Mini Boot Camp Part 1

March 4, 2008
Camp Johnson
18:18 - I'm really worn out from a rigorous PT session today involving lunges, pull-ups, and push-ups. Basically I'm not going to be able to walk on Friday!

This is really out of the blue, but I thought I'd just throw this in for kicks. I realized for sure last night that I have a phobia of ship wrecks. In some cases, I'm about as uncomfortable looking at a picture of one as I am looking at a picture of a tarantula. The thought of being next to one underwater really makes me incomfortable as well. I guess you know me a little more now!

Mini Boot Camp

Mini Boot Camp was something I didn't know about until about a week prior. I had sworn into the DEP (Delayed Entry Program) on May 1st, 2008 and was planning on shipping to boot camp on August 25th, having the whole summer to goof off and be stupid.

I believe May 12th was the day of mini boot camp, and SSgt. Potts kind of sprung it on me at the beginning of the week. "Are you going to mini boot camp?"

"Uh...sure!"

I don't think I had to take off school for it, but I'm not positive. It was a Friday/Saturday thing. Everyone from my recruiting station in Champaign had to sign some forms to go to a place near St. Louis (an event put on by the Marines at MEPS) on Friday afternoon. We all got on a bus and departed at some point. I didn't really know anyone at my recruiting station except one guy, Jimmy, who I've actually known since I was in first grade. Fellow St. John chum. He's a fine Marine in the reserves living back in Champaign currently. Call him up and party with him.

We arrived on our bus some several hours later after making a stop in Springfield or Effingham and picking up about 1,000,000 other poolees. A poolee is someone in the pool of people going to boot camp. It sounds stupid and I don't even like saying the word. So, we were all crammed on this bus. We got to a place called Jefferson Barracks, which I believe is a chair force installation. Pretty small, I'm not sure exactly what they do there.

We were sitting on this old school bus and saw through our windows a bunch of other plain clothed civilians like us all standing around in formations waiting quietly for something. Then butterflies started swirling around in my stomach when I saw the hat walking around. If you've seen Full Metal Jacket, you know the hat. It's called the "Smokey Bear," but it's really a "Campaign Cover" worn by Marines in the old days. Drill Instructors currently make it infamous. I'd never seen a DI before, but I saw one through the bus window stalking around and I got pretty nervous. I sort of knew what to expect, but not really. Nothing catches you as off guard as being in the same area as a real Marine DI for the first time.

Our bus stopped and the driver (a Marine) stood up, looked back at us, chuckled, shook his head, and got off the bus. We were all talking quietly about what was coming up tonight and tomorrow when I saw just the hat through the window moving from the back to the front of the bus. My heart sank.

I gulped, and an actual Drill Instructor in person had suddenly thrown himself up the steps and was glaring at us from the front of the isle. He was a Puerto Rican if I remember. Mini boot camp had three DI's from MCRD San Diego, and most of them are Mexican or Latino in some way. I could barely understand him, but he pointed at us and yelled something like:

"SHUT UP SIT UP STRAIGHT HEAD AND EYEBALLS ON ME! YOU ARE NOW ABOARD JEFFERSON BARRACKS MISSOURI AND FROM NOW ON THE ONLY WORDS OUT OF YOUR MOUTH ARE YES SIR NO SIR AND AYE AYE SIR DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"

The bus was filled with a deafening, "YES SIR!"

"WHEN I TELL YOU TO AND WHEN I TELL YOU TO ONLY YOU'RE GONNA GET OFF MY BUS AND FORM FOUR STRAIGHT ROWS BEHIND THE BUS! YOU'RE GONNA BEAR HUG ALL YOUR GEAR AND WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS!"

He then stood silently for a moment. I could've heard a pin drop. Then he started counting, "400 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 90 98..." and walked off the bus. We took this as our cue to get the hell up and start moving. I think my heart was having a boxing match with my ribcage at this point. All trillion of us flooded the isle of this crappy school bus, stepping on each others feet, bags, whatever. We finally got off running and started a formation on the pavement.

I have to leave at this point, but I'll return to finish this tomorrow.