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.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Great story, and Blackfive is really Good.

[Katydidnt]

Hey, BSF, where are the BC glasses issued to every recruit who wear glasses or contacts? Big black frames, very nerdy, so much so that no member of the opposite sex would ever give a second glance-hence the BC, as in birth control.
My son graduated PI in January and deploys to Iraq tomorrow. To Freepers who pray, please put Kyle on your list!

[oh8eleven]

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.

Roger that - Plt 105, 8 Dec 66.
Semper Fi ...

[lt.america]

You are not allowed to swear at the recruits or touch them unless you are doing it for instructional purposes. But, although these look like violations of SOP, the fact that the author states he doesn't feel he was hazed or abused may lessen the blow for the offending DI's

[BluH2o]

0811 = "Cannon Cocker"
0311 = "Grunt"

Marine Corps basic MOS ... started out as 0311, ended up 0811.

[Centurion2000]

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'.

That's odd, I was in boot in 1989 (June 6th, platoon 1053 MCRD San Deigo) and they never bothered with those kinds of niceties.

[Fawnn]

Bump!

[Kitty Mittens]

Good read! Thanks for the ping!

[Tiger6]

Went through Boot Camp in 1951. We did get beaten and sworn at then, and duck walked till we all had bloody knees, but we were all the better for what we learned.
I respect the training we received. The harder you work in Boot Camp, the easier it is to stay alive in combat.

[Ed Straker]

This was right after we met our DIs and the officer administered their oath, and they were required to ask this in front of the officer. Parris Island, 2nd BN in May 1989.

That's my memory, anyway. It was just a formality, a nicety, as it were.

[don-o]

self bump for later

You're gonna go blind if you keep doing that.

[livius]

Wow! Definite prayers for him (and for you all)! Congratulations on having raised a fine son.

[don-o]

My son graduated PI in January and deploys to Iraq tomorrow. To Freepers who pray, please put Kyle on your list!

May God protect your son.

Stay active on this board to tell us what you can about how he's doing,

You must be an incredible mix of proud and worried. This Papa would / will be when mine might be there in a couple of years.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Tell your son my prayers and thoughts are with him.
And tell him
Thank You for your service to our country.

[Chieftain]

I gotta give this guy credit. Being a 34 year old degreed journalist, he exercised real self-control to make it through Marine Corps boot camp. Although he didn't kearn crap about marksmanship if he couldn't adjust the 'dope' on his bunky's weapon. Maybe even at 34 the DI's can still rattle you. I was the only recruit ion my platoon who had never fired a rifle prior to boot camp and the Primary Marksmanship Instructor told me I would be the high shooter if I could do what he told me. On pre-qual day, I was jerking the trigger at the 500 yard line. He grabbed a ball point pen and jabbed ny trigger finger till it spouted blood. "Let's see you jerk the trigger now". I was afraid I would go 'unq' the next day, but I managed to be the plt high shooter at 232 (Expert). I shot a perfect score from the 500 yard line on qual day and I never thought about my trigger finger!

I went through MCRD San Diego, (yeah I was a 'HOLLYWOOD' Marine), in 1971. It was no picnic. I was amazed at the number of ways the DI's could cuss! I have since mastered that art during my 22 year USMC career. Our DI's wore us out EVERYDAY. I missed many meals, guarding the 'imaginary' weapons stacked outside the galley as the rest of my platoon stuffed their face. I graduated 52 pounds lighter than when I went in, and with much more upper body strength.

My drill instructor came up to me after we graduated and congratulated me on never giving up, but I just stared straight ahead and didn't acknowledge him... I was scared that I might have to go back through again!

I have been actively encouraging my 21 year old twin sons to go into the Corps, but they balk at the idea. (Maybe they think the old man might outdo them at something). My wife wants them to go in the service, but not the Marines. I say it's the Corps or nothing - they would never live down the harassment from me. I know they would do well in the Corps, but they are adults and have to make their own decision and I have to remind myself of that constantly.

[VOA]

"BTW has the Marine Staff (Honorary Gunny) pictured in this graphic ever worked with Dale Dye?"

In case lurkers/posters haven't heard, Capt. Dale Dye gets 2 hours each Sunday on
KFI 640AM radio in Los Angeles.
He is on from 5-7PM PACIFIC Time; yesterday he was broadcasting remote from
"AmericaFest" at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

He does a good job of giving a bit of "inside the military" reportage, with updates from
friends "in the sand box" and other items the mainstream media either buries or ignores.

Here is a link to his page at KFI:
http://www.kfi640.com/daledye.html

Here is a link to the "listen live" over the Internet page at KFI:
http://www.kfi640.com/interactive/streaming.html

Here is a link to the main page for KFI:
http://www.kfi640.com/main.html

[VOA]

just pinging you to my previous post #57, in case you want to pass the word on Capt. Dye's show...

[Straight Vermonter]

They wouldn't take me after 9/11 and I was only 32.

[dts32041]

Thanks didn't know that.

finally read Capt dye's bio, was a SGM and then became and Officer, that is a gutsy thing to do.

A real mustang.