You ‘always’ hear stories of arriving at Marine Boot Camp.
I was living in Glendale CA and the LA Rams sponsored the whole Company so it was comprised of Southern California & Arizona boots.
We got sworn in at halftime of the Rams/49ers game and when we left we were told to take as little as possible as we had to ship our civvies home.
So, I had a shirt, pants - went commando - seemed like a good idea but... and loafers, no socks.
Don’t let anyone fool you..
November at 0200 on the Grinder at NTC San Diego is COLD. Not Great Lakes cold but that wet, clammy cold when standing at attention while near naked for a few hours.
I guess the best part of boot camp was I wanted to go in the Corps but a Navy Chief got hold of me first...
Anyhoo
It was always nice looking over the fence and watching them Jarheads (affectionately) being put through their paces. It made ours seem like a weekend at the beach.
Hehehehe...one of the touchstones to appreciating the things you have in life, no matter your station, is the understanding that someone always has it worse than you.
As you looked over the fence at them, you must have had that insight in spades!