This was the only serial dirtbag I ran into in boot camp. I know he was also almost as dumb as a rock and the thing he liked best about Boot Camp was the food. The same food everyone else hated and made fun of. Apparently this kid came from a screwed up dirt poor background. I remember he was from West Virginia and his civvies (civilian clothes) were very well worn looking and his sneakers ratty. I think, but I did not ask, that he grew up dirt poor and without running water. I am pretty sure he cleaned up and made it out to the fleet.
Sometimes it takes the Navy a while to figure out a sailor is a dirtbag. It has to work its way up the chain of command and through proper channels. It can also be tough as many sailors work 20 hours a day at sea at times. I did it for a 12 period at one point and I guarantee there were days where no one would have wanted to be near me. At least my clothes were clean as laundry underway was done for the entire coop. There were too many days were I worked my long shifts and watches, collapsed into my bunk and got up 4 hours later to start over again. I would not have showered at all if I did not just go shower while I was on duty but had a spare 10 minutes.
My grandpa - God bless him - is like, the most bitter and hard-to-please man in the universe. Imagine Archie Bunker crossed with Paulie from The Sopranos. In both appearance, and personality. I have never met someone in my entire life who was more grumpy and bitter. It’s like an absurd caricature of a grumpy old man, except it’s real. Anyway, when we go out to eat at restaurants, he complains (to the waiter) about the food, every time without fail, and usually sends it back. It’s NEVER good enough for him. Once, he sent a BLT sandwich back to the kitchen three times because the bread still wasn’t toasted enough for him. He is like, every waiter and every cook’s worst nightmare. Yet he still eats out at restaurants at least five times a week.
Once I asked him: “Grandpa, if you’re so picky about food, how in the hell did you ever make it through the Army?”
He snapped at me, “the food in the Army was GREAT!”
Bernard Fergusson records that ‘even in the siege of Tobruk there was one man who found time to grouse about the food, and I found the only solution was to make him cook it himself’
Yup. And as recent as couple of years ago there was a small media fracas about a jacked up Marine recruit company and its totally jacked up DI.
That is hazing, and in the Navy these days (esp. New Navy) they make a BIG deal out of hazing, racial/sexual harassment, anything else. In Navy boot camp you are no longer allowed bars of soap for this very reason --everybody gets this body wash shit that flakes your hair (the little you got) and rashes your body over but you can’t make a blanket party with it.
Recruit Company Commanders are now called Recruit Division Commanders (RDCs), and are technically not allowed to curse but will do it anyway.
But people do fall down stairs a lot. Recruits still police their own.
Hm. YMMV, I guess. We had this guy we called “puke.” He’d already tried to make it through Navy & Marine basic and got thrown out of both. Every time we had to do anything strenuous or stressful he’d bend over and start pretending he was puking and couldn’t do it. He got our whole platoon in trouble several times, but no one ever beat him up. He eventually just failed out again. I swear the guy was making a career out of failing basic training.
We did police our own, but never by beating anyone up. The system can wash people out if they’re that bad. We were big on documentation and paper trails. Of course, I joined during peacetime, and the Army didn’t need to retain every single warm body. Things could change during wartime.
I was always told that the Marines had only drafted in WWII, not Vietnam, but I searched online and couldn’t find that as a nailed-down fact.
Some guys, after receiving their draft notices, ran to join the air force or navy, in order to avoid the army. Some joined the Marines, not to avoid combat, of course, but out of a belief that they’d be serving among people who wanted to be there and had higher standards.
I also found online something I’d heard before: if you’d enlisted in the navy during Vietnam, you could be cherry-picked into the Marines.
Hey dudes…Chill. Doesn’t matter …The Crotch is probably still the “crotch” today as it was when I was in it back in early '74…Theres One thing I still never hear anyone mention when they talk about the toughness of marine corps boot camp in comparison to back then, today, or full metal jacket…Anyone ever heard of Motivation platoon? If you have, then what about the “minor offence” version of it called “dirt”. I was sentenced to a 2 hour “session” of Motivation platoon called "dirt because I simply didn’t click the lock closed on my weapon overnight…Lord, I wish there was SOMEONE out there who could testify on what going to dirt was like…I would have to write a book here to describe it…NOTHING has ever come CLOSE! to the Physical TORTURE our government put me thru for nor clicking my lock tight…If It happened today, I (we) would be on good day America, Oprah, and all the similar outlets suing for MILLIONS because of the abuse!!They outlawed mote, (motivation platoon and its off shoots like “dirt” in 1976…Why don’t I EVER here from ANYONE who knows about “mote” as they called it and “dirt”…The Marine Corps isn’t just tough…They were criminal. And Im just a regular, non trouble makin guy who happened to just leave his weapon unlocked just ONE night. I have an
Honorable discharge and everything…ANYBODY who think they can compare any branch of the military with the Marines are Mad…They just don’t know…Wow, with all this I could have described “dirt”…sorry
When I went thru in 91 when we were dropped from receiving to the platoon the DI’s had us sitting on the quarterdeck so the Senior could introduce us to his Junior DI’s. The Senior asked if any of us had not heard curse words and went down a list. After he was certain we had all heard of them he asked if any of us was offended by any of those words. Nobody said anything and the Senior let us know that if we were not offended by those words then he and his DI’s would use them.
This was done in a conversational tone. The Junior DI’s said nothing and remained in Parade Rest. After he let us know the ground rules, which basically was “Him: Boss; Us: broken members of society who he would mold as He saw fit.” He then let us know that he would be reviewing our paperwork in his Hut and the Junior DI’s would let us know what else would happen. As soon as he got inside the hut and the door closed all hell broke loose!
That being said the DI’s can just make up cuss words and somehow you know what they mean without being told.
There was no out in the open punching or choking but certain recruits had to have their body alignment or rifle positioning adjusted more forcefully than others. (‘4 INCHES FROM YOUR CHEST PRIVATE PYLE!’ makes me smile to this day.)
While I was in boot camp it was rumored that a company a week ahead of us had to be broken up and reformed due to DI violence. It could have been scuttlebutt or it could have been real. I had enough issues to deal with in my platoon and didn’t care about another company.
Hazing is a fuzzy term but problem recruits were singled out. The DI’s PT’ing (physical training) for an extended amount of time because Recruit ScrewUp can’t do ‘x’. We never had any blanket parties.
The recruits were broken down into squads and the squads were broken down into teams. If a screw up did pop up it was the job of the team to square his shit away. Most of the time this was done with mentoring and threats of violence rather than violence.
I served as a British soldier in the 60s. Curses were par for the course then and to be honest I enjoyed listening to them. The drill instructors were incredibly inventive in their cursing and natural-born comedians to a man. I used to have to fight to keep a straight face on many occasions. Physical stuff was uncommon though not unknown. Definitely against Queen’s Regulations and a serious military offence if substantiated.
I’m sure the cursing still continues. It would be a sad day if DIs couldn’t do it. If soldiers can’t stand up to a tirade of abuse without flinching or wailing about their rights then the Lord knows how they’d cope in battle.
Blanket parties happen when someone does something deliberate that hurts the whole platoon. Like one guy told me 2 guys had stolen some things and the whole platoon had their leave cancelled because of this.
In the US Navy one big hazing is when a sailor crosses the equator they get hazed like hell. And you better forever keep your card saying you went thru it or they do it to you again.
You do know you can opt out of it? I simply stood an 8 hour switchboard watch during the entire process. I had no interest in the stupidity of getting my shellback. So I am a pollywog to this day. It took standing up to some peer pressure and talking to the command master chief but I was able to opt out of the silliness.
The M1903 Springfield rifle was designed and adopted by the military in 1903. Actual production continued until 1942. Amazingly some were still being used as service weapons as late as 1974.
It’s fairly common for obsolete rifles to be deactivated and given to initial trainees as something to carry around and look after. If they get damaged by assault courses etc. it doesn’t matter too much. The Navy used '03s for this purpose for many years; many have been released now.
The movie of An Officer And A Gentleman has Richard Gere carrying an old M1 rifle around, for the same purpose.
When I was in basic we had the psycho crazy DS, who was known to have previously been busted for abusing recruits. He did some time over it, had his rank & pay taken away for awhile. We also had the big, strong but relatively soft spoken DS who occasionally cracked a joke or let the platoon relax a bit.
I’ve heard so many similar stories I think it’s just good cop bad cop. I’m not sure how likely it is a drill could get busted for abusing troops, do some time, and be put right back in charge of troops. :dubious:
Doesn’t this stuff happen – in some way or shape – whenever any ship, naval or civilian, crosses the Equator? Including passenger vessels / cruise liners? Presumably on ships with fare-paying passengers, those folks’ participation is voluntary; but I have the picture that a good many of same consider it fun, and join in accordingly.
Hmmm…I dunno. It seems that there are a few too many antecedents to be able to say what the lies were about, what the lies were, etc… to be able to say for sure that he lied about that ceremony. The account is too vague.
I was under the impression that the Marines recieved conscripts during Vietnam.