June 11, 1997 - Line Training, Early Chow, and the Best Advice

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.

Line Training

Sometime near the year 2000, the Marines adopted a martial arts program, called The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (they obviously spent a good deal of money on a marketing consultant to come up with the name). It's essentially a combination of several martial arts, and even has a belt system. I don't know much about martial arts, but I think it's a pretty good program. I know without a doubt that it's superior to what we were taught in boot camp. Line Training (the actual name for the "flips + holds" mentioned in this journal entry), was easily the most complicated, least effective hand-to-hand combat program ever devised. A typical take down, like blocking a punch and then taking the opponent down for example, included 11 steps. It was expected that we would just master these "flips + holds" so well that we would be able to defend ourselves and defeat our enemies using this training. And, as you will see throughout the rest of the journal, we spent a lot of time on this training.

An example of why it wasn't particularly practical came in the first few days after I got home from boot camp. I was hanging out with some friends and they wanted a demonstration of what I had learned. I told one of them to throw a punch at me. He did, but I had no idea how to block it, despite my hours of training. That's because he was left-handed. Literally everything I had learned had been only for right-handed opponents. I'm not even right-handed.

Early Chow

I failed to mention this in the journal, but somewhere near training day 2 was my first day as one of the two Early Chow recruits. I don't remember why I volunteered, but It's possible that the other Early Chow recruit told me I should. I mentioned Early Chow in yesterday's post when I talked about the benefits of volunteering. Well, having had several other jobs in boot camp, and having witnessed the rest, I can definitively say that Early Chow is, far and away, the best job you can get in boot camp.

While we were still in forming and hadn't been moved to our permanent platoon, we were issued our rifles. Naturally, these needed to be watched at all times. When we were in the squad bay, they were locked to our racks; when we were in classrooms, they were in racks along the walls of the classroom; but rifles were not allowed in the mess hall. This meant that they had to be left somewhere else. Usually, this meant leaving them locked up in the squad bay. They couldn't just be left there, however; they had to be watched at all times. Enter early and late chow.

A few minutes before the rest of the platoon left the squad bay to form up outside and march to chow, the two recruits on early chow would leave. They would then eat on their own and leave chow before the platoon so that they could relieve late chow who would go to chow late and leave chow late (Sometimes late chow had to leave with the platoon, though, if we were on a tight schedule. That's why early chow is better.).

Now, to someone who hasn't been to boot camp and hasn't been under the watchful eye of a drill instructor for literally every waking moment of your life, it may be difficult to understand how wonderful those three breaks were each day. Three times a day, I could (in fact, was ordered to) just walk away from my platoon and the Drill Instructors, in the middle of whatever time-killing games were taking place. I could then march with my early chow partner (Recruit C___, who's now a Major in the Marines) to chow, get my food, sit away from the other platoons, and eat my meal in relative peace. We were never told to be done eating because someone in the platoon had talked; were never yelled at for sitting incorrectly; and were never still hungry after a meal. In fact, at one point during boot camp, I thought I was getting too skinny, so I just decided to put myself on double rations. Normally, I would have been required to carry a slip of paper (or "chit") which designated me as requiring double rations, and I would have needed to show it to the recruits dishing out my food. Once the recruits saw me, though, they piled my tray high. This didn't last forever, as I eventually got caught, and was promptly taken to the pit to burn off the extra calories I'd been eating.

I am fully convinced that those thrice-daily breaks from the insanity of boot camp had a direct impact on my ability to maintain my own sanity and to succeed to the extent that I was able.

Best Advice for Recruits

The best advice my recruiter gave me before I left for boot camp, and the reason I felt "prepared," had to do with showers. He warned me that the DIs would stop us mid-shower any time they heard someone talking. This meant that our showers may end up only being 30 seconds long. Because of this, he told me to prioritize my showers, washing the most important areas first and working my way to the rest of my body. He also advised only applying soap to one area at a time, rinsing that area completely, then quickly moving on. It's difficult to articulate how valuable this advice was, but suffice it to say, I frequently saw recruits cover themselves head-to-toe in thick lather, only to be told their shower was done and they had to get out.