 'no'.

Also, we were told to warn them (Charlie's in the bush, Sir!) if we saw any white pickup trucks, as these were the DIs' seniors, keeping an eye on them.

From time to time, officers would come around and ask us things like have we ever been physically or verbally abused, have we ever been denied a head call, or permission to go to sickbay.

[kenth]

Editor's note: After reading this first-person account of boot camp by reporter Bill Cahir, the Marine Corps has opened an investigation into possible violations of policy by drill instructors.

What, the rifle butt against his head or the cursing? They didn't harm him. Far from it, they turned him into a Marine.

[Ed Straker]

PS - I went to Parris Island at age 24, my bunkmate was the oldest in our platoon at 27. We were a little older platoon, about a third were reservists; Started training in May, before the high schools let out and all the 17 and 18 year olds arrived.

[PUGACHEV]

"Ah, found it, all hail google, eh. Making the Corps by Thomas E. Ricks"

Great, thanks! I found a few used copies on the Am**zon Marketplace for $2.

[Turbo Pig]

I never got hit, threatened, and/or cursed at when I went through Boot Camp...;-)

[Ed Straker]

I was never grabbed or shoved, was never hit by a thrown Master lock or upper receiver; I was never called anything but my last name, 'private', or 'recruit'. So obviously those rules work! 8~)