Boot Camp D I Shenanigans

[Lignum Vitea]

Anyone got any good Boot Camp stories? I went to PI in the early 80's the shit the DI's made us do looking back on it was pretty funny. Not so much when it was happening to you.
We were Charley company platoon 2049 started with 106 Marine wannabees, graduated 48 privates with a hand full of recycled guys that got bumped back into our unit.
One thing the DI's did to us was at shower time. They went around the large shower room turning on one head fully cold then the next scolding hot, alternating hot - cold, hot - cold. Marched us in single file, naked with soap in hand through the showers. You had to be clean at exit or you went back in line.
Fun times. Have more stories but want to hear from others.

 

[M60]

Your platoon graduated 48 out of 106 boots! Sounds like you had a lot more than your share of shit birds. We were platoon 100, first platoon on P.I. in 1968. 100 recruits and 100 graduates. As I respond to your thread I am looking at a graduation day photo that was taken of me and the two guys that I joined the Corps. with. One of the guys got sick and as a result was set back in training one week and had to be transferred to a different platoon. The two of us who remained, ran into the third and got to chat for a few minutes on graduation day. We had a guy take a photo for us. The graduates were in dress greens and the third was in green utilities. We graduates decided to do something nice for the third guy, since he was still in training, so we headed down to the pogy bait spot and bought him a pile of hamburgers, hot dogs, candy and crap like that. We took it to his barracks and put it under the pillow, on the rack he had told us was his. When his platoon returned from training his D.I. went directly to his rack and found the pogy bait under his pillow. Who knew mustard, relish and onions would smell so strong, right! The D.I. made him eat all of it, wash it down with warm water and do side straddle hoopies until he puked it all up. We met up with him again in I.T.R., at Camp Gieger, North Carolina and he was still pissed at us. Lol. Good times. Sadly, we lost Wayne 3 years ago to agent orange cancer and Dick, the other guy has agent orange cancer at this time. Funny how the memories are still so clear. There was a time, as they say, when we were all three, Marines.

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

You mean like the senior DI leaning out and stepping on my head to push me under and then laughing his ass off whenever I got close to the edge during water survival?

Sticks in my mind because it pissed me off, hard enough treading water fully clothed without his help, but I did not touch the edge of the pool, I lasted what ever the time limit was (don’t remember), and I did not drown.

MCRD San Diego not PI

 

[M60]

You mean like the senior DI leaning out and stepping on my head to push me under and then laughing his ass off whenever I got close to the edge during water survival?

Sticks in my mind because it pissed me off, hard enough treading water fully clothed without his help, but I did not touch the edge of the pool, I lasted what ever the time limit was (don’t remember), and I did not drown.

MCRD San Diego not PI

Did you guys in Cali have to hold the fake steel rifles at port arms while you were treading water? We had to hold the fake rifles for 45 minutes. One big guy sank to the bottom of the pool. When the life guard realized the guy wasn't coming up to tread water, he dove in and puled him out. Our D.I. asked him what he was doing on the bottom of the pool. He responded with" sir, the private can't swim ". Funny stuff.

 

[dustoff22]

Sadly, we lost Wayne 3 years ago to agent orange cancer and Dick, the other guy has agent orange cancer at this time. Funny how the memories are still so clear. There was a time, as they say, when we were all three, Marines.

"has agent orange cancer"................ not exactly in line with the intent of this thread but thinking of it, I've kept in touch with 15 pilots, crew chiefts and medics from my company (of which 11 are still alive as of today) and sadly, there's not one of them who doesn't either have cancer, ischemic heart disease, or diabetes......cancer being the main culprit. Suppose there's a correlation to being in Vietnam?

 

[M60]

"has agent orange cancer"................ not exactly in line with the intent of this thread but thinking of it, I've kept in touch with 15 pilots, crew chiefts and medics from my company (of which 11 are still alive as of today) and sadly, there's not one of them who doesn't either have cancer, ischemic heart disease, or diabetes......cancer being the main culprit. Suppose there's a correlation to being in Vietnam?

Well, Waynes VA doctor told him that his cancer was agent orange related and Dicks doctor said the same thing along with his diabetes, So yup, seems to be a correlation between these issues and having been in Vietnam, when even the VA doctors say there is.

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

Did you guys in Cali have to hold the fake steel rifles at port arms while you were treading water?

It was more than a decade after you so practices had probably changed.
No there was nothing in my hands, that is actually why he was stepping on my head, he thought I was going to reach out and grab the edge of the pool -- I am sure he considered it helpfully preventative (but he also seemed to be having too much fun).

:emoji_tiger:

 

[jasonj84]

We had a guy, Neanover. Any spare minute he had he was spit shining his boots. They were like glass. One day one of the DI's comes up to him and asks him what size feet he has. He answers nine and a half. The DI says "let me borrow those high shined boots of yours". He hands over the boots and the DI disappears. We were on mess and maintenance week so there was actually a little talking to your neighbor at times. You should have seen him bragging about the DI borrowing his boots, and speculating that he was headed to a promotion ceremony or something. That evening the DI comes back and tosses a soaking wet, raggedy pair of combat boots back to Neanover, and brags how he had the shiniest pair of boots at swim qual!

 

[Quiggy]

Can't remember what we did wrong, but it was time for punishment. As anybody who went through boot knows, Marine exercises are done loudly by the numbers. It was time for Side Straddle Hops. This time was going to be 20 of them counted silently to ourselves! …..19,20. Sure enough three privates had their arms in the air working on number 21!! DI went nuts and now pushed the count to 40. You can see where this is going...next thing eight turds had their arms in the air!! Long night!!

 

[Lignum Vitea]

We didn't any rifles in the pool. I do remember a bunch black guys in our platoon sinking to the bottom of the pool. After they got pulled out choking & gasping the DI's would be yelling at them about being F'ing Marines not submariners.
We had one poor private who's name was Bueny, the DI's would call him Bunny. Just for laughs they would call him up to the quarter deck. Ask him what noise does a Bunny make? Of course what ever sound poor old Bueny would come up with it was wrong. The DI's would PT the hell out of him for the silly bunny noises he would make.

 

[M60]

Every platoon has its one big f^&k up. We had ours too. This guy was a walking disaster zone. One night during free time he screwed up again. Don't remeber what he did, but the D.I. told him to relax and stand at parade rest because the platoon was going to do his punishment for him. we were doing side straddle hoopies for his screw up. We had a hot tempered, red headed, guy from Boston named Tiner. Anyway, Tiner was pretty pissed at our screw up pro, so he took the lid off of the heavy metal trash can and proceeded to beat Mr. screw up silly with that lid until he hit the deck and stopped moving. The D.I. saw Tiner begin to whoop the idiot and turned his head quickly. After a while, he looked back and saw the idiot on the floor not moving. He stopped the pt and walked to the idiot on the floor, gave a nod of approval and said nice job ladies, lights out.

 

[Admin]

I grew up in MN and every black guy I knew could swim. I was shocked to see the terrified guys (mostly black guys) clinging to anything they could hold on to during swim quals. Nothing worse than gearing up with backpack, boots, helmet and being told to jump off the 30' platform and swim. I felt bad for the guys who decided to learn how to swim in boot camp. They will make sure you can do pull ups, situps, and a run before you ship but nobody ever asks about "Can you mother f-ing swim?"

 

[yanici]

I grew up in MN and every black guy I knew could swim. I was shocked to see the terrified guys (mostly black guys) clinging to anything they could hold on to during swim quals. Nothing worse than gearing up with backpack, boots, helmet and being told to jump off the 30' platform and swim. I felt bad for the guys who decided to learn how to swim in boot camp. They will make sure you can do pull ups, situps, and a run before you ship but nobody ever asks about "Can you mother f-ing swim?"

Saw the same at Navy boot camp. Funny thing was this one black kid was really petrified and was never going to pass a swim test even though he was forced to go to swim classes every evening. So, he decided to send someone else to be his imposter and pass the swim test for him. Wouldn't you know that the guy who went to test for the black kid was not only white but the best swimmer in our company of recruits. They both got sent back to week 1 after a tour at the disciplinary company.

It was really stupid. Even if they'd pulled it off how was the black kid going to pass the other, harder swim tests that were to follow the first easy one.

 

[M60]

I grew up in MN and every black guy I knew could swim. I was shocked to see the terrified guys (mostly black guys) clinging to anything they could hold on to during swim quals. Nothing worse than gearing up with backpack, boots, helmet and being told to jump off the 30' platform and swim. I felt bad for the guys who decided to learn how to swim in boot camp. They will make sure you can do pull ups, situps, and a run before you ship but nobody ever asks about "Can you mother f-ing swim?"

We saw the same kind of thing. It was mostly New York guys for some reason. In the end they all swam and graduated though.

 

[M60]

Saw the same at Navy boot camp. Funny thing was this one black kid was really petrified and was never going to pass a swim test even though he was forced to go to swim classes every evening. So, he decided to send someone else to be his imposter and pass the swim test for him. Wouldn't you know that the guy who went to test for the black kid was not only white but the best swimmer in our company of recruits. They both got sent back to week 1 after a tour at the disciplinary company.

It was really stupid. Even if they'd pulled it off how was the black kid going to pass the other, harder swim tests that were to follow the first easy one.

Seems like everyone in the Navy would know how to swim. It's not like they can run to safety if the ship goes down.

 

[chrbla2000]

Army guy here...

I was in basic back in the late '80's with this guy named Campbell, we became life long friends, but I didn't know him at all when basic started. Anyway, we had a few minutes after mess, Campbell was talking to me, hands in his pockets. Drill comes up behind him and gave me a look of death so I kept my mouth shut. He got like an inch behind Campbell's head and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Get your Goddamn dick beaters out of your pockets now!" Campbell nearly jumped out of his skin and turned to face the DI. The DI, says, "open your mouth! WIDER!.... alright, now put your right hand in your mouth... now put your left hand in your mouth! THAT'S HOW YOUR GODDAMN POCKET FEELS!"

-chris

 

[Rockrivr1]

We had the normal f*** ups, which I'm sure every company had when I was at Great Lakes. When they say they want to tear you down and then build you back up it's not just an idle saying. Seen one guy just crack after being dressed down by our company commander. From the back of the barracks he starts running as fast as he can towards the CC's office at the other end. The CC's office had one of those windows that is criss/crossed with wire in the glass that looks out to the barracks. This guy at a full run launches himself like superman into that window. The glass shattered and the wire buckled, but held. The guy was really "F"d up. Massive cuts to his face, hands and upper body. Medics arrived pretty quick, but there was blood everywhere. Never found out what happened to the guy after that. Pretty solumn situation, though the CC never mentioned it again and continued with his normal process.

 

[jasonj84]

We had a third drop, recruit geysinger. Short little readheded guy. Went ua from our platoon at 0300 and tried to swim to the mainland. Got stuck waist deep in the mud flats. Took his alice pack. The MP’s picked him up when they saw him waving his whitie tighties on a stick. Restricted to barracks for his out processing with his own firewatch. Everytime a DI came into the squad bay they would yell “WHERE’S MY SWAMP THING!?”, and he would have to sound off. Made him keep his nasty swamp clothes on until he left.

 

[jasonj84]

Us older guys will get the swamp thing reference. It was the original B movie, long before Sharknado or Battleship.

 

[Andy in NH]

One night several weeks into boot camp while we were sleeping, the lights came on and as a conditioned response we all jumped out of the rack and got on line.
DI Sgt Saygar (the heavy) yells, "TOO SLOW! GET BACK!", shuts off the lights, goes back into the DI Hut and slams the door.
We all stood there for a minute, in the dark, bewildered, before getting back into bed.
The fire watch said it was 0215.

 

[M60]

We had the normal f*** ups, which I'm sure every company had when I was at Great Lakes. When they say they want to tear you down and then build you back up it's not just an idle saying. Seen one guy just crack after being dressed down by our company commander. From the back of the barracks he starts running as fast as he can towards the CC's office at the other end. The CC's office had one of those windows that is criss/crossed with wire in the glass that looks out to the barracks. This guy at a full run launches himself like superman into that window. The glass shattered and the wire buckled, but held. The guy was really "F"d up. Massive cuts to his face, hands and upper body. Medics arrived pretty quick, but there was blood everywhere. Never found out what happened to the guy after that. Pretty solumn situation, though the CC never mentioned it again and continued with his normal process.

What a pussy.

 

[M60]

We had a third drop, recruit geysinger. Short little readheded guy. Went ua from our platoon at 0300 and tried to swim to the mainland. Got stuck waist deep in the mud flats. Took his alice pack. The MP’s picked him up when they saw him waving his whitie tighties on a stick. Restricted to barracks for his out processing with his own firewatch. Everytime a DI came into the squad bay they would yell “WHERE’S MY SWAMP THING!?”, and he would have to sound off. Made him keep his nasty swamp clothes on until he left.

Now that right there is funny. Did you know that they cleaned up the swamp around the main gait at P.I.? Now there's a hotel with a 5 star restaurant and boat slips. Can you believe that!

 

[smokey-seven]

In GL boot camp, they said make it across the pool however you can. We were lined up side by side fully clothed. Now I was an excellent swimmer and could make it close to 50 yards swimming underwater on one breath.

When the whistle blew, I dropped into the pool and walked across the bottom to the other side and pushed off the bottom, grabbed the pool side and lifted out. I beat more than 1/2 of the platoon by walking the bottom. DI walked up to me, smiled and said, "Wise ass." but no bad things happened to me.

 

[Lignum Vitea]

Does anyone remember having to PT with the Fire ants?

How about the sand spurs?

We would be out on a platoon formation run, when we got out of step. The DI's would put us out in the road side grass. With the command, "On Your Face!"
Then, "Roll Right, Roll Left..." They seemed to know where the ants & spurs were. Damn that would suck, guy's would end up in sick bay covered in fire ant bites.

 

[crazymjb]

I got eviscerated by fire ants, took over a year for the scarring on my legs to go away. f*** those cocksuckers.

Mike

 

[jasons]

We had a DI, MacFarlane, who was always very concerned about our hydration. He'd line us up in the squad bay and make us drink water until people started to puke, then make us all PT in it before commencing to field day. Good times. He had some other fun games too. Creative guy.

 

[crazymjb]

I once had "evening chow" that consisted of like 4 glasses of chocolate milk.

Mike

 

[fitzknny]

Does anyone remember having to PT with the Fire ants?

How about the sand spurs?

We would be out on a platoon formation run, when we got out of step. The DI's would put us out in the road side grass. With the command, "On Your Face!"
Then, "Roll Right, Roll Left..." They seemed to know where the ants & spurs were. Damn that would suck, guy's would end up in sick bay covered in fire ant bites.

Sand fleas ! ! ! . . . . After the endless rounds of P.T. or punishments, standing at attention in soaking Utilities or PT shorts getting eaten alive, while the DI waited for someone to move or swat . . . . Good Times ! Glad I Did it though and will savor the good times and the bad, till its time for my dirt nap ! ! !

 

[Rat187]

I went through basic and AIT in Fort Dix '65'. I was issued Korean War vintage long underwear 3x too large for my 17 year old, 130 lb frame. Since the rifle range was in our 'back yard' we'd have to run 5-6 miles in the sand to get to the range with M-14 at port.

Every 1/2 mile or so the 'longjohn' bottoms would work themselves around my ankles so there was no way I keep up. So I'd drop my gear, bend over, and WHAM a big rabid ass DI at my '6' would plant his boot right right up my ass, now multiply this by 20, another day at the range. He thought it was funny, I guess it was good for overall morale.

Eff him, I shot 'top gun' in the 7th week. He was so proud of me he slobbered, instead of the usual foaming