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<-- Back to Sarge T's |
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Next -->
Boot Camp - Page 2 |
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<-- Back to Vetdex |
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*** Danger Will Robinson! Salty language below! *** |
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<-- Back to Mardex |
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<-- Back to Hotdex |
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Boot Camp
Platoon 1117
Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD)
San Diego California
November 1, 1968 to January 7, 1969
Page 1 |
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<--Back to Before Boot Camp |
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Notice: The pictures of the boot camp activities in these pages are taken from our Boot Camp Year Book. The book was produced by Jostens Military Publications, San Diego, Ca. |
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When we arrived at San Diego airport, we got on a waiting bus and had to sit at attention until everyone arrived. When we boarded the bus, S/Sgt. Bennewitz started yelling at us immediately to let us "sweet peas" know that our slimy civilian life was over for us for a few years.
When we got to MCRD, there were dozens of yellow footprints painted on the pavement and we were told, in no uncertain terms, to get on the yellow footprints and stand at attention.
We were sent right in to the barber, if you want to call him that. By the time we got done, no one had any hair left.
Then we went to a big room and had to pack all our civilian stuff up and it was put into boxes and sent home and we were issued gym clothes at that time. |
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The Official Marine Corps photograph that everyone gets taken in Boot Camp. When you join the Marine Corps, they don't provide with a set of dress blues. You have to buy those if you want them. The Marine Corps provides dress "greens". For the "official' picture, they just have you put on one of the jackets and hats they have there.
If you died in Vietnam, they gave you a set of "blues" to bury you in.
November 1968 |
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Below is an itemized list of the things we were issued at the beginning of boot camp. As far as the $.40 haircut - Well, you get what you pay for. |
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If I remember correctly, my base pay in boot camp as a Private was $81.00 a month. |
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In boot camp, anytime we spoke, we had to put "Sir" in front of and in back of anything we said.
"Sir, the Private doesn't know Sir." "Sir, yes Sir." "Sir, no Sir." "Sir, aye aye Sir."
We always had to speak of ourselves in the third person. We weren't allowed to say "I".
"Sir, the Private this...." "Sir, the Private that...." "Sir, the Private requests permission to enter the duty hut, Sir." |
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This was the first letter I wrote home from boot camp.
November 3, 1968 |
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Except for the two weeks we spent at the rifle range at Camp Pendleton (had regular barracks there), we lived in quonset huts (the half circle corrugated metal buildings). We had small stoves in them that burned diesel fuel. The weather was 80 to 90 degrees in the daytime and in the 30's at night. So, it got pretty chilly at night. When we would leave in the morning to go train, we would have our field jackets on and shirt sleeves down. By noon, we would be taking off our field jackets and shirts because it got so hot. |
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Excerpt from the letter I wrote home on November 5, 1968. The whole idea in boot camp is to completely break you down mentally and physically, then build you up to be a killing machine per Marine Corps specifications. The DI's and PC never hesitated to knock you up side the head if you screwed up. |
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When we ate at the messhall, we had to do everything in a certain way.
As we moved through the chow line, we had to face the servers and side step.
When we got to the table, we couldn't sit down until everyone was at their place.
When the drill instructor or platoon commander said, "Ready", we had to respond with "Kill".
When he then said, "Seat", we had to respond with, "VC."
We had to do that in our training classes and anywhere else we went to sit down as a group.
After awhile, I found myself saying it alone anytime I sat down.anywhere. |
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Excerpt from Nov. 10 letter. Cigarettes were used as an award system in boot camp. If you did good on a test, the DI let you smoke a cigarette in front of everyone else while they stood at attention and watched. |
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Officially, the Marine Corps in under the Navy's jurisdiction. The Marine Corps is a lean fighting machine and every Marine is a rifleman, first and foremost. The Navy supplies us with "beans, bullets, bandages, and boats" and we provide the "grunts" or infantrymen to do the fighting.
In boot camp we had to learn the Navy language - A door is not a door, it is a "portal". A floor is not a floor, it is a "deck". A wall is not a wall, it is a "bulkhead". A restroom is not a restroom, it is a "head". Rather than saying, "Yes Sir", "Aye aye Sir" was acceptable. |
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Next -->
Boot Camp - Page 2 |
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Marine pages
My Memorial Pages
Begin My Marine Experience
Before Boot Camp
You are here - Boot Camp - page 1
Boot camp - page 2
Boot camp - page 3
Boot Camp - page 4
Boot Camp - page 5
Boot Camp - page 6
Infantry Training Regiment (ITR)
Basic Infantry Training School (BITS)
Staging Battalion (Pre Vietnam)
Okinawa (En route to Vietnam)
Begin my Vietnam Tour - Hotel Co. Index
Various Marine stuff - page 1
5th Marine Regiment Headquarters page
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) page
Back to Marde |
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Back to Sarge T's
Vets Index
Marine Index
Hotel Index
Marine pages
My Memorial pages
Prologue - Begin my Marine tour
2/5 Area of Operations map- Begin my Vietnam tour
Various Marine stuff - page 1
5th Marine Regiment Headquarters page
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) page
Hotel Roster 5/23/69
Hotel Company Yearbook - 1970
2/5 area recent pics page 1
Veterans in my family
My Marine Education and Training |
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Click here for my links page
Other links
Yahoo! Geocities |
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