To a 17 year old the Marines were a shock to my young butt. My dad was a Marine my uncle was a Marine when I went in..He was a DI at San Diego....He came to my platoon once to see me. I'm glad it was only once...Did it make and difference. Yea made it worse....Not as bad as the dummy that had his girl friend send him a whole box of poggy bait. He had to eat it all in front of the whole platoon,,,/there was a lot...I doubt if he ever ate anything that even resembled goodies after that, even unto death. I never saw any one ever get that sick. Not even from rot gut TJ .tequila..I immediately sent my mother, grandmother and girl friend a letter telling them never, never,never ever send any thing to eat to me period, end of quote...