June 10, 1997 - Training Day One

970611 - Wednesday. Monday we got our debit cards, did some drill, etc. I also found out on Monday that I graduate on August 15th instead of the 29th. Great! Tuesday was our 1st training day. We did PT (Table, 1.5 mile run, pull-ups (5), + sit-ups (29)). Then we went to a class on Interior Guard. It wasn't too bad. I was assigned to be a laundry recruit so on Tuesday night we got all the dirty laundry + bagged them + shipped them. Tuesday afternoon we went to Leatherneck square where we learned some basic punch combos. This morning (training day 2) we learned some flips + holds (very cool!) and dis- + re-assembled our rifles. We also began to talk about the Marine Corps Core of Values. Also, Tuesday night/Wed morn. I was on firewatch from 0100-0200 so I only got about 6.5 hrs of sleep. The platoon is gradually getting closer and more motivated. I'm really enjoying myself. There are certain challenges but it's still a lot of fun. I'm thankful to God that I was as prepared as I was. I've now written 3 letters + received no mail. I'm beginning to get confused but trying not to let that get me down. Our platoon is also improving in drill and in motivation. It's great.

Tuesday, June 10 was our first training day. "But, wait," you ask, "what had you been doing up to this point, if not training?" What indeed. Evidently, the first several days we were training to be able to train.

As this was our first actual training day, it was also the first time we had formal classroom instruction. In an later post, I'll write more about the "knowledge" aspect of boot camp . For now, it's sufficient to say that, from this point forward, we had classes nearly every day, in addition to the typical drill, cleaning, weapon cleaning, and "games" (DI time to kill, meaning time to mess with the platoon; more on this in a later post as well).

Another aspect that kicked into gear once official training had begun was physical training, or PT. This was done 3 times a week, before breakfast (because who wants to see a bunch of recruits puking up their breakfast?). On those days, when we woke up we would put on our PT gear. Because I was there in the summer, this didn't take long. We slept in our PT shorts and t-shirts, so all we had to do is put on our socks and sneakers, which were called "go fasters." I have no idea why, except maybe to remove any chance we'd think we were cool. We would then march out to the PT field. On this particular day, PT began with "Table PT," meaning that the series Gunnery Sgt. led a series of exercises from atop a large, wooden table in the middle of the field. That way we could all see the exercises as he demonstrated and could follow his cadence. After Table PT, we ran, did some sit-ups, and pull-ups.

After PT, we would head back to the squad bay for PT showers. These were an experience. We would strip down to shower shoes and a towel and would march, single file, into the head. When we got to the shower room, we would remove our towels, hold them in our left hands (that's important) and walk, counter-clockwise through the shower room. The shower heads lined the walls of the shower room and one of the DIs had already turned them on, so we would just walk through the room, getting sprayed by each shower head. Refreshing! If you're wondering whether a 12-second shower is enough to cool you down and wash the sweat off of you while also stopping new sweat from continuing, it's not. Occasionally, the DIs would get cute and turn the showers on, alternating between all the way hot and all the way cold for each one. That was a real treat.

Before I went to boot camp, I received lots of advice. I hadn't known any Marines, current or former, with the exception of my recruiter. So it's actually surprising how much advice I got. And the piece of advice that I received most frequently was "Never volunteer for anything." So, naturally, when the DIs asked for volunteers for laundry recruit, I immediately volunteered. I didn't really see the point in trying to remain invisible in boot camp; that was impossible. Besides, I know how to count so I thought I could handle this chore. By the end of boot camp, I was also early chow (more on this tomorrow), and small gear locker recruit (the keeper of the locker which contained the cleaning supplies for cleaning the squad bay). I volunteered for these jobs as well. I also became "knowledge recruit" (more on this later), but that position was assigned. The point is, the more jobs I added, the more benefit I saw to adding more and more. They all brought with them various perks.

For example, being laundry recruit meant that we had to collect and bag (into enormous duffel bags), the uniforms of the entire platoon. As the recruits dropped them into the bags, we were to count them, making sure we had one blouse and one pair of trousers (shirt and pants; again with the cool names) per recruit. Well, one night, our count was off. We were missing one blouse and one pair of trousers. We recounted and came up with the same problem. Then, I sent the rest of the laundry recruits to join back up with the rest of the platoon in their showering time, while I counted each piece, one by one, and checked the name. It turned out that, despite the fact that everyone in the platoon had said they'd turned a uniform in, one recruit hadn't. I have no idea why, since there were times in boot camp when just smelling myself literally caused me to gag. Anyway, once I had cleared up the issue, the DI noticed that I still hadn't showered myself (the whole platoon was done at this point). So, he told me to take a shower. Because everyone else was done, I had the shower to myself and didn't have a DI standing there telling everyone to get out if he heard talking (not that I'd have talked to myself). I luxuriated in the longest shower I had taken in weeks, which probably means it took all of 3 minutes.

Another perk that came from volunteering is that, when I was Small Gear Locker Recruit, rather than being one of the guys who had to scrub the urinal trough with a Brillo pad, with my bare hands, I got to be the guy who handed out the Brillo pads.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, go ahead and volunteer. Worst case scenario, you hate the job, do it poorly, get fired and sent to the pit for twenty minutes, and it becomes someone else's job. Best case scenario, you get a private shower. And in boot camp, the bar for a best case scenario is pretty low.