June 14, 1997 - A Boot Camp Glossary

970614 - Don't have much time because I want to get my full 9 hrs. of Sat/Sun sleep. Today was a milestone! The entire platoon finally became motivated for drill and everything else for that matter. I don't know how but we just "clicked" and now boot camp is great. DI Sgt. H__ is cracking jokes, DI Sgt. V__________ is much more bearable, and even DI Sgt. M______ has gotten better. We're doing so much better than we were yesterday that it's like a whole new platoon. I have to go now but I'm much more encouraged than I've been yet! 62 days (I think).
This was a pretty standard day. In reading the journal entry, you may think it was actually an incredible and unique day, but the reality is that there were great days like this one every week or so. I guess I shouldn't downplay that entirely; after all, without a few encouraging days, I'm not sure we'd have survived. But nothing truly noteworthy happened.

Since nothing really happened, I thought I would take some time to go over some of the terms used in boot camp. So here's my not-exhaustive glossary of boot camp terms, in no particular order:

Navy-related terms:

  • hatch - door
  • porthole - when singular, it meant window; when plural, it meant either window or glasses (as in: "Get those portholes on your face, Bailey!")
  • scuttlebutt - water fountain, or rumors (I don't know why)
  • deck - floor
  • swab - mop
Army-related terms that Marines renamed so as not to sound like the Army:
  • fighting hole - fox hole (foxes hide in fox holes; Marines never hide)
  • high crawl/low crawl - army crawl (high meant on elbows, dragging legs behind; low meant laying totally flat, dragging entire body, including face)
Completely weird (in my opinion):
  • go fasters - sneakers
  • skivvies - underwear, including undershirts (skivvy shirt)
  • blouse - the camouflage shirt worn with cammies
Words and Phrases used by DIs when they were trying not to cuss:
  • dagone
  • friggin' 
  • trash
  • i.e.: Bailey, get rid of that friggin' dagone trash right now and get on my quarterdeck!
Note: "Friggin' dagone" was used frequently by DIs and often without any meaning. It was almost their equivalent to "like" or "um."

I'm sure there are many more, but these are all I can think of right now. 

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