Boot Camp Part 19

October 14, 2009
Camp Lejeune (BLDG FC 504)
10:37

T22 - "Marine Corps History"

The matrix says we did history today, but I know the combat conditioning course happened at some point during first phase, so I'm going to put that here.

The combat conditioning course is a really lame course where recruits carry rubber rifles with blue bayonets on the end (the same ones we use for MCMAP) and run through these "obstacles" while war-crying. Fake war noises play over speakers that are overlooking the course. I'm pretty sure it's just sounds from the opening of Saving Private Ryan too. Ghetto Marine Corps.

There's not too much to say about it. We run the course in groups of four after four Drill Instructors demonstrate the entire thing for us.

I remember a few of us were laughing at Sgt. Parada because he just looked funny in his kevlar. We never see DIs wearing anything other than a campaign cover unless they're not wearing their campaign cover.

When we complete this course, I've gained and accomplished nothing.

T22 - Movement to WFTB

For the past week, Sgt. Virto has been giving us introductory "classes" when we do our guided discussions. He talks a little bit about what 2nd phase is going to be like, he talks about Edson Range (the area of Camp Pendleton where it takes place) and some of the things we'll doing.

He explains the procedures of going through the chow hall there and setting up the armory formation for weapons maintenance in the squad bay. We're also shown how to make our racks differently. We use our second green blanket as a "dust cover" for out pillow, as it's apparently dusty and dirty where we're going.

Note: It is VERY dusty at Edson Range.

Today is the day where we move to Pendleton for the next three weeks. The previous night, we had to pack our seabags. Every time I do this during Recruit Training, I get really worked up and pissed off because It's always a real hassle to get everything in a seabag and close it. I don't remember all what I have to throw away, but I know I end up losing some stuff so I have room for the essentials.

I never throw away a single letter I received at Boot Camp, and I still have them all at home.

October 27, 2009
Camp Lejeune
9:51

I took a break in the middle of this entry, my apologies.

Where was I? Moving to Pendleton for 2nd Phase?

I remember each of us having one seabag. In the morning we have to go outside to stage these seabags in formation either before or after we eat, but it's still dark out.

I tightened the straps on my seabag completely, which is a mistake because the seabag is totally full. What does this mean? This means that when I put the seabag on (how I did this I don't know) that it was so tight, the circulation in my arms starts getting cut off immediately.

As we're walking in formation I start getting a little distressed here. It took me a second to actually get my arms through the straps. How am I supposed to get them off? ("Good question," I think to myself.)

The circulation in my arms starts getting cut off so bad that my hands are tingling and it gets difficult to reach my shoulders with my hands. I think I panic a little more than what is reasonable for something like this to happen, but it's more due to the attitudes of everyone else. If I was with a group of friends, I probably wouldn't worry about it, but since I'm around essentially a large group of vultures who don't care about anyone but themselves, I get a little worried.

I know I asked Montgomery, who at this point in time had a designated spot near me in formation, to help me out. He gives it a go but gives up. I think finally I asked him again and we got it off my back.

This sounds silly looking back on it, but if a DI was to notice me struggling with something so minuscule I probably would've been given a hard time.

After we stage our seabags, some other stuff happens and when the sun comes out, a few white trucks pull up. At this point we've already stacked our weapons in formation perfectly since our drill is crisp fresh out of Initial Drill.

The white trucks are to load all our seabags onto. This happens by many platoons combining and making a chain where we roll the seabags down the middle and then throw them into the trucks. This takes maybe twenty-five minutes and the trucks are loaded. The trucks leave and then we have to go back, get in formation, grab our weapons, and go to the buses.

Names are read off and our platoon is chopped into at least two buses by alphabetical order. I'm on Sgt. Saldana's bus, and this doesn't exactly thrill me. If you haven't gathered this yet, he is the most strict of the DIs. He's the designated monster.

We get on the buses, which are the same buses that picked us up from the airport on the first fateful night. I don't recall who I sit next to, but I'm sitting right behind Sgt. Saldana, who's in the front row. No one is allowed to sleep on the bus, in fact we have work to do.

A few days prior, we'd been givin a brief period of instruction on sewing.

Our task to accomplish on he bus ride is to sew on a laminated "name-tape" to the back of our cover.

I'm not sure if I've covered it or not, but I'm constantly making name-tapes laminated every week and using my marking kit to stamp my name on it. It reads "MILAS, JS" in elongated letters. It's stamped into a 1x6 inch strip of paper cut from a note card and then laminated with clear packing tape. This is what I have to sew onto the back of my cover.

Specifically, it needs to be sewn on so that there are six x-shaped string patterns on the outside of the cover. Also, we have to sew a button onto the inside on the top of the cover.

The entire ride, I basically bullshit this so I can look out the windows of the bus. This is the first time I've seen the outside world since August, and it's now October. Let me tell you, southern California is a beautiful area despite the fact that so many people from there are assholes. The scenery and countryside is quite breathtaking.

The ride lasted maybe an hour from MCRD to Camp Pendleton, which I was a little excited to see, and a little nervous about. This would mark my first time on an actual Marine Corps Base. Pendleton marks a change in scenery. The area is a little more desert-like and more natural. There's less development. This of course is totally re-inforced when we finally reach the gate to Edson Range: one of the most desolate and depressing locations I've ever been to.

Do me a favor and search "Edson Range" on google and go to the images. It might not look so bad, but imagine living at this place. Everything is constantly dry and dusty. One of the three days there was rain during my time in Boot Camp took place at Edson, but the water evaporated so fast it was like it never happened. The place has no color. Everything's just kind of a sickly brown, and the buildings are white. I bet if you went a week without showering there you'd have a coat of dirt on your skin jut because there's so much in the air.

Well, moving to a new place obviously means we're going to get screwed with. There's too much stuff for us to do in a short period of time for things to go smooth. The buses all end up in a large parking area, which doubles as the parade deck here. We get off with our rifles and start unloading seabags, then we go to our barracks. These buildings only have two levels and eight squadbays instead of twelve.

When we get inside our second floor squad bay (my platoon never catches a break, we moved out of a third story squadbay to a second story) I realize how life is going to be here: dirty. The floor looks really dusty. Everything just hits me in a way that brings me down.

We throw the seabags onto a pile since not everyone has theirs and we start doing something dreadful:

"Wagonwheel formation!"

"Wagonwheel formation, aye aye, sir!"

We start walking in a circle around the squadbay and when we get to the quarter deck we grab a seabag. Still, not everyone has theirs. We're walking while bear hugging these seabags and Sgt. Virto starts playing games. We have to stop and squat with the seabags, legs parralel to the deck. This means that our knees form a 90 degree angle. This, you know, is fairly impossible to do while bear hugging a sea bag for a long period of time, so naturally:

"Good, Fletscher doesn't want to have his legs parallel to the deck! Wagonwheel formation!"

And so on and so forth. This goes on for a while until Mellies becomes so tormented that he drops his seabag and goes to pound on the hatch to the duty hut, where SSgt. Arzola has been for a few minutes.

"Good afternoon gentlemen! Recruit Mellies requests permission to speak to Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Arzola!"

I haven't really covered it too much, but I did mention that I called it. Mellies was the Pvt. Pyle of our platoon, much like the one showcased in Full Metal Jacket. At this point, Mellies tries to quit. He actually tries to quit boot camp here. Of course the rest of us are still bear hugging sea bags or making our racks or whatever, but he's trying to quit.

Well, it doesn't work, so we go on tollerating him.

After the flip-flopping of Syer and Samuels as guide, it's become pretty apparent that Syer will be 1067's guide for the rest of Recruit Training.

The squad leaders have become Pavlik, Kinney, Uzzel, and the fourth's name is escaping me. It starts with a W and I can picture his face very well. Wilkerson? I don't know.

Rohl is the scribe, Ramirez J is the firewatch scribe.

I don't recall the Whiskey Locker recruits. I belive Power is still one of them at this point, but he is eventually replaced sometime during 2nd or 3rd Phase.