[ARCHIVED THREAD] - One Week Until Parris Island (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 5/16/2006 7:00:16 PM EDT
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I only have one week left of freedom until MCRD Parris Island. Am I a little bit crazy for being really excited or should I be dreading it? Any good advice from former Marines on survival at boot? |
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haha, have fun. hopefully you get 2ndBtn so you don't turn out crappy. enjoy my gas chamber. edit-seriously though, just pay attention and get the most out of it that you can, if you're mototivated and take everything in it's not bad, just know that everything is for a reason so listen to the instructors, you get out of boot what you put into it, so just give 100% and its not that bad. enjoy it, you'll miss a lot of that shit after you leave |
screw that, I'll mail him a pair of well used mens tighty whiteys and a dildo just to hear the reaction |
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Keep your mouth shut, do as your told, move with a sense of purpose, be extra aggressive on the pugil sticks and the bayonet course, reply with a thunderous, "sir, yes sir!" to every command the drills give you and put 120% of yourself during the crucible. Boot Camp will be the most memorable (if not terrible) experience you'll have with the Corps and once that's in the bag, everything else is easy. SEMPER FI! 
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Yeah I know, some of the shit received in the mail was funny as hell. Food, clothing, sexual aids, etc. |
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DO NOT do anything stupid until then. No booze, drugs, eat well, sleep. Don't get some chick pregnant. If you've got hair, get pictures. No matter who or what your experience or attitude, it will get adjusted by your friendly, caring DI's. They may not have said so, but your family is proud to the point of bursting. Your friends who think your are crazy have no clue. Your first few days at boot camp will be filled with the growing supicion that you fucked up real bad. Later, the first time one of your DI's treats you or your platoon like something a bit more respectable than dog shit will be a very special day. Graduation is another thing all together. You will be a different person the next time you see your friends and family. 1. Fist duty station, open a savings acount and start an allotment, as much as you can stand to send and then a few more bucks beyond that. 2. Do not buy a car, new or used. 3. Stay away from booze. 4. DO NOT get some chick pregnant. 5. Do your PME. Your not in it for the money, but rank brings money, more responsibility and a smaller bite of the shit sammich. 6. One credit card, use it sparingly an pay it off each month. 7. Start on your college education, duties/school/dets etc. permitting. 8. One hitch, two or a career: DD214 at the end with HONORABLE on it, no alimony or child support, no huge debt, a good start on education. You will be better off than 90% of your peers. 9. If you hate it, shut your mouth, do as your are told, follow 1-8, out in 4. Even if it's the worst epxerience of your life, you will still have MARINES tattooed on your heart and your ass. Matthew Good luck, Semper Fi |
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Aggressive and loud. That's key. Anything else is just doing what you have to to survive. Hope you don't wind up with a drill instructor in your company with the same last name as you. 
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Good advice here. Read it again. Then print it out. J_Reno USN (ret) |
www.snopes.com/military/stress.htm |
Don't laugh....Don't Smile.....When you look at a DI, look at the Eagle, Globe and Anchor on his Smokey.....do what you are told AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.....Start and end EVERY sentence with "SIR".....and DON"T BE A SHITBIRD!!!! Good Luck Mikhail!!! Thanks for joining the Corps, and come let us know when you make it to the other side!!!  oh, yeah, and learn this......  Good Luck, Recruit!!!!  |
To clarify, I think you meant use just the "sir" in a sentence, and not the "shitbird" part! I'd pay money, though, to see that. "Recruit, why is your footlocker unlocked?" "Sir, private does not know, don't be a shitbird sir!" |
| I had a friend print out a copy of the schedule for the entire three month period and mail it to me. It was really nice knowing what was around the corner, and was a good way to track how much I had finished. Also, have some good socks mailed to you, Thorlo military boot socks are the best, and your SDI should let you keep em. Good luck, it will be over before you know it, and you will miss it. |
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If you're not a morning person like me, here's a tip. You're going to have a whole 30 seconds to get dressed in the morning, and you'll be getting dressed by the numbers. Leave you blouse buttoned and just pull it over your head. Trousers the same way, leave them buttoned as high as you can to save time. If you can, wake up ten minutes before reveille (it's not that hard, you'll get used to it). Make your rack, and lay on top of it. Saves you time when you'll have only one minute to do it later. Keeps you from attracting unwanted attention. |
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I don't know about Marine boot but remembering from how mine went I would say stay positive, don't let the negative people and their bitching kill your morale. There are bound to be a few that piss and moan about how terrible things are all the time. Show up clean shaven, we had a couple of morons show up with full beards. I never would have thought someone could shave a beard off with a cheap disposable razor in a couple of minutes while someone was yelling at them. They did but their face looked like they had been hunting with VP Cheney.
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errr........you are correct!!..........( and thanks for making me spit out my soda, I now have a mess on my hands!....  )
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Who remembers when you all went to your squadbays, and met your Senior DI and his Juniors?.......I was sitting there, while the Company CO gave him the Oath, while the XO and Series Chief looked on......my four DI's, with their right hands raised....swearing to train me to the best of their abilities......I was thinking..."This aint so bad...." then the SHIT HIT THE FAN |
Yup. The calm before the storm. |
 Man, you just can't have any fun nowadays. Damn interweb!
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Prepare yourself physically. Running, stretching and strength training. Close your mouth and open ears. Do exactly what you are told, when you are told stop only when you are told. When you are on fire watch, take some time to look at the clip boards on the wall at the quarterdeck. One of them should have the daily training schedule. It works like a calender. Sometime near end of each day, the Drill Instructor will remove the top page and the training schedule for the following day will be on top. The schedule will show what the training cycle for that day is, down to the minute. Commanders time is the time between training events that the platoon is in the squadbay (generally) making headcalls, getting water, gear, etc.. This is also "F" with the platoon time. It rarely lasts longer than 15 minutes, usually 10. But it can seem like a long time. The reason I am telling you this is, if you know the training schedule, you can watch the clock during commanders time and know how much longer the madness will last before they have to move the platoon to the next training event. You see, Marine bootcamp is often delt with a day, hour or sometimes, a minute at a time depending on the amount of attention the D.I.'s are giving you. If you can endure that few minutes when the shit gets really bad, you can have time to collect yourself and prepare mentally for the next time it gets bad for you. Granted, I was at Parris Island 24 years ago, so they might not keep the schedule there anymore but it's worth a look. If it is there, it's valuable information. |
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I thought it was third herd that got the ice cream..... Boot camp, the most terrifying time of my life. Drill Instructor Sgt. Devito tried to kill me, I'm convinced. Told me he wanted to meet me in a dark alley someday. That was fall 1978, all of the DI's were Viet Nam vets and a little crazy. Sound off like you mean it. When they tell you to do something, do it like your life depended on it. When they say get on the road for chow, run like you're starving to get that delightful chow. When they say push ups, do 'em like you want do get more in before they make you stop. DO NOT try to hide, they watch for that shit. Be loud, proud, and plant your heels on the deck. If they see that you're giving maximum effort, they will fuck with you less, a little. (they will still find an excuse, real or imagined to play with you) It's mostly a head game, play it hard, you'll survive it. I was in before the whole Crucible thing, I have heard it is a little challenging.... If you really want it, you can succeed, after Parris Island, you will be able to tackle anything. When you graduate and become part of my Marine Corps, it will change you forever, the brand will be on your soul for the rest of your life. Oh, at the chowhall, at breakfast. They will slop some scrambled eggs onto your tray, don't eat the green spots. You'll thank me later. |
Oh WOW does that bring back memories. Our heavy (DI right under the SDI) was only screaming at one or two recruits at a time, but the junior DI was running around screaming at no fewer than 10 people in any given second. He resembled an insane, campaign cover wearing SHARK....but meaner. Good times. [qoute]Or maybe you'll be in first or second Bn and you'll eat cake and ice cream every day One of the most regretted decesions I've ever made was to be "accelerated" by being a 92-day resservists. Basically, since my school started early, my contract said I would leave my platoon and go to another that had just finished team week. They DIDN'T say I'd be transferrred from 3rd Bn to 2nd Bn. We had more time to eat, and that was the only improvement me or my buddy could tell. They were undisciplined as hell and the DI's treated us like crap right through grad week. In L Co., 3rd Bn, some time in second phase the DIs let us run our own hygine/free time period. The showers were only on for 20 minutes, but we chose which side of the squadbay showered first on which nights and so on. They only quarterdecked us when we screwed up. In 2nd Bn, they played stupid games with us every single chance they got for all of 3rd phase. Lucked out (relatively speaking) on the crucible, we had L5s (lightning within five miles of the island; all training stops) every other hour. Stopped a lot of stupid games, but also stopped some fun obstacles. Mikhail_86, as for being excited, I had more fun in those three months that you could possibly imagine (at this point). It was tough, but it wasn't inhuman. Few pointers: 1.Address the DIs as "Drill instructor [full rank] [Last name]." When I didn't know the DI's rank, I omitted it, and the Senior, to whom I was talking, was less than pleased. 2. Learn all the 11 general orders. Learn them by heart. Learn them so you can spit them out when you are tired and being screamed at. 3.No matter how your platoon goes about doing firewatch, NEVER leave your post. Even if your firewatch is over and the relief won't come. My first firewatch was the first or second day we did it, and I left my post to tell the other recruit he was supposed to check the locks then switch with me. DI woke up the entire platoon screaming at me. Best case scenario, no one sees you, but why lose your integrity just because no one's looking? It might not matter at boot camp, but it may matter later on. 4. Never let any rust accumulate on the outside of your rifle. Don't do it. It makes people angry. 5.ALWAYS double check the locks on your footlocker/rifle/seabag. If the DI finds out one of these locks, especially footlocker or rifle, isn't locked, you're in for a world of pain. In my platoon, after the platoon had left, one of the DIs would look for unlocked footlokers, then lock them to the top rack with his lock. You had to earn the combination. 6. Learn the general orders. I'm serious. 7.Expect outgoing letters to be slow at times, especially third phase. We just didn't have the time to write. It sucks. Get over it. You might not even get time to read all your letters either. Also, unless you think you are really really sneaky, don't try to write letters in church, or anywhere else that's not your footlocker. I once got away with writing in a small notebook at a blood drive, but that was only because it seemed to be one of the only places on the island without a constant DI presence. 8. Learning the rifleman's creed might be helpful, but you'll probably have time once you are there. 9. Hope you get L Co.  If you want someone to write to and ask about what the hell's going on, IM me. I'm going to 29 Palms this summer, but I'd love to help a future Jarhead out if I could. It's nice to get letters, believe me. SPIRIT! DISCIPLINE!  Semper Fi Mercury |
Yep. They give you time to adjust your face before it is rocked off. |
Those are great points. Like he said you have to string title and rank together when addressing the DI's and I could not get my shit together to get "Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Ficklestein!" out in a coherrent manner. It turns out I was not properly motivated, lots of attention helped with that. [  IMO the first few days were among the worst when you are just doing all your admin trash and getting basic issue etc. Adrenaline dumps with no action and lots of waiting for the shoe to drop. Cocoa butter kind of helps with the sand fleas. Sand sticks to cocoa butter. Don't load up on dairy stuff at breakfast, it doesn't taste good the second time you chew it. |
Don't trust anything he tells you. Leave a note for your family to let us know you address at MCRD. 
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Yeah, do the Army thing and use the term "Full Bird"..You'll be doing leg lifts until your heart explodes. There is no such thing as a Full Bird in the Marines. The army and USAF needed to make that up because to them a bird and a silver oak leaf are called the same thing  Semper I, F*&k the other guy!
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Yes, give us the address. I will send you the same thing I sent my cousin when he went - a playgirl and a box of condoms. That should definately be fun when they make you open the package and show them whats in it My recruiter did the same shit to me. He send a postcard to me with a pic of 4 gay guys in speedos playing volleyball, and all he wrote on the back was "didnt you say your senior drill instructor looks like the one in the middle?" Pain ensued. |
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Lot's of scary stories here. Don't sweat it at all. You signed up, and those guts will see you through. A summary: You won't know what it's really going to be for you and your platoon until you get there. You will be fine. Don't forget to post and tell us about it after you graduate. Matthw |
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Best seven years, one month and twenty days of my life... In retrospect. I was a recruiter for 3 years. This is what I told every kid that I sent to Parris Island... "Keep your mouth shut, your ears open, and do exactly what you are told and never, never quit. Period". I sent 83 to MCRD in 3 years. I had only two fail, 1 medical, 1 attitude. I had 7 honor men. When it is all over and you earn the title of Marine, you will carry that until you die, or like my father before me, you will have it engraved on your gravestone, just as I will.... God bless the Marine Corps and good luck in your training. |