Church Decision

I don't know what got me thinking about this, but maybe because it's Sunday.

When the first Sunday arrives for recruits at Marine Corps boot camp something happens, the categorization.

A Drill Instructor will get all of the recruits in the squad bay and try to sort the recruits into one of three different religious preferences, Catholics, Protestants and the others. Well it's easy enough to identify the Catholic's, you just ask them to raise their hands, sit down or whatever. It's the Protestants and the "others" where the fun begins.

The DI will then take the next step of going to each recruit and asking them what church they attend, if any, and telling them you're a Protestant or an other. This will make the recruits confused and the DI angry. "Sir this recruit attends the whatever his hometown church is yada yada, this recruit is not a Protestant sir" (Marine recruits have to talk in the third person), and this will go on and on.

You see the chapel has a Catholic service and a Protestant service utilizing the same chapel. As for the others the base may or may not have someone who can be there every Sunday. The Navy provides the chaplains for the Marines and how many lets say Buddhist chaplains do you think are in the Navy and stationed in South Carolina? Some recruits get creative. Church is a break away from the DI's, so between sitting in the squad bay or sitting in chapel even if it's not their religious preference, well you get the idea.

When I went to boot camp it was Catholic's and Protestant's, no others, you had to make a choice.

They're Called Marines

Stumbled on this video on YouTube, just wanted to share it:

Secrets of Marine Corps Drill Instructors

One of my favorite and sometimes least favorite jobs I did in the Marines was my tour as a Drill Instructor. Yes, Full Metal Jacket yelling and screaming and all of that.

It's what goes behind the "DI Shack" (The Drill Instructors office within the recruits living area also known as a squadbay).

First all of that yelling and screaming does wonders to your throat, DI's tend to lose their voices the first day we get new recruits; Make that, they DO lose their voices (Even the locals out in town know if your a Drill Instructor and just picked up a new platoon of Recruits). We try to combat that with the "DI cocktail" that would be washing down some 800mg Motrin tablets with coffee and then spraying our throats down with Chloroseptic spray. One last look in the mirror, put on your war face and out the door to start the day.

DI's are notorious for having impeccable uniforms, well for one thing we keep many new uniforms at work. Given the chance we'll change into a whole new set, thus keeping that great DI look. Another thing is the shirts. We have to keep them tight around all sides, like really tight, like painted on tight! How to do that? You put the shirt on and grab the extra material to the rear, neatly fold it back, mark it with your finger, take the shirt off and out a safety pin in it. Marines call this "blousing the shirt". I know what your thinking, why not sew it? That would be altering the shirt and that's a big no no in the Marines. Why not tailor it? Well, you can do that, but that pretty much has the same connotation as sewing back the extra material. The other thing we do to keep the shirts tight is wear shirt suspenders which are elastic bands that go from the shirt to your socks front and rear. Actually pretty much all Marines use these when they wear a dress uniform.

Nothing goes in the pockets, wallet in the socks. Pockets to Marines are just there for appearance only.

Camouflage uniforms? Soak them in starch out of the washer and hang them out to dry and then iron them. DI's do get free dry cleaning to include our camouflage uniforms but many just as well iron them themselves.

The famous "smokey" hat, we get two of them. Wear one for work, one for inspections and other special days. Replace the work one when it the sweat begins to turn the felt brown, it will.

Marines always have to keep very short hair and DI's are no exception to that. Almost all DI's wear the "High and Tight" haircut which is no hair on the sides and a patch on top. We are not supposed to completely shave our heads, that would be considered eccentric although the Recruits have to. We are also not supposed to razor shave the sides of our heads when wearing a High and Tight haircut, only clipper cut, but most DI's do shave the sides of their heads as they can maintain their High and Tight by themselves with just a set of clippers. I used to do that. Here comes the secret. I learned to use Skintastic shaving cream for both regular shaving and shaving the sides of my head. I wondered why, and another DI told me "That's how women get smooth shaved legs", aha! I've also learned that Skintastic is a much better deal in shaving cream, but that's the thriftmiser in me.

DI's work crazy hours but another secret is we do try to get in cat naps whenever possible. If the Recruits are in a class most of the DI's will sneak away to the DI lounge where the rumbling snores permeates the air. A DI from each platoon will make their way out into the classroom so that the Recruit's don't think that they are totally free! Another classic place to see DI's sleeping is in the barbers chair. Go to the Parris Island barber shop and I guarantee you will see a DI sleeping in the barbers chair!

Last but not least, the picture in the hat. There are many times as a DI that you can just lose it, maybe go a bit overboard. What to do? Stop, breath, take off your hat and look inside at the picture you place in the crown of your hat, wife, kids etc. Think about them think about your career, put your smokey back on and get back to yelling!

Taking Chance - HBO Movie 2009

I watched the movie Taking Chance, again, the other night. It has to be one of the better movies I have ever watched, well in the military genre.

Kevin Bacon just nails it as his role as a Marine officer. No question about it. There are man movies involving Marines and if you were to watch one with a Marine or former Marine they are bound to point out all of the inaccuracies, not so with this movie.

One of the best scenes is where Kevin Bacon is going through security and is asked to take off his jacket and he refuses "I will NOT take off this jacket and desecrate this uniform!". Your probably wondering what the big deal is? Wearing the Class "A" jacket with medals and ribbon with long sleeve khaki shirt makes up the Alpha uniform. There is no such Marine uniform that consists of a long sleeve khaki shirt without medals and ribbons. Now add the medals and ribbons to the long sleeve khaki shirt and you do have a uniform, the Class "B" or Bravo uniform, but when worn with the Alpha jacket you do not place the ribbons or medals on the shirt. So yes, he would be out of uniform if he took off his jacket. Uniforms are a big deal to Marines, believe me on that.

Another small scene in the movie that was probably just a blip to most folks but stood out in my mind is where Kevin Bacon leaves the Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge with the Sergeant and the Sergeant turns around, snaps to attention and says "Colonel" and Kevin Bacon snaps to attention and says "Sergeant". Even though they were in a very casual setting, the Sergeant still knew his role as the enlisted person to render honors to the officer. He is not in uniform, so he comes to attention, he is not going to be so casual as to say "Have a good night Colonel", they are not friends nor would he even think about bringing it to that level with a superior officer. Kevin Bacon as the Colonel comes to attention and acknowledges the Sergeant. Small but poignant moment in the movie for a military person.

The other thing I enjoyed about the movie is that it doesn't play the political card although it certainly could have been the venue for such.

Chris even displayed he approval for the movie by staying awake nearly halfway through it!

Book Corner - Finished Reading

The Phony Marine by Jim Lehrer (Of 'The News Hour with Jim Lehrer')
206 pages

A quick refreshing weekend read. I enjoyed it. It's about a man who buys a Silver Star medal and turns himself into a phony Marine. Nice surprise ending.

25th Anniversary of the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon

On Sunday, October 23,1983 at approximately 6:20 a.m. 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers were killed and hundreds of others were wounded or disabled. This was the result of a suicide truck, laden with explosives carrying the equivilant of 20,000 pounds of TNT that detonated on the ground floor of BLT 1/8 headquarters barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The largest non-nuclear explosion of its time. Other servicemen from 1982-1984 perished from sniper fire and other atrocities. Others died years later or are permantly disabled as the result of their wounds. This makes a total of 270 Marines, sailors and soldiers that died during a peacekeeping mission.
(Image and quote from http://marines.togetherweserved.com )

On that date I was a young Marine going to MCCES at Twentynine Palms, Ca. I believe I first heard about the bombing on television. I remember how quiet the entire base was. At PT (Physical Training) our Platoon Sergeant had us do 100 jumping jacks in honor of those who had died. Not sure how exactly that honored them, but we were all pretty mad and sad at the same time.

My bunk mate from boot camp was killed there. I worked with Marines who had survived the bombing and the stories they recalled about digging for survivors were not pretty to hear.

When I was tranferred to my first duty station the call went out for a volunteer to go to Beirut, I think we about trampled all over each other to go.

Semper Fi!

Latest Issue Of Marines Magazine

Someone dropped off the latest issue of Marines Magazine for me at work:
http://www.mcnews.info/mcnewsinfo/marines/gouge/
Well I start thumbing through it and immediately start ranting at my coworker about the pictures. You see the magazine was dedictated to "Drill', I being a former Marine Drill Instructor immediately took note of the sloppiness of the recruits in teh pictures. The genetleman who gave me the magazine asked my coworker if I had something to say about the magazine as he knew it would set me afire! Of course this is all in a joking sense, believe me,

Gene Simmons - Marine Corps Boot Camp Treatment

So last night I'm channel surfing and catch a little bit of Gene Simmons 'Family Jewels' om A&E. Noticed that he was on a Marine base with his daughter, wanted to see where this was going (Yes, I know now the episode is a year old, LOL). So he (Gene) asked for a little taste of Boot Camp, the Marines gladly obliged.
Two Drill Instructors, male and female swoop into the picture and start a firestorm. So this is where I start getting a little anxious, for whatever reason I don't find stuff like this "entertaining", more flashbacks for me than anything else, so I watched something else, but curiosity drove me back. I then was quite amused by him trying to go through the obstacle course (His 14 year old daughter navigated every obstacle). I then was shocked I was ever able to do it! And not only that, have to demonstrate the course flawlessly in front of a few hundred Marine recruits, talk about pressure!

When Gene an his daughter visited the VA hospital, that was something. This man showed deep sincerity and appreciation to all of the vets he met. When he met this young soldier who had been paralyzed by a snipers bullet it they were both moved to tears, it was quite moving. Here one of the most famous rock stars of the 70's, who personified everything rock and roll, yet a caring human being.

There are video clips all over the net of the episode.

Marine punished for talking to media, family says

A former Marine drill instructor convicted of abusing 23 recruits has been punished for giving a news interview from the brig, his family says.Unfortunately the things that this DI did happens all the time.

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