MARINE CORPS BOOT CAMP
1969 – SAN DIEGO MCRD



When enlisting for the United States Marine Corps, little did I know what was in store for me, and my seventy-nine brothers. MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) San Diego, California was very busy back then processing new recruits for the Vietnam war.
Every Marine will tell you a story of how bad it was during their boot camp experience and that it was worse than any other Marine’s story. My story here, it wasn’t the worst boot camp a person could go through, nor was it the easiest .. you see, MCRD boot camps in San Diego and Parris Island back then were geared toward making a Marine out of a civilian … a civilian that had previously been living the good life before enlisting. Sometimes in many circumstances, it was necessary for our drill instructors to use a hands-on physical approach where their verbal commands were not sinking through to a recruit.

We had one platoon commander and two drill instructors as our Marine leaders for our training. They introduced themselves and would express key sentences and concerns like … ‘during your time here you will listen up, you will sound off when your name is called and so on. Arrival by cattle-trailer, being helped off the trailer by a caring drill instructor and onto some nice painted yellow footprints was beginning to get our attention pretty quick. Numerous questions were showering my mind right now like, “can they do that?” “We are on your side .. what is going on here, nobody told me about this crap.”

Yes, quite shocking at first for anyone on their first day at MCRD. From that point on, everybody eventually experienced their own personal time with a drill instructor. We learned fast by trial and error, received our physical adjustments now and then which would painfully wake most people up. Now as a Marine, I do not have to paint a picture here as to all that goes on or happened back then … because every Marine knows the drill, training and the silently kept secrets only another Marine should know. If you really want to know what it is like to become a Marine … join today. Semper Fi.