June 15, 1997 - Knowledge

970615 - Today we went to Chapel again. I enjoyed it very much. The sermon was about appreciating and being a father. I then went to the optional religious ed. It was great. After that I came back to the squad bay and wrote to the fam. Then we had chow and cleaned the squad bay. We had a short class on First Aid. We then did drill for about 2 hours. It was extremely boring. After that we had chow, cleaned our guns, got showers and had free time. It was a good day of rest. 61 days left.
Since not much happened on this particular day, I thought I would spend some time filling you in on "knowledge." Over the course of boot camp, there are two academic tests. These tests evaluate the recruits' mastery of the concepts delivered in the various classes throughout boot camp (particularly those from the first several weeks of boot camp). The main two subjects for these tests were Marine Corps History and First Aid, but there were also questions related to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Interior Guard, and a few other more minor subjects.

In order to pass each of the tests, it was required to score an 80% or higher. Now, I'm sure you've all heard the stereotype about Marines not being smart. Well, I have two things to say about that: First, I'd like to say that I know many Marines who were very intelligent; some of the most intelligent men and women I've ever known. Second, I've known a few Marines who were dumb as bricks. For example, we were standing on line one time and this exchange took place:

DI Sgt. H__: Recruit G_____, who's the president of the United States (note: this was 1997, so the president was Bill Clinton).
Recruit G_____: Sir, the president of the United States is the honorable.....George....Clinton, sir!
DI Sgt. H__: Oh, really? Well then, who's the grandmaster of funk?
Recruit G_____: Sir?
DI Sgt. H__: Forget it, G_____, just start pushing.

George Clinton
Bill Clinton 

Because of the wide range of intelligence represented, and the high stakes for these tests, the Drill Instructors spent a great deal of time reviewing the concepts that had been taught in the classes. If there was any down time (time waiting for classes to start, time spent cleaning weapons, time waiting to get into chow, etc.), we were reviewing.

The way that we reviewed the material was through the memorization and repetition (and repetition and repetition) of mnemonic devices. I will now share some of these with you. Note: I have not reviewed any of this; these have been stuck in my head for the past 20 years, only because of the effectiveness of mnemonic devices and the many, many times we said them. Having said that, here you go:

5 types of wounds: key word CALIP
C- cut
A- abrasion
L- laceration
I- incision
P- puncture

5 major battles of WWII: key word TIMGO
T- Tarawa
I- Iwo Jima
M- Midway
G- Guadalcanal
O- Okinawa

Characteristics of an M16A2 service rifle: key word LM GAS
The M16A2 service rifle is a Lightweight, Magazine-fed, Gas-operated, Air-cooled, Shoulder-fired weapon, capable of firing a 5.56mm round in semi-automatic or 3-round burst.

14 leadership traits: key word JJ DID TIE BUCKLE
J- judgment
J- justice
D- decisiveness
I- integrity
D- dependability
T- tact
I- initiative
E- endurance
B- bearing
U- unsefishness
C- courage
K- knowledge
L- loyalty
E- enthusiasm

There may have been more, but these are the ones that have been stuck in my head all these years.

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