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*** Danger Will Robinson! Salty language below! ***

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Boot Camp Platoon 1117 Page 2

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On the left is drill instructor S/Sgt. Cuff.  I am in front of him looking down at my canteen. On my right, left to right are Tom Hannon, ?, & Bill Dozier. The black guy in the rear on the right with glasses is Ed Allen. The DI's and PC called the black guys "splibs".  Never could quite figure that one out. This is toward the beginning of boot camp when we were getting issued our "web" gear or "782" gear.  782 gear is stuff like canteen, cartridge belt, back pack, etc. In civilian life, you call it camping gear. November, 1968

In this one I am fourth from the left, holding up my cartridge belt. November, 1968

Below is the card we had to fill out and send home to make sure our parents knew that the Marine Corps was feeding us right and proper on the Marine Corps Birthday. One thing a Marine can always count on is that, if they can get it to you wherever you are, you will have a steak dinner on the Marine Corps Birthday.

The first few weeks of boot camp, they would only let us go to the head (restroom) at certain times.  When they would dismiss the formation, we had 4 minutes to "shit, shower, shave, and  shine our brass" as they put it.

An excerpt from a letter I wrote on November 10 (Marine Corps birthday).  We were instructed to tell anyone that wrote to us not to put anything other than the address and return address on the envelope or there would be hell to pay.  There were quite a few poor souls that got rapped up side the head a couple times.  S.W.A.K. on the envelope brought it double hard.

In boot camp, we had two drill instructors (DI's), S/Sgt. Cuff and S/Sgt. Bennewitz.  Our Platoon Commander (PC) was S/Sgt. Publico.  We called him the "Mad Hawaiian". They called us many things, too: Maggots, Pukes, Sweet Peas, Turds, Ladies, Scumbags, Slimeballs, Assholes, Shitheads ... Anything with shit on the end - slimy pieces of shit, low life pieces of shit, no marching hunks of shit, etc. Anything with fuck on the end - pieces of fuck, tall lanky hunk of fuck, worthless pieces of fuck, etc. Fuck and shit were pretty interchangeable. Their favorite name for me was, "tall, lanky hunk of fuck". They had this thing about the word "you". You never said "you" to any of them. When someone said "you", the response from one of them would be - You? Are you fuckng me Private?  Do you think I'm your female sheep?  I'm not your fucking ewe. And don't be caught looking at one of them while you were supposed to be at attention.  The response would be - Are you eye fucking me Private

After we had been in boot camp for a couple weeks, one of the guys that we had flown out here with, Dwight Smith, couldn't handle it and went over the fence.  They caught him a couple days later in a stolen car, 120 miles away.  He ended up in the brig and we never saw him again.

This is a postcard of MCRD.  Right below the arrow is our quonset hut.

Before I enlisted in the Marine Corps, I had a '68 Plymouth Roadrunner.  When I started writing letters home, a lot of times I would  draw my little roadrunner at the end of the letter.

When it was time for mail call in the evening, we had to get in a formation with two rows standing along each side of the company road in front of the quonset huts. The drill instructor would stand in the middle, hold a letter out, and call your name.  You had to run by him, slap the letter between your hands, and never ever touch his hand.  If you touched his hand, he hollered "freeze".  He got  you by the throat and backed you up against the quonset hut and told you to stay there in amongst the name calling.  Take it from someone who knows.

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Marine pages My Memorial Pages Begin My Marine Experience Before Boot Camp Boot Camp - page 1 You are here - 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

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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