MARINE CORPS - The Beginning

 

At the end of June 1987, I headed off to San Diego, CA for Marine Corps boot camp, otherwise known as MCRD. Later on I was to learn that we were considered “Hollywood Marines” because we didn’t do our boot camp at Parris Island, SC with the sand fleas and alligators. Instead we had to deal with being right next to the San Diego airport with airplanes taking off every 30 seconds. That’s not too bad except that for three months every time I saw one take off I wished I was on it and I didn’t care where it was going.

I got picked up at the airport, put on a bus, and then the yelling began. Remember the scene from Forest Gump? A lot like that. Anyway, we got off the bus and were told to find some footprints painted on the sidewalk and line up. It was night and they ushered us into barracks where we went to sleep. A couple hours later they came banging things to wake us up. They shaved our heads and divided us into platoons and took us to our new home.

My first weekend there was July 4^th and I saw one firework from my bunk that night. It was early to bed and early to rise every single day. Our days consisted of running, exercise, marching, , training, and a multitude of other events. We had three meals a day but not leasurely. I heard a lot of yelling, obscenities, chants, orders, and other verbal ques. I almost forgot about talking because that was not allowed unless spoken to or at specific times of the day, usually at night during our short free time.

I lost 25-30 pounds during boot camp. I went from at 36” to a 30” waist. I became an expert rifleman during weapons training. In our final physical fitness test, I ran three miles in 20min & 50 seconds. That was the first and last time I ever did it that fast. I’ve never been in better shape in my life and I looked pretty good in uniform.

After graduation in September, I was on “leave” (military term for vacation) for about ten days and then I headed to Camp Lejeune in NC. This is where I did my MOS (military occupational specialty) training for combat engineer. I was there for about seven weeks learning about bridges and explosives. It was quite cool. 

When I was done, I headed back to Arizona, with a stop in IL for a couple days to see my grandparents. I reported to duty at my Marine Corps Reserve Unit in Phoenix. For the next five years, except during Desert Storm,  I would show up at my unit once a month and two weeks out of the year for training.