boot camp

There are some boot camp stories on my blog but here's some common questions I've been asked:


Q: When did you go to boot camp?
A: March 10 to June 6, 2003


Q: Where did you go for boot camp?
A: The lovely sand flea-infested Parris Island, South Carolina.


Q: How long is it?
A: One week of "Processing" and 12 weeks of actual boot camp.


Q: Were the sand fleas really that bad?
A: Yes.


Q: Do you train with the guys?
A: No, not at boot camp. We're the only military branch that still separates them. At MCT, however, girls and guys were mixed together in the platoons. But that comes later.


Q: Didn't they deprive you of food and sleep?
A: Food, no, except during the Crucible. We ate like pigs, I think I ate more food during that three months than the last three years combined...We were technically supposed to get eight hours of sleep a night, but between having fire watch, drill instructors yelling at the fire watch, and having to get up early to do things we didn't have time to finish the day before, I rarely slept for a full eight hours. On the Crucible we only got four or five hours a night.


Q: What was the hardest part?
A: Trying desperately to stay awake every time we sat down.


Q: What about all that exercising? Ugh! Running, jumping, swimming, climbing, fighting, push-ups, pull-ups, crunches...what a pain! Was it hard?
A: It wasn't too hard for me but some people had a really difficult time with it. Getting sent to the quarterdeck never killed me but other people would cry and collapse. ha ha.


Q: What if you don't make it through?
A: If you fail certain portions, like the rifle or swimming qualifications, you would get more chances to qualify and/or held back to repeat it. The quickest way out is to train and study hard! If you get hurt and don't heal fast enough, you get sent to MRP - Medical Rehabilitation Platoon, and then you pick up with a different platoon later on. If you get hurt bad enough or take a really long time to heal you might get sent home.


Q: Don't drill instructors hit you?
A: No, they never hit us. Spit doesn't count. Ask any male Marine and you will get a totally different answer though. But I do know of a male drill instructor who got kicked off the drill field because some recruits complained about him pinching them.


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This is the number of hours recruits spend doing various activities while at boot camp! I don't know how close it is to what I actually did there but it sounds good to me.

  • Instructional Time (The Crucible / Combat Water Survival / Weapons and Field Training): 279.5 hours
  • Core Values/Academics/Values Reinforcement: 41.5
  • Physical Fitness: 59
  • Close Order Drill: 54.5
  • Field Training: 31
  • Close Combat Training: 27
  • Conditioning Marches: 13
  • Administration: 60
  • Senior DI Time (nightly free time): 55.5
  • Movement Time: 60
  • Sleep: 479
  • Basic Daily Routine: 210
  • Chow: 179
  • Total: 1518 hours


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Some Boot Camp Advice:

Best advice I got before going to bootcamp: MARK EVERYTHING WITH YOUR NAME! And I do mean everything...

Items that commonly grow legs and "walk away": black markers (used to mark things, go figure), cuticle scissors, and reflector belts. Yes, I marked mine, and yes, I still have them. Also make sure you keep your canteens marked and keep a close eye on your alligator clips.

Make sure you mark all boots and sneakers! There's nothing more annoying than building a shoe mountain in the squad bay, frantically disassembling it, and then wearing somebody else's too-big left sneaker for a week.

And while we're at it...keep all small things organized in ziplock bags. That way, when every recruit dumps their footlocker out and the DIs helpfully stir everything up, you'll be the one grabbing bags full of stuff with your name on it instead of handfuls of who-knows-who's. (Yeah, that was me!)