The Few, the proud. Part 2

For those of you who are new to this story. This is a many part account of my experience in Boot Camp. This is for no other reason than I don't want to forget and I would like to share my memories with you. At times it will be humorous. But at no time will I complain about the harshness of it. It was neccasary. And don't take my account out of context. If you have questions or comments pleas feel free to leave them.

March 14 2006

For the next few days I was part of a "receiving" platoon. It's where we are all gathered up and put into one collective group and issued gear and given shots. It's pretty relaxed but you are expected to behave like Marines. We weren't yelled at that much so the stress level was pretty low. We went to clothing, medical, and dental. By the time Friday rolled around I knew more about myself then I ever thought possible. I don't go into detail here mainly because there isn't much that happened. If you are just curious about the process then leave me a comment or something.

March 16 2006

This is the day of the Initial Strength Test, IST. We are woken up and told to pack up all our gear and get dressed in PT gear, Pt shirt, PT shorts, white socks and running shoes. I was packing up all my stuff when I realized I had a problem. I lost my sweatpants. In my personal opinion I think they were taken. Not on purpose but something you need to realize early on is that what is perceived is reality and you need to take responsibility for what happens. So, I "lost" my sweatpants. I went to my DI and told him. He was a little upset. Ok...massive understatement there. He was pissed as hell. We scrambled for the next 10 minutes lookeng for an extra pair of sweatpants. We found them. Needless to say I was a little mad myself. I had asked almost everyone if they had an extra pair...they all said no. It took a DI to make everyone actually look. It was a disapointment. I had a image in my head that Marines look out for each other. It was my first of many wake up calls. Anyway, back to the story. We ran over to where we would be tested. Pull ups were first. There was one kid who we knew for a fact wasn't going to make it. He was skinnier than me. And just to put that into perspective. I was 6'2 155 lbs, he was 6'3 and couldn't weigh more than 130 lbs and that was pushing it. Undaunted, he jumped on that bar and pulled with all he had. He got one I think. We were all cheering until they told us to shut up. Pretty soon it was my turn. All that kept running through my head was, "I need to get three", but I knew I was going to get more than that. I did seven. I pulled as hard as I could but I couldn't get any more. I let go, put my hand on top of my head and the DI wrote 7 on it. I ran over to where the others were. They were gtting ready for the run. I started stretching. Once everyone was done with pull-ups they briefed us on the run. Starting off I didn't want to use all my energy at first so I started pacing myself. Pretty soon DI's were making they're way up yelling at us to run faster. Well, there went my plan. I sped up a little bit but I was really pushing myself. I finished at I think 13 minutes. It wasn't good whatever it was. But I did get better. Next was crunches. We paired up and then started. We had 2 minutes to do 100 crunches. I went first. I think I got 60. Wasn't that bad but compared to the number I would get later it was. To the "lucky" ones that passed the IST we marched back to the barracks. We immediately took showers and then got dressed. It was while I was getting dressed that I first heard the term "Black Friday". I don't remember who first said it but I remember who I was standing by. Recruit Shiplett. Shiplett was a character in himself. He was from Idaho and standing at 6'5 he was a giant. And take into consideration he was a bodybuilder and an ex X-treme cage fighter. I was extremely happy we got along. Once we packed up they led us back to the yellow footprints where we had lunch. After lunch we headed towards our new barracks. We marched up to the third floor and were told to sit down on the floor. We waited until our Company Officer Cpt.Mclaughlin came and gave us a speech. It was pretty standard. He talked about how his DI's were going to do their job and train us hard and by the time we walked across the parade deck we would be the best trained fighting force or something like that. My first impression of him was very good. He seemed really nice and so far nobody was really mean. I figured this wasn't going to as hard as I thought. I was sorely mistaken. He called his DI's out of the Duty Hut. They stood in front of us without saying a word. They looked like Pit Bulls on a leash. Ready to strike but not until ordered to. SDI Sgt. Hunter, DI Sgt. Elizondo, DI Sgt. Rangel, DI Sgt. Chacon. Once the Captain left all hell broke loose. "Get you seabags and wagon wheel it. RIGHT NOW!!! RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!" We picked them up as fast as we could and walked in one big circle around the barracks. They told us to stop. We did; then they told us to hold our bags above our head. If you've never held a full suitcase above your heaad then you have no idea how heavy that is. We held them for what seemed like forever. Then they told us to drop them. We did gladly. They said we took our time so we had to pick them up again. We did. We held them up for a long time. Finally we were told to drop them. Then we were told to hang them up. We did. Then we were ran into the head, the bathroom, and crammed into the showers. They told us to do side-straddle hops. We did them the best we could. Then they told us to run back outside we did. Then our SDI took over for a minute. He told his DI's to go into the duty hut. He talked to us for a little bit. It helped calm us down. Then the other DI's came out and we practiced drill. After we messed it up too many times they ran us back up to the head. I want you to remember something. Whenever they run us somewhere they are yelling at us constantly. Not always in your face but the screaming is there. After they were done with that they took us to chow. We ate really fast. Because I was skinny I was put on double rations. It meant that I got two helpings of meat and vegtables. After chow we practiced drill for a little bit. When they got tired of that we went inside. Well, this being the first day I got confused and went into the wrong room. When they found out I thought they would be furious. But they weren't that mad. Before they found out though they made us all drink three canteens of water. I think everyone there threw up. I also happened to forget my canteens, but I wouldn't realize that until the next day. I was brought back to my barracks. They were in the middle of learning how to make racks. After that we made our racks and then it was time to shower and shave. They stood there and counted us down while we showered and shaved. After that it was our "free" time. We just put our extra stuff into our trunks. After that it was time to get to get inspected. We stood in our underwear and were looked to make sure our shaves were satisfactory and that we didn't have any infections. After that ordeal we got into our racks and laid at the position of attention while Taps was played. After that we got under the covers and went to sleep. I was woken up for Fire Watch. All it cosisted of was a DI telling me how to stand Fire Watch, which is basically making sure that fire doesn't break out and no recruits escape, and to learn my chain of command. After my hour was up I went to bed.