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Pastimes : The United States Marine Corps -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (4251)	3/29/2005 2:17:47 PM
From: JDN	Respond to of 6227

I guess the USMC just isnt what it used to be. jdn LETTER FROM A FARM KID, (NOW AT San Diego MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING.) Dear Ma and Pa, I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. but I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing. Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you til noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on "route marches," which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice but awful flat The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none. This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes. Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and near 300 pounds dry. Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in. Your loving daughter, Carol

To: LindyBill who wrote (4251)	3/29/2005 5:34:36 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6227

Zero tolerance for Marine photo joannejacobs.com Shea Riecke, a freshman at McKay High School in Salem, Ore., wanted to add a photo of her brother, Marine Cpl. Bill Riecke, to a social studies bulletin board featuring McKay graduates' career choices. But school officials balked when they realize the Marine, photographed with two friends while serving in Iraq, was holding a weapon in the photo. In a letter on the Marine Corps Moms web site, Shea and Bill's mother writes: Shea gave Mr. Costa (one of her teachers), a picture of her brother to hang along with other McKay graduates in his classroom. Shea is extremely proud of her brother and the profession that he has chosen and she was happy that Mr. Costa recognized the accomplishments that Bill has made. He is a US Marine and a decorated veteran of the Iraq war. The picture depicts Bill in Iraq in combat uniform with other members of his unit, and carrying a gun. School administration denied Mr. Costa's request to hang the picture. From what I understand the picture is being scanned and the gun removed and will be returned to Mr. Costa to hang in his classroom. The Rieckes don't believe a photo of a Marine carrying a weapon is likely to incite violence, and don't want the photoshopped version to represent their son's career.

To: LindyBill who wrote (4251)	3/31/2005 4:03:54 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6227

I thought it would be interesting to post this young man's blog as he goes though basic. Jon's Army training journal benningtraining.blogspot.com This is an attempt to record my experiences at Fort Benning, GA as I go through Army basic combat training and officer candidate school. I know it will be an interesting experience and I want to share it with my family and friends, so hopefully you all will read it 30 March 2005 My first BCT journal entry 3/27/05 Reception Battalion (3/17-3/24) A week in the 30th Adjutant General Reception Battalion at Fort Benning feels more like a month. The first couple of days were stressful because we didn’t sleep at all the first night but once I got used to all the screaming and having to wake up at 4am everyday, I got bored of all the standing in formations six times a day and waiting in lines for shots and gear issue. It wasn’t until the day before shipping “downrange” to Basic Combat Training that I got my camouflage Battle Dress Uniforms and other cool stuff. The best part of reception was finally getting to put on my infantry combat boots and BDUs and feeling like a real soldier while we waited for the trucks that would deliver us to Charlie Company, 2/47 Infantry for BCT, while getting speeches from the Reception Drill Sergeants about not quitting during the tremendous ass kicking we were about to receive. All together, I got over $1200 worth of sweet military gear, 6 shots, 19 high school cafeteria quality meals, and several “corrective PT” sessions from the Army during my week at Reception. Army Basic Combat training (3/24-3/27) As soon as the trucks stopped in front of the C Co. 2/47 Infantry BCT barracks at about 10am on 3/24, about twelve Drill Sergeants pounced all over us scared Privates like pitbulls. They were screaming and throwing our bags everywhere making us lift our heavy duffle bags with all our gear over our heads and dropping us for pushups. Even though I was expecting day one to be crazy, experiencing it isn’t really something I could prepare for, just like you can’t prepare for a kick in the nuts. Just about all we did that day was get smoked by the DS’s until about midnight when we were lined up in towels, given 30 seconds each for a shower, and sent to bed. The next morning our DS, Drill Sergeant Ybay (pronounced like ebay) woke us up at 3:30 with a bullhorn and we got smoked for at least an hour. My “battle buddy” (bunk mate who we are not allowed to go anywhere without) cried during that corrective-PT session and got smoked even more. He isn’t the only one who has cried in the past three days either, because at least two or three other guys have been brought to tears during smokings. Honestly, BCT has not been that hard physically so far. Yeah, we get smoked all the time, but I’m probably one of the top 3 strongest guys in my platoon. There are some kids here who can’t even do twenty pushups, it’s pathetic. The main things I hate are lack of sleep, being controlled all the time, having zero privacy or time to relax, and missing my girlfriend, family and friends. Hopefully once I get some mail, things will be more bearable. Today things relaxed a little, and all we did was set up our body armor, ruck sacks, and wall lockers. Our squad bay looks exactly like the one in Full Metal Jacket, but our DS is a stocky Asian who likes to talk a lot of crap. I’m starting to really like DS Ybay because he knows how to motivate and he expects us to be the best platoon in Charlie Co. in every training event we have. He is always talking trash to the other DS’s about how his 4th Platoon “Outlaws” will smoke 1st, 2nd, and 3rd platoons, and he has several trophies in our squad bay from his previous platoons winning, the Basic Rifle Marksmanship competition and “Soldier of the Cycle” awards. I think once we get into the real soldiering part of BCT, I will enjoy it more, but for now it pretty much sucks. I always feel like I’m surrounded by idiots when I’m with my platoon. I am pretty sick with a bad sore throat and head aches, and I’m exhausted all the time from lack of sleep. I passed out yesterday during a boring lecture about people going AWOL at BCT and got smoked in the back of the class for an hour. And I haven’t gotten any mail since we didn’t get an address until yesterday, so I feel pretty lonely since there is no one in my Platoon I would really be friends with. They are either all really punks who run their mouths all the time and get us smoked, or really weird geeks (especially the other OCS guys here). Some of these guys make me embarrassed to say I’m going to OCS. This week we will be required to run everywhere in our body armor and it’s starting to get warm here in Georgia. It will suck. We are also being issued our M16 rifles on Tuesday which we will have to take everywhere with us. I’m still trying to think of a name for mine. I’m looking forward to the next couple weeks because eventually we’ll start qualifying with our rifles on the shooting range, and DS Ybay said he would give anyone who is in the A-group for both running and pushups and situps a 5 minute phone call every weekend, which so far is just me and one other guy in my platoon. Well, I’m getting tired and I’m the only one still writing a letter with his red-lense flashlight, so I’m ending my first BCT journal entry. Please send me some letters to: PVT. Bland, Jonathan Roster # 416 C Co. 2/47 IN Ft. Benning, GA 31905