June 26, 1997 - Pugil Sticks and the Platoon's First Victory

970626 - Today was a great day. We had a 3-mile hike. It was pretty easy. Then we had a pugil stick competition. First, we fought 1 on 1. I won. That one was for the series guidon. We won! Then, we fought 2 on 2. Once again, victory. This fight was just for fun, though. After that we came back and practiced drill. After noon chow we had Line II Part II. Then we ate chow and did the usual evening activities. While we were "pugiling," the Asst. Commandant of the Marine Corps came and observed us with his entourage of followers. I feel slightly sore but I'll make it. The platoon is coming along in drill (finally). 64 days left. (I've been here almost 1 month.)
Throughout boot camp, there were many, many assessments and evaluations. Some of them, like swim qualification and the many inspections we had, were purely individual evaluations. Some of them, though, in addition to being an evaluation of the individual recruits, were also competitions between the platoons in the series (3 platoons) and the company (2 series, or 6 platoons). Our pugil stick competition fell into the latter category.

Pugil sticks were basically giant Q-tips; they were long pieces of pipe, padded at each end. The primary purpose for using them in training was to simulate close-quarters bayonet fighting (i.e.: fighting with your rifle when you have the bayonet attached and have run out of bullets). The secondary purpose was an opportunity to hit another guy a lot of times. The one-on-one battle ended whenever one recruit landed what was considered a "killing blow;" essentially, when one recruit stabbed the other with either end of the stick.

Now, I've never been much of a fighter. As a general rule, I prefer to avoid conflict and I would definitely not be described as aggressive (that's probably one of the many reasons that my recruiter was probably the person most surprised that I actually made it through boot camp). However, I was in plays throughout middle and high school. In those plays, I learned to put on a facade and perform in a role, even if that role was nothing like the real me. Essentially, that's what I did for pugil sticks training. I adopted the persona of an aggressive, assertive, Marine. And, amazingly, it worked! I was able to defeat my opponent. And I wasn't alone; our platoon of recruits who would soon prove to be some of the worst marchers, test-takers, and swimmers, showed the whole series that we were the best when it came to raw, unchecked violence. As a result, we were the series champions. We got to carry the series guidon whenever we marched (in addition to the platoon guidon we always carried), and even got a pugil stick to put on our "motivation table" (a table on the quarterdeck which was intended to hold all of the awards like this one that our platoon would earn). It was kind of a big deal.
Here is a platoon marching with their platoon
guidon (a flag that has their platoon number on it).
Another shot of a platoon with their guidon.

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