Marine boot camp can be a frightening place, but a very funny place as well. Here's one of my favorite Christmas boot camp stories that one of my buddies experienced:

It was Christmas Eve night and the recruits were out in the boondocks as they were in the field part of their training. But the drill instructors weren't even acknowledging the occasion. Finally, one of the recruits finally had to broach the issue. "So you want Christmas, let the games begin," said the DI.

The DI then proceeded to have half the platoon climb a big tree (with their flashlights) so that the recruits were evenly spaced throughout the tree. Half of these recruits were ordered to put the red lens in their flashlights, while the others kept the white lens in. Then the DI ordered the recruits in the tree to sing "Silent Night, Holy Night" while switching on and off their flashlights.

As such, the half of the platoon that didn't climb the tree were witness to a real live singing Christmas tree complete with blinking red and white lights. After the song was over, the recruits in the tree and on the ground switched places and repeated the experience, so that everyone had a very Marine Christmas that they will never forget.

Haha, that's funny!! That would be a "one of a kind" Christmas one wouldn't forget. A story you could talk about over a few beers for many years to come! Thanks for sharing TOW.

BTW, I like the new forum.

Do not try this in boot camp:

Marine boot camp is a total shock at first. Nothing can really prepare you for the intensity of the experience. As such, some recruits will do anything to get out of boot camp.

Pvt. Taylor was one of these guys. He'd had enough of boot camp so he marched straight into the Senior Drill Instructor's office (a big no-no) with something important to say. He then told the DI that he was gay and went on to describe an explicit sexual act that he wanted to perform on the DI. Well, Taylor was sent away... to the brig. Meanwhile, the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) was contacted in Dallas. They went to Taylor's neighborhood and interviewed family and friends. They found more than a few girlfriends who stated that Taylor was definitely heterosexual, and he was known for being a "lady's man." When confronted with this evidence, Taylor reluctantly admitted that he was straight. He was reprimanded and sent to another platoon to finish boot camp, which he did, albeit with a very unsavory entry in his Service Record Book (SRB).

Halloween in Boot Camp

We all knew that Halloween in Marine Boot Camp wasn't going to be good, as we figured our DIs had something special in mind.

Well, the evening of Halloween, the DIs had some time to kill.

(Previously, during field training, the DIs collected all of the cocoa mix from our MREs. That was not a good sign.)

Anyway, we were all sitting in front of the squad bay cleaning our weapons. The DI then called four recruits to the front and had them start doing bends and thrusts (a push up where you stand up after each one). After several, several minutes the recruits would be gasping for air. At such time, the recruits were ready for their treat - a nice packet of cocoa mix. While heaving and gasping for air, the DIs made the recruits eat the cocoa mix. As you can probably guess, the dry mix was spewed everywhere, coming out of both mouths and snorted through and out noses. It was not a pretty sight. This process was repeated until the entire platoon got their Marine Halloween trick-or-treat.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TOW Gunner,

More than any other service, the Marines are vehemently against having gays serving in the ranks, so they are very aggressive at the mere suggestion of homosexuality. One Marine found out the hard way.

In boot camp, recruits are not to look at DIs. They are supposed to look straight ahead, for example, when at attention. Well, one of the DIs caught one of the recruits looking at him. The DI asked the recruit "do you want to f*** me, boy?" The recruit thought it was a trick question. If he answered no, then he thought the DI might use this to get his feelings hurt. If he answered yes, then he thought that the DI would think he was gay. So he compromised and answered "maybe," which was very funny to the rest of us. But, that wasn't a good answer either. The other DIs descended on this recruit and started asking him questions about his sexuality. He was taken away to an investigative unit (maybe the NIS) where he was questioned extensively until they were sure he wasn't gay.

Not as funny as the christmas tree story, but I had the pleasure of being out in the boonies (the old air strip at PI) on thanksgiving.
Our treat? A second C-ration.
Sound good?
After we were done, we understood why there was such a surplus of turkey loaf C-rations that they could give everyone in our company two of them.

Hey all. I have the opportunity to go back to Air Force officer basic(field training) this summer as a CTA(cadet training assistant). It is basically a drill instructor job we get invited back for if you do good enough while going through FT.

I have confidence in my instruction and evaluation ability, but don't have much experience in the whole yelling, and/or intimidation thing. Is there any advice, or tips you all could give me to make my experience more memorable for me, and the cadets I will have under me.

Thanks.

I've heard that Marine drill instructors have to yell at a tree for several hours as part of their training.

USMC 7051: Was that at Cubi Point? When were you stationed in PI? If we're telling military stories, how about some from T's Tavern and Magsaysay street in Olongapo? Bet some of the readers here wouldn't believe some of the stories.

No. if you go down the main road in Lejunne, as if going towards Cherry point, on your right before you eventually turn left off of that road is Bogue Field.
Back then, we lived in barracks 200 on Cherry point, right accross from the armory.
I Graduated Boot camp in December '80.

Monk...that you?

quote:

Originally posted by Joe:
Hey all. I have the opportunity to go back to Air Force officer basic(field training) this summer as a CTA(cadet training assistant). It is basically a drill instructor job we get invited back for if you do good enough while going through FT.

I have confidence in my instruction and evaluation ability, but don't have much experience in the whole yelling, and/or intimidation thing. Is there any advice, or tips you all could give me to make my experience more memorable for me, and the cadets I will have under me.

Thanks.

Are ya married? For the next couple of months, every time she "gets on you"- just bite your lip and take it. Not a word. After a while just be pleasant to her....It'll come spewing forth at those cadets in no time.

True story.
In the Butts on the range in boot camp I got "hit" by a ricochet. I went down hard on my back, screaming in pain, clutching my leg, which was burning like a sonuvabitch. DI's came rushing to me, ripped open my cammies and there, sitting ON TOP of my leg was a 5.56 slug bent into the shape of a banana, burning a hole in my leg. Didn't even break the skin, just punctured the cammies and left a little burn on my leg. DI's made quite a show of putting a band-aid on my "injured" leg and sarcastically inquiring about "The Wound" and whether "I'd make it, or not". Received all manner of nicknames after that- "War Hero", "Bullet Catcher"- and my favorite "Screamer". Good thing it was 1984 and nobody had heard of John Kerry yet....

Gunny- sorry but by 1984 I had heard & seen enough of Hanio John to last me a lifetime.

Sorry, "hadn't 're-heard' about John Kerry yet..."

screamer! bet that brings back memories!

bumped back into view

quote:

In the Butts on the range in boot camp I got "hit" by a ricochet. I went down hard on my back, screaming in pain, clutching my leg, which was burning like a sonuvabitch. DI's came rushing to me, ripped open my cammies and there, sitting ON TOP of my leg was a 5.56 slug bent into the shape of a banana, burning a hole in my leg. Didn't even break the skin, just punctured the cammies and left a little burn on my leg. DI's made quite a show of putting a band-aid on my "injured" leg and sarcastically inquiring about "The Wound" and whether "I'd make it, or not". Received all manner of nicknames after that- "War Hero", "Bullet Catcher"- and my favorite "Screamer". Good thing it was 1984 and nobody had heard of John Kerry yet....

Maybe I should reply to that reality show about removing the bullet and treating myself!

Well, no, I guess the DI technically "removed" the bullet from my leg......

bump

These are really good... Lets hear more stories.