If you can't handle it right now, you're in for a long contract, brother. Get used to it. It only gets worse after this.

You'll get used to hurry up and wait. Like noon parades for the 2 star and you're out standing in the sun at 10am.

Oh no I get that. It's just frustrating that I'd be graduating next month if it'd been done on time. The thing that tossed a wrench in the works was the birth of my youngest son - he's almost 6 months now, and he exceeds the number of dependents I can go in with. In order to get a waiver for him I need a General to sign off on it (from what I understand), and they're just being slow on passing forward my paperwork that's marked "Expedite."

"Expedite": contraction of "Experience delays interminably till eternity."

Got confirmation this (past) afternoon - waivers approved, I'm set to ship out the 28th. My recruiter is trying to get me out the 22nd though (I think he meant 21st?).

EDIT: Edited for correct time.

The 21st is Martin Luther King Day, maybe that's why they're saying the 22nd? Dunno. Have fun storming the castle in San Diego.

Just got the phone call an hour ago - I leave tomorrow morning, I'm being put up in a hotel tonight.

Stay safe, man. The shadows still need you!

Say hello to Mount Mother Fucker, every hollywood Marine I ever knew cried about it.

Mount Mother Fucker... Is a BITCH... Mostly because you do it at night, and have no concept of the terrain.
Of Course, once you are actually stationed in that particular camp (used to be the home of the 7th Marines), you tend to run it A LOT, and it is not so bad.

Good luck and go over the packing list again.

Let's see... clothes on my back - check. Wallet with ONLY Drivers' License and SSC - check. Address book - check.

That's it. I'll be taking a disposable razor, some disposable toothpaste/brush, and the last of my bullet of Axe, but those'll all be tossed before I'm on the plane.

Smart man. Might want to grab a book or magazine you don't care about, for ON the plane, though. Chuck it in the trash when you arrive on the base, and all's good.

Nope. Sleep on the plane because the first 36 hours I'll be awake and being yelled at.

Mind explaining why you pack like that?

He's going into basic training and won't need anything else for the time being.

Because not only will he not need anything else, but he won't have access to the stuff he does bring. You get there and all your shit gets locked up, period.

Harsh, good way to quit smoking I suppose...

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthre...ng-To-Boot-Camp

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...21083747AAWc0d3

The list is slightly better for females, including multiple changes of specifically-colored pantyhose, bras, athletic bras, panties, and haircare products. Men are literally the clothes on your back and ID.

EDIT: Going to shower then I'll be gone. See you guys in 13 weeks.

Indeed you will be.

Semper Fidelis Neraph. Good Luck.

Have fun storming the castle!

I don't know about the Marines, but when I enlisted in the Army?

Day 1 after being assigned to my permanent training unit, we had to inventory every item in our civilian bags ... which were then taken from us, and locked up for the duration of BCT.

Real easy if your entire civilian inventory is "a pair of pants, underwear, a pair of socks, a pair of shoes, shirt. End of list."

Even easier if you're okay with throwing the clothes and shoes out, or mailing them home, so your whole list is "nothing, sir/sergeant!"; KISS is a pretty good policy in such matters.

They provide a packing list. This tell you what you need and what not to bring. Anything that isn't on the "NEED" list but not on the "NOT" list gets locked up for a month or three in a secure room (In the Army until your first leave after basic). Anything on the NOT list gets you yelled at a lot, sent home or arrested, depending. Not bringing something on the NEED list gets you yelled at a lot or sent home. For basic the recruiters usually catch you missing a needed item before they put you on the airplane, as it's a short list.

What's the point of the not list if all of it gets confiscated? more importantly what does it cover?

If you bring things on the Not List, you are singling yourself out for attention. And you WILL get lots of attention. Not a good idea. Better to just bring the absolute minimum.

But what does it entail?

Lots of yelling (DI's part) and physical exertion (transgressor's part). And the ongoing attention that you are not someone who follows direction. It singles you out as a rebel. That is very bad in USMC Boot Camp.

The list I meant, what can be so bad that inatead of shrugging and locking it up with the rest of your stuff, they do that?

ANYTHING not on the approved list to bring (so ANYTHING on the NOT LIST, plus anything not listed). It is a matter of how well you follow directions. It is your first test. Any deviation gives them license to screw with you (Not that they need any reason to start with).

That just seems weird to me.
Then again Im bound to have a hard time understanding that culture, given that mandated military service was dismantled before I came of age and I didn't (at the time) meet the standards for the volunteery one. Nowadays, there's no service at all. Only way to get into the army is to apply to work there.

It is wierd, if you have never been exposed to it... But that is the Marine Corps. They Break you down and rebuild you. And if you stand out in a negative way (and not following directions is negative), you are a prime target for additional Breaking down sessions.

It's also ..... not following questions in a combat situation, can get you and other soldiers killed.

Therefor, if you can't even follow a simple "bring only THIS stuff, and nothing else" instruction when in the calm and quiet of your own home ... the military expects you to be A Problem. (Capitalisation intentional.) And they do not like Problems, so they give you extra attention to un-Problem your ass, double quick.

...

Best advice I ever got when I enlisted was, "don't attract the D.I.'s attention. The best place you can be, is one where they have to read your name off your uniform to know who you are." Failing to pay attention to the "Bring / Don't bring" list for your service, is the first opportunity you have to make your DI remember your name on their own.

Indeed... All very, very True. Especially in the Corps (though we do not have our names on our uniforms).

"Okay, I assume you all know why you're here. (ducks as chair thrown at him) That's right, you're all angry, sick people. But, over these next eight hours, you will be broken down to the level of infants, then rebuilt as functional members of society, then broken down again, then lunch, then, if there's time, rebuilt once more. "
(Chief Wiggum, from "Marge Simpson in: "Screaming Yellow Honkers"")

It's an... interesting approach, I would love to discuss the validity of it.
But I won't here

It works for the Marine Corps.

More importantly, it works at all ... and it's not something you want to go experimenting with, because the only way to find out if it doesn't work is to be in combat, in war. Which is a BAD time to discover that your ten-year training revision doesn't work very well ... ;D

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Heh... Too True. Though I could detect a change in the Marines produced in the late 80's and Early 90's (1989 and on) compared to when I joined. They took the DI's ability to lay on off hands without asking permission in 86 (Though I am sure that it still happens, especially at Parris Island). The quality of Discipline changed, and it was very noticeable. Especially in many of the new faces we received prior to the first Gulf War (July of 1990). Don't know if it ever went back to what it was (I kind of doubt it) but it should.

I can't begin to tell you the horror I felt, when a (much younger) fellow gamer described teh Navy's "stress card" system - if you were feeling especially stressed, you flipped that to the outside of your pocket ... and the DIs had to stop even yelling at you.

Yeah. That will end well. :rolleyes:

I mean, I'm not in favor of letting DIs hit and kick recruits; I'd stop it at the grabbing-of-lapels.arms, maybe tossing someone to the ground, at most. But, good gods, it's the military not a frelling summer camp!!! You're trainign to GO INTO BATTLE AND KILL PEOPLE, not make Macaroni-and-glitter-glue Drawings!!!

None of those Navy snots would be able to make the enemy stop trying to blow their boat up, just by flipping a "Stress card" to the outside of their pocket, after all ...!

You and me both... Though I can remember some of my Training Platoon (F Company, Platoon 2069) taking time out behind the barracks for some Physical hands-on time with the Drill Instructors. 2 or 3 situations stand out... They could lay on hands at that time. Full laying on of Hands did not happen often, but it did happen. Most of the time you just spent hours in the Pit. *sigh*

As of 92 when I went to P.I. they were still quietly ignoring the "no hands rule" by having "accidents" in the gear locker. In the fleet we would run "NBC drills" in a room full of NCO's. Flak jackets, gas masks, and helmets are a fantastic way to avoid bruising. Personally I never felt it was worth it, much better to dig holes in the woods along with chewing out the cause of the problem. If that did not take care of the problem, it only required additional applications. Of course particularly virulent punks would get this with a follow on treatment in the tree line.

Yep...
And then you have those fun incidents known as GI Showers and blanket parties...
Of course, those are administered by the other Troops with plausible deniability by NCO's. Usually applied because the other troops are tired of you screwing up.

7.62 millimeter, full metal jacket...

Not too very common these days.

When I think about it... I don't think that kind of capital punishment would be very necessary here... It's probably enough give them outdoors guard duty (arctic winter gets very cold and dark and long)

Indeed... My favorite was Helo Watch in a Tropical Storm on Okinawa.

Fair enough, I'm guessing mostly the DMs are using M14 while the rest are fielding variations of the M16 with 5.56?

I used the M16A1 in Boot Camp, then transitioned to the M16A2 in the Fleet. I have only seen/used M14's in Formal Drill Squads.
Of course, the M60 Machine Gun is 7.62.

Trained with an M16A2 myself, but the whole company had a very mixed bag of rifles - some M16s, some M16A1s, and some M16A2s. Different barrel shrouds on some of 'em, and all. Being a training company, and for an MOS whose primary role was not "shoot people", I guess it's more surprising that they had any A2s at all, than that they still had some bog-standard original versions. Or that their equipment was so very not-uniformly-standardised.