# sad state of marine corp boot camp **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458 "2013-04-23T01:52:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/41 "2013-04-24T05:42:12Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > If you’re new to this forum, please be mindful that we appreciate separating text into paragraphs of at most 200 words or so, it makes it much easier to read. [Nitpicking] His longest post (up to the point you posted) was just over 100 words. Did you mean 200 characters? [/Nitpicking] ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/42 "2013-04-24T06:49:46Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Pointed stick? Oh, oh, oh. We want to learn how to defend ourselves against pointed sticks, do we? Getting all high and mighty, eh? Fresh fruit not good enough for you eh? Well I’ll tell you something my lad. When you’re walking home tonight and some homicidal maniac comes after you with a bunch of loganberries, don’t come crying to me! Fresh fruit? A luxury. We had to make a meal for a whole cohort out of a sandal strap and half a raisin. And we were glad to have it, too! ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/43 "2013-04-24T06:57:51Z")
> [@stavechoker](#): > > We were pushed to our physical limets. In the beginning we were kept up for 2 days we were reduced to zero and rebuilt to marine corp specs.you could be choked punched if you made a mistake. The weakest were singled out and given special attention. It was the old corps.nobody who was in my platoon in bootcamp would’ve said it was easy. But now they are allowed cell phones computers.and they come out saying it was easy and the pt was nothing.the whole idea is to getrid or the nonhackers and they aren’t doing it. Let’s get one thing clear. The 2013 Marine Corps would beat the ever loving shit out of the 1964 Marine Corps at any physical or mental test you could possibly come up with. Do you disagree? ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/44 "2013-04-24T07:06:53Z")
By gum, we didn’t have cell phones or computers back in the Old Corps (1961), but come to think of it…nobody else did, either. Anyone who wanted something he didn’t have would be told by the DI, “Snuffy, if the Marine Corps wanted you to have (whatever) it would issue you one.” This was not limited to material objects, but included such things as opinions, attitudes, senses of humor, and a wife. ---
**Author:** ![Saraya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Saraya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saraya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/45 "2013-04-24T08:05:34Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > Well, let’s make a quick comparison: > > 1964 - draftees who don’t want to be there. > 2013 - volunteers who want a slot in the Corps. > > 1964 - kids with no concept of nutrition, exercise, or health > 2013 - you get a chart with a workout schedule, and your recruiter works with you to make sure that you are ready for boot. You have been working out through high school in hopes of getting a slot, and the need for a six pack is part of dating on Facebook. > > 1964 - you could 'kip your way through the chin ups. > 2013 - full length pull ups only (20 is the number to hit - 7 gets you tossed out) This is fairly accurate and makes a strong point. I would only counter with the note that drill instructors are less directly threatening than they used to be. The training is more mental than physical at times and political correctness and publicity issues have curbed their nastiness which ultimately is a disservice to the young men they are trying to train. Instructors should be able to throw every insult they can think of including gender, race, religion… nothing is off the books. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/46 "2013-04-24T08:35:15Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > By gum, we didn’t have cell phones or computers back in the Old Corps (1961), but come to think of it…nobody else did, either. Except, it turns out, Private Turing had smuggled one in. Everyone wondered why his foot locker was the size of a small building. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/47 "2013-04-24T09:32:14Z")
> [@Saraya](#): > > Instructors should be able to throw every insult they can think of including gender, race, religion… nothing is off the books. How does insulting someone make him a better soldier? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/48 "2013-04-24T10:46:12Z")
If a recruit is not quickly disabused of his or her sense of “hey, that’s not fair, I don’t deserve to be treated like this,” perhaps he or she might end up carrying that attitude to the battlefield? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/49 "2013-04-24T11:24:28Z")
MARINE is an acronym: Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Expected. And, USMC stands for U Signed the Mother-flipping Contract (so you have nobody else to blame for your misery). Semper Fi, **echo7tango** ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/50 "2013-04-24T11:44:02Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > If a recruit is not quickly disabused of his or her sense of “hey, that’s not fair, I don’t deserve to be treated like this,” perhaps he or she might end up carrying that attitude to the battlefield? That’s a given. I just don’t see how humiliation serves this purpose. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/51 "2013-04-24T12:36:59Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > That’s a given. I just don’t see how humiliation serves this purpose. Right. The modern DIs have the skill to apply intense stressors that will weed out the weak of character w/o having to go into gratuituous abuse for abuse’s sake. All modern-day Marines I’ve met are very much properly attitude-adjusted. ---
**Author:** ![stavechoker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@stavechoker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stavechoker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/52 "2014-11-08T02:15:23Z")
No one wants to be a di anymore from what I hear .The training or pt is not taken to the limit we were tested to our limits .Iremember an 8 mile run around camp mathewes in 64 its a college campus today then it was a rifle range.It was hot we were told no breakfast .we ran in formation .1 recruit got cramps and we dragged and carried him for 2 miles in formation today a flag would go up warning no pt too hot .We would run along the fence at mcrd at 2 in the morning no way is bootcamp hard anymore. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/53 "2014-11-08T02:24:31Z")
Apparently the marines do a piss poor job of teaching basic English. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/54 "2014-11-08T02:41:07Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Apparently the marines do a piss poor job of teaching basic English. Be nice. It took him a year and a half to compose that. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/55 "2014-11-08T02:42:06Z")
> [@stavechoker](#): > > No one wants to be a di anymore from what I hear .The training or pt is not taken to the limit we were tested to our limits .Iremember an 8 mile run around camp mathewes in 64 its a college campus today then it was a rifle range.It was hot we were told no breakfast .we ran in formation .1 recruit got cramps and we dragged and carried him for 2 miles in formation today a flag would go up warning no pt too hot .We would run along the fence at mcrd at 2 in the morning no way is bootcamp hard anymore. Have you been running since last April?! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/56 "2014-11-08T02:58:14Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Have you been running since last April?! > 😛 April 2013, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/57 "2014-11-08T02:59:25Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I thought we went over this and only the Army and Navy take draftees? I don’t know about 1964, but in 1970, they were taking draftees. I joined the Air Force, and was sitting at the intake center in Oakland, waiting for my flight to take me to basic training (after the Air Force Sergeant running the Air Force booth asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee). All of the draftees were sitting in a huddle nearby, and a Marine Sergeant walked up, counted them off, and told 1/4 of them that they were to be congratulated, because they were now US Marines. ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/58 "2014-11-08T12:49:26Z")
Do you have specific data that shows the Marine Corps is failing? What does the difference in Boot Camp equate to in the current performance of the Marine Corps? Is this only a ‘get of my grass’ moment or do you have anything other than what you’ve heard and what you think? My Father was a grunt in 1970, my little brother was a cannon cocker who served some years after me. We all hang out with Marines of different eras and honestly this is the first time I’ve heard someone blather about this and be serious. There is talk about the different styles of Boot Camp but if the results are the same is it really an issue? I will give it to the Marines from way back…nobody can talk shit like most of you can. It is just beautiful to hear two of the Old Breed crackin on each other. Obligatory Deuce Gear pic > **[If your782 gear doesn't look like this then don't talk To me about the old Corps](https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/if-your782-gear-doesnt-look-like-this-then-dont-talk-to-me-about-the-old-corps-1b719/)** > > Free and Funny Veterans Day Ecard: If your782 gear > doesn't look like this > then don't talk > To me about > the old Corps Create and send your own custom Veterans Day ecard. Perhaps you were locked out of the other board due to how you sent your message rather than the message itself? Echo 3 Bravo 0351/0331 Bravo 1/3 3rd MEB ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/59 "2014-11-08T15:34:50Z")
Grammatically bizarre stupid is still stupid, even after 19 months. **stavechoker,** what makes you think anyone cares about you, your opinion on anything, or your total lack of compositional skills? ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458/60 "2014-11-08T17:04:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Grammatically bizarre stupid is still stupid, even after 19 months. **stavechoker,** what makes you think anyone cares about you, your opinion on anything, or your total lack of compositional skills? **[Mod Note]** **Silenus** , this is way out of line for IMHO. If you want to attack the poster instead of the post, hie thee to the Pit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-state-of-marine-corp-boot-camp/656458.md?page=4)