Posted on 02/19/2010 1:02:57 PM PST by real saxophonist
ping
Thanks for sharing. When I attended my son’s graduation at MCRD San Diego, the people sitting right behind us were the parents of one of the DI’s for the graduating group. The mother was just as excited and proud, giddy, taking a million pictures as were those of us with fresh, new Marines.
Semper Fi... thanks for the memories.
Thanks for the ping Ali.
I live less than 3 miles from MCRD, San Diego
I wanna be an Airborne Ranger, I wanna live a life of danger.
Good ol’ MCRD Dago.. home of the ‘Hollywood’ Marines.. since 1923 ? wow. Class of ‘72 here.
All my DIs were Vietnam vets, tunnel rats and snipers mostly , really bad dudes but nice guys too (rarely).. they only acted like they wanted to wring our necks.. tho it was hard to tell occasionally.
Yup, it takes a special Marine to wanna make pukes and momma’s boys and 4-eyed geeks into the fighting machine that is in action today in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Semper Fi, Marines!
A few years ago, I was contracting in Charleston, SC, and went down to Parris Island to the museum, on a day off. (This was pre/911.) My wife asked me a question about how I still remembered my "DI", and I explained that "DI" stood for "Damned Idiot" and the term was avoided, and some guy in cammies, walking in front of us, folded up laughing...
I wanna be a Recon Ranger,
I wanna go to Viet Nam!
I want blood an' guts an' Danger,
I wanna kill some Viet Cong!
As NEMDF posted, “Semper Fi... thanks for the memories.”
We had two Senior DIs; the second was a short, black Gunny (Gunny Truell) who sang the best cadence on the grinder. He was a cross between Yoda and maybe Brook Benton or Otis Redding. Our first Senior DI had been “canned” when the Series Sgt Major caught us hanging by our toes from the top rung of our racks, “playing bats” (we had screwed up over something?)
Years later I was at OCS (Officer Candidate School) at Quantico, running across the compound on the first day. The Company Gunny stopped me and asked, “You were one of my hogs, right?” “Yes, Gunny, I was!” was my proud reply.
It was GySgt Leist, my first Senior DI, of the hanging from our toes incident. That remains one of my best honors; my senior DI remembered me after nearly four years. Another surprise happened later that day. The Company XO stopped me and asked, “Don’t I know you?”
It turned out to be Capt Lohr, who as a 2nd Lt was the platoon commander on my last patrol in Vietnam. Small Corps, lots of memories, faithful friends.
Semper Fi!
USMC Corporal 1968-69
USMC Captain 1972-78
“AA Cunningham”....
What did you fly in the Corps?
SSgt. Mode, SSgt. Mangrum, Sgt. Dobson - Platoon 102, 1959 Parris Island.
I had the honor to run into Sgt. Dobson two years later. He chastised me for calling him Sir and I responded that he would always be Sir to me.
SSgt. Mangrum never wasted a step; he believed in the platoon meeting him instead of the other way around. SSgt. Mode was the intense one who never missed a thing. His swagger stick was calibrated in inches to measure precisely the distances between items on a “junk on the bunk” inspection.
Semper fi
We have something in common: for the first 16 weeks I was in the Navy, at the Naval School of Pre-Flight in Pensacola, the United States Marine Corps was in charge of my life. It was a hellofaneducation!
I have always respected the Marine Corps — those crusty Sergeants had their work cut out for them, and they came through in magnificent style, if I do say so myself!
Armed with the special set of survival skills those very special men taught me, I was able to proudly serve my country for 28 1/2 years.
Furthermore, because I never left my locker unlocked, I never landed with my wheels up!
Semper Fi!
Fast forward 35 years later and my twin sons graduated from MCRD San Diego, Platoon 3071, India Company, 3d Battalion!
My sons' Senior Drill Instructor, SSgt Good, posed for this photo with my sons. I know they were PROUD to be photographed with him, they really admired him.
It has been almost 4 years since that day now. Both sons are Iraq veterans and now one is in Afghanistan and one is in Haiti.
I got an email from their Senior DI last November and he asked about them and said they were good recruits. He said he knew they would be good Marines. He is now a Gunnery Sergeant and both my sons are now Sergeants.
One thing for sure, MCRD San Diego and Drill Instructors are prominent in our family's history. Maybe my sons will make the trek back to MCRD San Diego and become Drill Instructors... who knows??
Congratulations!
I was priveleged to see the change in Chieftain’s sons from “nice young guys” to mature, strong and VERY self confident young MEN!
Chieftain and his wife, Warlie did a SUPERB job raising these fine young men with good ethics and values, courage and also sensitivity and a strong spirituality.
OOOOO-RAH!
Becomming Drill Instructors? Ahhh, I’m thinking more like President!
I am sure either would be a helluva lot better than that community agitator that's in there now!
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