Calling ALL Marines - Past and Present

Rough life!

 

haha yeah, they're pretty strict on the whole hazing thing. Really you only get slayed if your constantly f****** up, but other than that... It's a new Marine Corps. I'm not gonna say my Seniors Thrash thrash us, but i'm not gonna they don't either haha.

But I f****** love being a grunt. done some pretty sick field ops already.

 

Don't worry its getting worse. Whole companies can't train due to the scope of the investigations. That crap and the drawdown make things a rather depressing place. I am looking at getting forced out here within the year and I haven't even seen zone. They WILL pay my ass to get out though.

For the perfect for cleaning guys. Hopefully most of this SNAFU will pass by the time you need to worry about it. It will be something different by that time.

 

I had peers go to the brig for making a kid to pushups as discipline for messing up . . .
I got hurt and got out. I thought I wanted to stay in but now I'm grateful I didn't. I'm doing well for myself out here and am much happier (and cleaning less than 4x a week). haha

 

Are you Verping/Vurping or w/e they call it? one of the senior guys in my squad just did a "Fap?" He's working at the SMP now haha.

 

Nope.....they don't pay separations if you verp and the longer you stay in the bigger the check. Verping can be worth it for first term jarheads but if you are looking at statutes of limitations I would just finish out your contract. It makes a lot more sense....just like re enlisting once even if you hate it. When you are done with your second contract they cannot call you back. Is it common to be called back? Nope....but I would hate to have a job and a family and get jerked back into the corps after getting out too. Think about what would hurt worse.

BTW:

Voluntary
Early
Release
Program

 

Makes sense. I have no interest in the thought of "VERPING" but I know some of the guys in my unit are tryin. I don't really get it though, you've already done 3, just do the last year. Don't think I could live with myself not finishing my contract.

 

Everyone misses the corps in their own way. Get out when you stop having fun. That's the best advice I ever got.....and I'm still in so we will see what the future holds.

 

Service:1988-2002
Rank: L/Cpl
MOS: Motor T Maintenance
Stations: Quantico, Virginia and Iwakuni, Japan.

 

That's the advice my company gunny gave me when I asked him why he had stayed in as long as he had when I was thinking about reenlisting. He said, "I'm still having fun. When it's not fun anymore, then I'll get out." He retired as a 22 year First Sergeant. Good dude. Gunny Woodward, L 3/4 in 2003-04.

 

I just left 3/4 this past year. Went there in 2010. Too bad they are getting disbanded this year. I'm Motor T so pog life but 3/4 was one of the better units I've been in.

 

I keep hearing that things are getting worse, etc. Personally, it's the same garbage I've been hearing for the last 20 years. I agree that you should get out when you stop having fun, but all it takes is one douchebag SNCO or OIC to screw up your tour. A change in command/PCS/etc might be in order. You'll never get away from that scenario in the Corps or in 1stCivDiv. Cry all you want about this or that, but at the end of the day it's up to you to make the most of it.....not the Corps. Now wash the sand out from your crack and carry on. Semper Gumby!

 

If you choose to ignore it that's fine. Seems like you got out while it was good. Now that politicians are dictating how we run an organization you might swallow your words. The corps has changed a lot. Some for good and some not so good. Seems like the only thing constant is change.

 

We had a couple of badass Motor T guys when we were in Iraq (2004). One cracked when the rounds started flying in Fallujah, had to be sent home. Another driver who rotated through the platoon uttered the phrase "Watch this!" or "Betcha this bitch can get airborne" at least once a patrol. This is way before the MRAP came along. We were in 7 tons at the time.

As a grunt, I've got nothing but love for the guys who don't make me walk everywhere.

As far as 3/4 goes, it was a great unit with great leadership. They wrote a book about my BC, Col McCoy called "McCoy's Marines". I'm mentioned in it.

 

The Corps is for sure not what it used to be. As soon as the politicians and officers poked their noses into MCRD, things went to hell. I mean shit, how can anyone expect a DI to instill confidence, honor, and discipline in a Marine if he can't train him right. I am pretty disappointed in what I have heard. A good friend of mine recently finished at MCRD in PI and he made it sound like he just went through basic training for the Navy. I remember getting a rifle butt to the gut when I was not holding my rifle perfectly during boot. I tell you what, the rest of boot you can guaran-fing-tee I didn't screw up holding my rifle again!

Oh, and I went in in 87, go out in 95. 8 years. I would have stayed, but I was forced to choose between my wife/kids, and the Marines.

 

No what it used to be? Blah, blah, blah. It never was what you thought it was. Change isn't the only constant. You're forgetting about the endless whining about change, and the constant barrage of ridiculous sea stories perpetuated by ignorant suckers who won't ever be able to distinguish fact from fiction. If BamaToy went to PI in 1987, I could have been his DI.

 

Well I was in SD since at the time I enlisted I was living in Texas. Don't get your attitude there, or perhaps I am misreading your post?

 

Not an attitude, just observation. Marines (as human beings) don't care much for change. They never tire of bitching about it. Everything was better, tougher, and more meaningful in the good old days. Those days just weren't that good, though. Today is no better or worse than the past. I enlisted in 1982, and heard the same thing from my SNCOs, all of whom served in Vietnam. It never ends...

We bemoan the watering-down of basic training, and brand the current version as some sissified military vacation, but it is not so. We bemoan the involvement of elected officials and their appointees in their lawful oversight of our activities, but conveniently ignore incidents like Ribbon Creek when we say the oversight is unjustified. Every process needs objective review, basic training included, and corrective action when necessary. It's not acceptable to kill and maim young men in boot camp. It's not acceptable to haze and mistreat those who volunteer to serve our country. That's not leadership, by any stretch of the imagination. Fear is a powerful motivator, no doubt, but creates more resentment than loyalty. I say all of this as a student, a teacher, a participant, and an observer. It simply has no place in basic training. I've seen it done right, and it is very impressive. I've seen it done wrong, and watched those responsible lose their careers and even go to jail over their misguided actions. Glorifying abuse is idiocy.

 

Fair enough, even though I may disagree with some things. I think that in order to build a Marine, it takes determination and toughness. I grew up "Spare the rod, spoil the child" and still believe in it. It is not FEAR that I see instilled, as much as getting your attention. Tell a child a dozen times to not do something, and see if they listen. But bust their butt when they disobey, and that will be a very good motivating reminder about listening. Again, I do see your point behind your opinion, and I won't get into a discussion over Ribbon Creek, but I just feel that I am just fine after completing boot camp the way it was ran. I do not fear change. I welcome it actually. In my career you HAVE to be willing to accept change, or you are doomed. MY opinion however is that if something is to change, it needs to be done the right way, and holding a recruits hand to carry them through basic is NOT the way to build a Marine. But that is my opinion.

 

I was a Drill Instructor at Parris Island from 1987-1989. I had plenty of time to observe the effectiveness of a variety of leadership styles. I would not classify my own performance as anything other than average. I was in the middle of a large group of hard-working Marines doing a mostly thankless job. Everybody that I know of has some type of story to tell about their own boot camp experience that has to do with hazing or abuse of recruits. I am among that group. I flew somewhat under the radar in boot camp, until I was made a squad leader. Things got a little crazy from there, but qualifying as a Marksman on the rifle range was the end of my squad leader tenure. I graduated on schedule, one of many nameless faces in a photograph. Years later, as a Drill Instructor, memories of my own experience still fresh in my head, I figured that my recruits should have the same experience as myself, and set about creating that for them. As a student in Drill Instructor School, you need to quickly identify a "study buddy" that you can work with to make it through the curriculum. I had the amazing fortune of pairing-up with a Marine who was the real deal, a truly charismatic leader with the ability to influence and motivate recruits to strive and achieve without resorting to hazing and abuse in the process. Early on, he had difficulty with the recruit training status-quo "culture." By virtue of his rank of SSgt, though, he was promoted to the billet of Senior Drill Instructor after three or four platoons. Only then, was he able to really do what he was best at. There was no hazing or abuse in his platoons. They didn't win everything, but held their own against the other platoons in their series. The difference between his platoons and the others really became apparent in third phase. They were solid, disciplined, unflappable. Drill was not his strong point, so they never really did well at final drill competition. The thing that made me notice the most was this: At graduation, nearly all new Marines are excited and relieved to graduate and move on. They have endured what many consider, despite all its faults, a top-rank rite of passage. They shake hands, pack their seabags, and leave without looking back. My study buddy's recruits, however, were in a completely different frame of mind. They were, to a man, sad to leave. Many of them departed with tears streaming down their faces. They didn't want to leave. That, to me, says more than all of the uninformed and unenlightened dogma about what basic training is supposed to be. What I saw was rare. I thought so then, and my belief has been reinforced for decades since then. Not everyone thrust into a leadership position is capable of this level of effectiveness. We could certainly strive for it, though. Seeing it first-hand changed my entire perception of leadership. I count myself very fortunate to have been there at the right time. Abuse doesn't make any better Marines than it does sons and daughters. I've seen what it could be, and it changed my life. The best thing is, it's never too late.