They should work for the ammunition companies or the gun magazines, because this is what I read about every new rifle caliber or self defense bullet the companies come up with.

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Possum—The other white meat!

Semper FI

Our DIs were all recently returned Vietnam vets. I believe there may well have been some yet to be dealt with issues there. Our platoon was enlisted mixed with some draftees. We also had more than our share of the rare enlisted college educated. Some of them were reservists. In the beginning it was made quite clear that draftees did not start out the same as they didn't want to be Marines. Also, several times during my time in the Corps, I remember people being asked if the were draftees. Once when I had screwed up and an officer was questioning me I was asked that myself. I am sure the was some prejudice against them. I did somehow manage to get a good conduct ribbon.

At the time over 80% of marines where going to Nam, and the Marines had a casualty rate of 22.5% with about 4 percent death rate. I believe they had a job to prepare us for something they knew was very bad and not much time to do it.

I also think that the method was part of a culture and cultures developed over time and take time to go away.

The Gunnery Sargent DI I met last year for my 50 year return said the smacking a recruit would be difficult and even cursing them was severely frowned on. No calling them Ladies Maggots, buckets of puke etc. (My favorite to this day was male appendage, sucker eyed bucket of puke) He did promise me to tell the new batch of privates he was expecting about the days of being "Maggots" He said the PT to exhaustion and mental games were the main ingredients anyway. Interestingly the senior DI now operates as more of a mentor, who the Pvts can seek guidance from when they are having problems. A kinder gentler boot camp.

Now after 4 weeks they have a visitors day once a week when family can visit or a phone call can be made. We got no visitors till graduation day and I snuck a phone call while giving blood at the Naval hospital. Interestingly when I was in Staging battalion I went to MCRD and they allowed me to visit my brother for about 30 minutes while he was still in boot camp.

Funny story about giving blood.

Right after returning from the rifle range we all "volunteered" to give blood. We were bused to the Naval hospital at the San Diego Naval base. Off the bus at attention in formation and down the sidewalk comes something we had not seen for about 10 weeks a good looking young woman! A lady naval officer. Looking straight ahead was not happening. The DI screamed "alright Maggots, look, everybody look." We did as she scurried way as fast as she could. Maybe not correct, but very biological. Brunnete, 5'6" bright red cheeks, great legs. I still love her. LOL.

After giving blood, a miracle occurred and we were allowed unsupervised time to make our way back to the bus area! Along the way forbidden telephones were in view and a small PX. Temptation was to great. LOL

Finally back at MCRD were were assembled on the grinder (parade deck) and while at attention the DI announced that for giving blood we would get to see a movie. Glorious day! Then he told us all to reach down and unblouse our boots. Marines have these small elastic bands that hold the bottoms of there pants bloused to their boot tops. Off the came and back to attention. Right face, Forward march and off we went trickling our forbidden candy bars and cookies onto the parade deck. He never said a word. Must have been like Halloween in their duty hut though.


I was personally only treated like a fellow human by a DI once. We were on our platoon's week of mess duty. Some of us were really sick and sent back to the Barrack with Sargent Clark who was also sick. Back at the huts he told us he was going to lay down and we were to go to our bunks too. A miracle. Then, horrors he stopped me. Alone he asked, "You are from Miles City". Sir, yes sir. "You hunt?" Sir, yes sir. He said "I am from Billings, keep it up, your going to be fine". He never personally acknowledge me again.

During USAF boot, we got about 4 hours on the course with M-16's. While going through the pre-range safety, they showed pics us what a round can do to a human head at close range, i.e. the result of a complete idiot somehow drilling the poor ******* next to him.
The next day we're on the range, firing prone, next to me is the village idiot of our squad who suddenly curses, rolls into a knot trying to dig a hand into his pant with his weapon now sweeping the line as he does, finger within the trigger guard.
The DI standing behind us literally dove on him, pinning the weapon to the ground, removed his finger with a loud crack, emptied the weapon, jacked the idiot to his feet and marched him off.
Thankfully for his sake we never saw him again, because the rest of us in the squad had already agreed to give him a blanket party after lights out he would wear for months.
Our drill instructor, "Gunny', was a great guy with a wild Texas sense of humor. We're doing a cross country rapid march, he spots a rattler on the side, brings us to a halt, glides up behind the rattler and grabs it behind the head.
Next here comes the lead DI, driving a hardtop Jeep, windows down, pulls up alongside Gunny, who's now got the snake behind his back, to jackjaw for a few.
Anbd Gunny, casual as can be, just pulls that snake from behind and throws it onto the passenger floorboards of the Jeep.
The head DI comes rolling out the drivers door, laughing his *** off, as is Gunny...Gunny retrieves the snake, throws it back into the bushs and we were back on march.
One of those moments when this city boy understood he sure the hell wasn't in the city anymore

I was a part of the "All Volunteer Army", but we had one guy in Basic Training who insisted that he was drafted!

Many times our drill sgts. would say something like "I don't want to hear any gripes, you all volunteered for this." One guy in my platoon would mutter something under his breath, and it was only by accident that I actually heard him once. He was saying "not me, I was drafted".

I took him aside and asked him about this. He insisted that he had been drafted. He lived up in the hills in Appalachia, and one day an Army recruiter drove up to his place, told him that he was drafted, and that he was to come with him.

Sounds like a pretty good way to make your quota in the backwoods!

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Only a cold warrior

Much respect to all the vets here.
My Dad entered USMC at age 17, early Summer of 1942. His Mom had to sign for him and would only allow him to enlist after completing HS.

Being from Texas, he went to San Diego.

His tales of Basic and DI's made it plain that in 1942 there was no worries about slugging the mess out of a recruit, insulting his mother, his heritage, his faith or anything else. Basically dared anyone to 'buck up'.
Just how it was.
Only rifle he ever saw or shot was the '03 Springfield.

Strangest of all, he was literally pulled from a line of Marines boarding a troop ship bound for the South Pacific. Seems he'd checked a block on a form at some point attesting to the fact he could type.
New orders had been cut sending him to a clerk-typist school (in Tennessee IIRC). He was one of very few Marines in WWII that never left the US. Most of the guys he was in Basic with did not return home.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

The fathers of two female friends were WW2 Marines.
One wouldn't talk about his time on Saipan. Did mention that he was part of the army of occupation in Japan.
The other, I never met, and his daughter had little interest in knowing his history, but developed some interest after he passed.. I did such research on him:ancestry.com, his obituary,etc.
In from 42 to 46. Appeared to be overseas a long time with the 6th Marines: Guadalcanal,Okinawa,Guam,and I also believe army of occupation-Japan.
She told me that he had not been wounded, but I found that he spent more than three weeks in a field hospital as a "casualty" which could have been due to all sorts of things, I imagine.

Actually that depends on what you called “drafted.”

My brother and a couple of his friends didn’t go to college after graduating from High School so it was just a matter of time before they got their draft notices (1968). My brother and his best friend decided to enlist in the Marines but his other friend said the Marines were too tough and joined the Army instead.

His friend was standing in formation waiting to be inducted into the Army when a Army and Marine NCO walked in. The Army NCO announced that the Marines were short on men and needed three volunteers to join the Marines instead. He asked for any volunteers to step forward which nobody did. The Marine NCO then walked down the line and picked three men saying you, you and you. He then said “Congratulations you just joined the Marines.”

When he returned home after finishing his basic training he told us if he had known he was going to end up in the Marines he would have joined when my brother and his other friend did so they could have gone through basic training together.

Interestgingg story. Guy I knew ended up as a door gunner on a Chinook.
He said he hade been in countrry about 9 months when low and behold a platoon shows up for transport and platoon SGT was one of his DIs and they get the SGT as part of their load. He tells the pilots and they jinks around in flight to the LZ and he opens up blasting away as they come in. Said old DI was of course not liking it. They all jump off weapons at the ready. But, it was just a normal landing spot.

BS, maybe, but then maybe not.

My niece was a Marine crew chief in Afghanistan. A woman with a distinguish flying cross and more ribbons than many men. She said they had a panel with a bunch of wires behind it. They used to drop a bunch of altitude, she would rip the panel off and stick her hands in it. move around the ship would steady up and she would then slam it back on to have fun with the new guys.

She was kind of on the small side and told me she once ended up duct taped to a hangar bulkhead. The CO came by, she said "Good morning sir", He looked at her and said "I don't want to know" and walked off.

She is the one who set me up with the Gunny DI for my trip to MCRD. He was also a helicopter chief.

My brother was constantly going UA and getting busted. He got out as a private. I eventually made Corporal, My niece got out as a staff SGT. She out ranks us. LOL

I know a young man who sent a letter to his folks upon graduation from
basic training. He said if I had just a little bit higher score on my test, I
could be an OCCIFER.

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In Omnia Paratus