Theodore's World

Thank you.
I'm in tears here, LMAO. Pretty much the same whether in Marine or Army boot. My boot was after a 4 month delay on a buddy packet, my buddy Lynn was a few months shy of 18 and we
were delayed until he was of age. Oct. 8, 1965 I hit boot camp expecting Lynn to be there, he didn't make it, I found out why that first week, he's forever 18, an auto accident on his birthday. The incessant yelling and harassment ripped any traces of melancholy or for that matter anything else from me. Both DI's were tough, 25th ID Rangers, neither was above using brown shoe methods on us, even though forbidden. In marshal arts, I lived only to pierce Sgt. Navas's brisket with the bayonet, unsheathed, he'd taunt me, point at his heart and yell 'Stick it HERE'!!!. If I missed and I always missed, he'd knock the crap out of me, extra pushups and laps around the parade ground then back to business. I got one of his super starched blouse buttons one day and he left me alone for the rest of the training. Don't know if I mastered the beast or not, but those of you who have had an M14 with a bayonet on the end will know just how heavy it really is. I'd hope all recruits would get such tough and dedicated instructors, both of mine were of Korean and Vietnam war era, both were wounded in Vietnam and were training recruits until they were fit for battle again. I sure hated them at the time though. SGT. Navas had a heart, he got me promoted to E2 out of AIT.
I sure hope that lad gets his dream Chrissie, I watched a drop of airborne troops at McCord AFB last summer, it was very hot and in full gear they ran back from the drop zone singing in cadence, for more than a mile, we've got the best in all branches, I hope Obama doesn't screw that up.

Jack - I went to basic at Ft Polk just a few months before you went in. July and August in Louisiana swamps was rough. Heat, sand and water moccasins. So many of the recruits at that time were cannon fodder for the meat grinder that was Vietnam. I always wondered how many in my basic training company became casualties in Nam. Most stayed at Polk for infantry AIT. Luckily I went to Ft Rucker Alabama for aviation maintenance school. I spent my Nam time flying rather than humping.

Yes that M14 was heavy. Years later I got to lug it again in Special Forces training. Now I have an M1A that I shoot for enjoyment.

Tom around 90% of my graduating class in '65 went directly to Vietnam, many were lost there, the scalp hunters were offering OCS, Warrant commissions, anything to get us to sign up for helo school. Having passed boot camp with a heartbeat was qualification enough. Ft Ord, CA, nice place, dive into a foxhole full of water with ice atop it, forced marches on the beach in full packs, unheated billets, Meningitis was rampant then and fresh air was their prescription, then it was off to the desert for more fun and games. Instead of Ft. Belvoir, Uncle changed my MOS after AIT, I spend some time in the engineers, almost a year, I just got lucky(luck?) and went from an amphibious engineer outfit to a transportation company when the army reorganised and consolidated. Slated for the defense of Israel in '67, with training in the Mojave we were subsequently sent as a result of Tet '68 to the DMZ. Come to think of it, as an engineer I'd have been out there sweeping mines, as a trucker I did the same job, my mine sweeper was just larger.
My Mini 14 is a joy to shoot, I've an Armson sight for night and twilight use on it, it teaches you to use both eyes as you don't sight through the Armson, rather over it, it's more like intuitive handgun shooting, eyeball the target put the red dot on it and squeeze, very fast and extremely accurate acquisition. BTW,thank you Tom, thanks for providing air cover and recon, you guys overhead were to us as that blanket was for Linus, a warm and fuzzy security. Linus's Blanket "No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from."

1965...? Boots.. I started in January 1963. Took the train from Buffalo to Yammasee South Caralina, and got picked up by a Bus to Parris Island. The trip took 2 and 1/2 days. That train stopped at every little town and podunk junction on the way. The first day on the train we got two man sleeping cars was really first class. The next night we were all hearded into on train car and slept in the sitting position. When we got outside DC everything changed.

Was a good time until we got about 4 hours from our ultimate destination, then it got extremely quiet. By the time we got there you could hear a pin drop.

One of my fondest memories is of GI can reville and the old coke bottle and these three monsters all wearing Smokey Bear hats, yelling and screaming at 4 in the morning, I mean WTF, it was still dark out. That morning I remember vaguely being awake, the lights were on and all hell had already broken loose, I was lying on my back and pushed myself up on my elbows looking around, from the top bunk, still half asleep when one of those Drill Instructors came at me and literally threw the whole my rack onto the floor, yelling, "You need a special invitation, maggot". I never knew I could move so fast. That was the first time I had heard that word used in that context.

From that time forward I was awake 15 minutes before they came in. After that first day everyone went to sleep at attention.

I revisited Parris Island a couple of years ago. Oh things have changed, brand new Brick barrack's, but other than that it was still Parris Island. We saw a platoon of Boots on the grinder in the hot sun drilling, doing the manual of Arms, then off to the corner we saw about 3 or 4 straglers coming back from 'Sick-bay' on crutches. Crutches or not they were not cut any slack they had to stand at attention and watch the platoon drill.

It is ture you can go home again.

Semper Fi.

Thank you all so much, I love to read your experiecnes. I am so proud of you all, so very honored to know you.