We were all sitting around awaiting our fates. We all just graduated from high school. Jobs were scarce. Carl, Mike, Randy, and Chuck and yours truly. We just got finished smoking bong hits of Columbian Gold and were all feeling very stoned. "Don’t throw that bong water out", yelled Chuck. Chuck was a big overweight guy. He was as dumb as a sack of rocks. "Don’t through the bongwater out! Give the bong to me. Chuck had bong water dripping from his adolescent beard! I promptly had to leave the room. My stomach felt like exploding out of my mouth. Not just because I just saw one of the grossest things a young man can see. We were just out of High School. Carl, Mike, Randy I was scheduled for boot camp in a few weeks. Carl and I were going into the Marines and Randy was going Army. It was a strange feeling of excitement and fear.
I was a rebellious teenager that could not wait to leave the small town I grew up in. Life was not so bad in B City Montana, I rarely paid for weed. Every time I ran out I would buy a quarter pound for 150. I could sell 3ozs for $50.00 each and keep the rest to smoke. I had a lot of friends so the weed was always sold before I bought it. Not the exciting drug dealer you hear about!
I lived with my parents. My father was an attorney and my mother was a substitute teacher. B City has stone cliffs that surround the town. These cliffs are called Rim Rocks. We used to live very close to the cliffs. As a boy I would climb the sandstone cliffs almost every day. It was fun to escape home and explore caves. Even though life seemed good I was a troubled youth. I did not respect my parents and was uncomfortable in my own skin. I was 6foot 1 inches tall and only weighed 130 pounds. I was extremely attracted to girls yet could not even speak a word to them. Every time I was near an attractive girl I would say the most awkward things and could not look at the min the eye. Here I was 18 years old and a virgin. Being a virgin in my group was not a something to be proud of. Everyone supposedly got laid. Tome, being a virgin was like being an outcast. All I wanted to do was leave this small little town and become a man so I could get laid!! As you can tell I was a young man very uncomfortable in his own skin. I really started feeling uncomfortable and depressed when I was 15 years old. That is when I discovered marijuana. If I felt bad I would get high and feel much better about myself. I always preferred weed to alcohol.
This is the time of my life that I became a man and had the most personal growth. It was the hardest time in my life but the most rewarding later on. I learned how to stand up for myself. The confidence I learned this part of my life would carry me later on in my sales career.
I was a coddled child. I have to admit I was a spoiled kid growing up. I lived in one of the best areas of town. I rode dirt bikes every day. Life in Montana growing up was good. The only violence and crime we saw was on the news. Wait a minute. That is the way it is now!
Carl and I were supposed to go to boot camp in November. Being used to cooler weather I thought it best to go to California in the wintertime. Beat the winter and get in some training in the nice warm sun!
My recruiter called me within a week of graduation. He told me that if I wanted to have the job or mos in the service that I wanted I would have to go to bootcamp now instead of waiting till the winter. I could still go in the winter time but my mos would be whatever the Marines thought best. I did not want that and went to boot camp within 2 weeks of high school graduation. This was definitely not in my plans. I wanted to screw around for a few months before heading out and discovering the world. I was not very happy about this but decided it best to go now. I wanted to get some job training and comeback and land a high paying union job. My recruiter promised me that as an electrician in the Marines I would be the most desirable job candidate when I returned! This was music to my ears! My future was set. I was going to be a Marine and return and a union electrician for the rest of my life. At the time, this sounded like everything was falling into place. I received my plane ticket and off I went!
This was exciting. I was going to fly to Los Angeles Airport and get picked up by the Marines to attend boot camp in San Diego. I have never even traveled on a plane before!
The plane ride was not as fun as I thought. Back then there was smoking and nonsmoking seats. The front was reserved for the nonsmokers and the back was for the smokers. As soon as the smoking sign and the pilot said we were free to light up, everyone in the smoking section lit up!! There was a cloud of smoke in the plane. It looked like smog. That is the it used to be flying!! Of course, I was a smoker and sitting in the smoking section. I was chain smoking. I was nervous about boot camp and the plane flight.
As soon as we hit the West Coast in LA I knew it. I have never been to a big city before. From my window seat in the plane it looked like an ocean of houses as far as the eye could see. It seemed like we flew for hours above this huge area of houses and buildings. I was in awe!
As soon as we landed I headed to the meeting area where we were supposed to meet the Marine Liaison. At the meeting area there were about 4 other recruits that waiting. We all had food vouchers and decided to get a bite to eat before we would be picked up. One of the recruits told everyone not to eat too much. I didn’t care. I ordered as much food as I could. We all talked and everyone had different ideas of boot camp and how hard it would be and what they would make us do. It was scary. But it wasn’t so bad going through this with other people. I figured that if they could do it so could I.
The liaison was very nice and answered all our questions. The bus to San Diego was interesting. I thought for a little while that this was not going to be as bad as I thought.
We rode in a green school bus with USMC painted on the bumper area. What a boring looking bus I thought. What the F did I get myself in to. Now is when I started to panic. I actually thought how about how hard it would be to leave now and hitchhike home!! Good thing I didn’t do that.
As soon as we got to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) in San Diego my heart was about to explode. I was not prepared for what was going to happen.
The bus stopped at the reception area. The door opened. The nice Liaison quickly exited and a very large well dressed Marine entered the bus and he was not happy. The first words out of his mouth was that we were now property of the United States Marine Corps. He said we all smelled like civilian slime! He told us that during our stay we were to obey all orders or we would be severely dealt with. When ask to jump we were to say how high. When asked to run. We were to say how far. Then……….screaming at the top of his lungs……….he told us to get the F*@k off the bus and step on the yellow footprints outside. We had 30 seconds to exit and he already used up 20. Everyone in the bus ran to the door like they just had a huge jolt of adrenalin. I was scared. Good thing I didn’t pee myself because my bladder area was week from the angry screaming of this lunatic. What the hell did I get my self into. My friends are all back home partying and here I am! Shit!
Outside the bus there were actual footprints painted on the ground. I believe there was 4 rows of footprints. I quickly placed myself on the prints. The angry Marine that met us was with a whole bunch of other angry Marines. I was in deep shit I thought. The reminded us again of our duty to our Country and how we all smelled like civilian slime. I never realized that civilians were such bad people before! After being yelled at for several minutes we were quickly escorted to get our haircuts and supplies. First thing was the supplies. We were issued everything from soap to pants. Items like laundry detergent, bags, writing material. And a huge green sack to put everything in.
The worst part was yet to come. After we got all our supplies we had to have inventory. We were all assembled very roughly in a hot room that smelled of human sweat. We were told to place our bags directly in front of us. After that we spent several hours holding up each and every item from toothpaste to underwear with our arms directly in the air with the items. My arms were so tired. A lot of recruits started dropping their arms or items and they were dealt with on the spot. They would be attacked by the angry Marines. It was very motivating! Even though I couldn’t feel my arms any more I was too scared to let them down. I will always remember this moment for the rest of my life. I was in a state of controlled panic.
Then we got our haircut. This was the 70’s so my hair was at my shoulders. I always had long hair from birth to this moment. All my beautiful hair was gone in less than 15 seconds.
After the haircut we were all instructed to shower off the stinky civilian slime. I swear I heard civilian slime term at least a 100 times by this moment. The shower was one room with a big head in the middle and a few heads on the wall. It was truly belly buttons to assholes. Here I was this sheltered small town whiteboy in the shower with people of all races. I was from Montana. My town had one race……White. Black people scared me. Roots had just come out on television. Later on several of my best friends were black More later.
It was 3 am. We were all tired and scared and hungry. I was very thankful I filled my stomach at LAX. We were led to a room with a whole bunch of bunk beds. Normally I would want the bottom bunk. But I was not going to argue with any of these rough looking recruits. I am going to do my best to lay low. The angry men in green told us that we had no idea on how to make a bed so we were to sleep under wool blankets and that’s it. I was tired. I didn’t care. I fell asleep within minutes.
At 5am we were awoken by a large Marine in well dressed attire. He was yelling at the top of his lungs banging a steel garbage can with the lid like it was a drum. He yelled……Get on the road for Chow! I got up right away and started dressing. As soon as he came in the room other Marines joined him immediately. One of recruits was sleeping on the top bunk. He just kept on sleeping. This drove the angry Marine nuts. Get up recruit! He yelled. The recruit said. I want to keep sleeping….I am tired. As soon as he said that and put his head on the pillow. The drill instructor promptly went over to his bunk and flipped the mattress over while he was sleeping on it. He came crashing down to the floor and made a big thud on the concrete. I think I was very scared at that moment. I realized these people mean business. They are not fooling around.
My first meal was green eggs and ham. I am not kidding. The eggs were green from being cooked early and sitting out. I was so hungry I could care less.
I heard of Physical Fitness Training before from my recruiter. He never referred to it as PT. Before boot camp I was told to buy a nice pair of running shoes for boot camp exercise training. As soon as we left the chow hall we were put in a line. We were told that the first words from now on to come out of our mouth when speaking to them would be Sir! We were to finish every sentence with Sir! The drill instructor said…..Do You Understand?...... We all said…… Sir….Yes Sir…… at the top of our lungs. After the short training class we were escorted to the PT field. It looked overwhelming. The obstacle course seemed as high as a sky scraper! I love climbing. This could be fun! Instead of going to the obstacle course we went to the track. All of a sudden I notice a whole lot of dogs barking very loud across the fence? Very strange. I learned later what we heard. It was another division of recruits that were doing PT and yelling Oooooorah! Over and over again! It sounded just like a whole bunch of dogs barking!
We did not go to get our running shoes. We did not put on our running pants. Here we were in our brand new Marine camouflage pants and shirts and combat boots. The drill instructor started us on a run in platoon formation. It was complete chaos to me. We were not jogging. We were running. I had never ran before. A few recruits started dropping out. As soon as they did the drill instructor really came down on them hard. I did everything I could to keep up and not fall back. I made it. At the end of the run the recruits that fell back had to stay in the very back of the line. We went back to our barracks. The recruits that finished the run got to take a shower. The recruits that fell back had to do exercise on command in the middle of the squad bay(room). When I say exercise on command I really mean torture! LoL! The drill instructors are just like the crazy character in the video. The will have you on your stomach blowing like a whale to doing squat thrusts until you puke. Thank you God for giving me the strength to make this run. I never fell behind on any run or hump ever while in boot camp. Too scared to deal with the consequences. I had to find other ways to get in trouble. More later…..
We were taught to wear our Cover a tall times while outside. We were to take our Cover off when entering a room. A cover is a hat. Never call your hat a hat. It is now a cover. Call it a hat and you will be in the middle of the squad bay doing PT.
We were taught to march in formation. Formation is 4 lines with a selected recruitat the head of each line. The recruitthat led the line was the squad leader. He had the responsibility of keep all his recruits in order.
I was not a squad leader. Glad I was not picked. I was having a hard enough time to wrap my head around just being in boot camp. I didn’t want any extra responsibilities.
The first day after we had our PT we went to class. We were given our Marine Corps Handbook. This book contained all of the things we needed to know to be a good Marine and stay out of trouble. To me it was one of the most boring books I have ever seen. It contained our General Orders…very important. And the Rifleman’s Creed! We were to recite and memorize the Creed and the General Orders.
Rifleman’s Creed.
This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I amuse less. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...
My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, or the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...
Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!
We were marched to the armory where we were each assigned an M-16 Rifle. We were to memorize the serial number. We were told that when this rifle is in our possession we were to protect it at all costs. This rifle would be our sweetheart for the next 3 months. We were never to refer to our Rifle as a gun. If we said the word gun when referring to our rifle. The Drill Instructor would have us in the middle of the squad bad in front of all the recruits doing PT. We used to stand together as a group. The drill instructor would have us grab our crotches. Then have us all yell out in unison….
This is my rifle this is my gun…..(when we said gun we had to grab our crotch)
This is for fighting… this is for fun…..(again we would have to grab our crotch)
Most of the time this seemed as a form of torture. No kidding……sometimes we would do this for hours straight. I am not kidding.
The very first class we went to was the first time I got into trouble. We marched to a very cramped room with chairs just like we had in high school. As we sat down I placed my cover on the floor by my feet. I didn’t think anything of it. The class was extremely boring to me. I had a very hard timekeeping my eyes open. It was about the basic duties of a Marine. The General Orders. I had an extremely hard timekeeping my head up the entire class. I was half asleep and fighting with all my strength to remain awake. At the end of class I was very happy I made it. Everyone was instructed to assemble into formation. I quickly went to grab for my cover. It was gone! It was gone?!! My head was racing. This was not good. I asked the other recruits if they knew where my cover was an they laughed at me. I did not think it was funny at all. I went to formation without my cover. The Drill Instructor noticed my bald head with no cover. I knew he noticed. My heart was racing as he walked directly tome and purposely jammed his wide brimmed DI hat into my fore head. His words were very loud……Private Farmer…….Were is you cover……I replied…Sir, someone stole it sir…….He replied…So someone stole your hat?.....Sir Yes Sir, I replied. He replied back…..Well Private Farmer…Next time you get a cover, you better make F#$king sure you don’t let it out of your site! So when we are marching back to the squad bay with your bare F#$king noggin you think about that! When we got back to the squad by I was the next subject for PT in front of all the other recruits. All I can think about is….my low cover is blown. Now I have the full attention of the Drill Instructors. This is not good.
I was a rebellious teenager that could not wait to leave the small town I grew up in. Life was not so bad in B City Montana, I rarely paid for weed. Every time I ran out I would buy a quarter pound for 150. I could sell 3ozs for $50.00 each and keep the rest to smoke. I had a lot of friends so the weed was always sold before I bought it. Not the exciting drug dealer you hear about!
I lived with my parents. My father was an attorney and my mother was a substitute teacher. B City has stone cliffs that surround the town. These cliffs are called Rim Rocks. We used to live very close to the cliffs. As a boy I would climb the sandstone cliffs almost every day. It was fun to escape home and explore caves. Even though life seemed good I was a troubled youth. I did not respect my parents and was uncomfortable in my own skin. I was 6foot 1 inches tall and only weighed 130 pounds. I was extremely attracted to girls yet could not even speak a word to them. Every time I was near an attractive girl I would say the most awkward things and could not look at the min the eye. Here I was 18 years old and a virgin. Being a virgin in my group was not a something to be proud of. Everyone supposedly got laid. Tome, being a virgin was like being an outcast. All I wanted to do was leave this small little town and become a man so I could get laid!! As you can tell I was a young man very uncomfortable in his own skin. I really started feeling uncomfortable and depressed when I was 15 years old. That is when I discovered marijuana. If I felt bad I would get high and feel much better about myself. I always preferred weed to alcohol.
This is the time of my life that I became a man and had the most personal growth. It was the hardest time in my life but the most rewarding later on. I learned how to stand up for myself. The confidence I learned this part of my life would carry me later on in my sales career.
I was a coddled child. I have to admit I was a spoiled kid growing up. I lived in one of the best areas of town. I rode dirt bikes every day. Life in Montana growing up was good. The only violence and crime we saw was on the news. Wait a minute. That is the way it is now!
Carl and I were supposed to go to boot camp in November. Being used to cooler weather I thought it best to go to California in the wintertime. Beat the winter and get in some training in the nice warm sun!
My recruiter called me within a week of graduation. He told me that if I wanted to have the job or mos in the service that I wanted I would have to go to bootcamp now instead of waiting till the winter. I could still go in the winter time but my mos would be whatever the Marines thought best. I did not want that and went to boot camp within 2 weeks of high school graduation. This was definitely not in my plans. I wanted to screw around for a few months before heading out and discovering the world. I was not very happy about this but decided it best to go now. I wanted to get some job training and comeback and land a high paying union job. My recruiter promised me that as an electrician in the Marines I would be the most desirable job candidate when I returned! This was music to my ears! My future was set. I was going to be a Marine and return and a union electrician for the rest of my life. At the time, this sounded like everything was falling into place. I received my plane ticket and off I went!
This was exciting. I was going to fly to Los Angeles Airport and get picked up by the Marines to attend boot camp in San Diego. I have never even traveled on a plane before!
The plane ride was not as fun as I thought. Back then there was smoking and nonsmoking seats. The front was reserved for the nonsmokers and the back was for the smokers. As soon as the smoking sign and the pilot said we were free to light up, everyone in the smoking section lit up!! There was a cloud of smoke in the plane. It looked like smog. That is the it used to be flying!! Of course, I was a smoker and sitting in the smoking section. I was chain smoking. I was nervous about boot camp and the plane flight.
As soon as we hit the West Coast in LA I knew it. I have never been to a big city before. From my window seat in the plane it looked like an ocean of houses as far as the eye could see. It seemed like we flew for hours above this huge area of houses and buildings. I was in awe!
As soon as we landed I headed to the meeting area where we were supposed to meet the Marine Liaison. At the meeting area there were about 4 other recruits that waiting. We all had food vouchers and decided to get a bite to eat before we would be picked up. One of the recruits told everyone not to eat too much. I didn’t care. I ordered as much food as I could. We all talked and everyone had different ideas of boot camp and how hard it would be and what they would make us do. It was scary. But it wasn’t so bad going through this with other people. I figured that if they could do it so could I.
The liaison was very nice and answered all our questions. The bus to San Diego was interesting. I thought for a little while that this was not going to be as bad as I thought.
We rode in a green school bus with USMC painted on the bumper area. What a boring looking bus I thought. What the F did I get myself in to. Now is when I started to panic. I actually thought how about how hard it would be to leave now and hitchhike home!! Good thing I didn’t do that.
As soon as we got to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) in San Diego my heart was about to explode. I was not prepared for what was going to happen.
The bus stopped at the reception area. The door opened. The nice Liaison quickly exited and a very large well dressed Marine entered the bus and he was not happy. The first words out of his mouth was that we were now property of the United States Marine Corps. He said we all smelled like civilian slime! He told us that during our stay we were to obey all orders or we would be severely dealt with. When ask to jump we were to say how high. When asked to run. We were to say how far. Then……….screaming at the top of his lungs……….he told us to get the F*@k off the bus and step on the yellow footprints outside. We had 30 seconds to exit and he already used up 20. Everyone in the bus ran to the door like they just had a huge jolt of adrenalin. I was scared. Good thing I didn’t pee myself because my bladder area was week from the angry screaming of this lunatic. What the hell did I get my self into. My friends are all back home partying and here I am! Shit!
Outside the bus there were actual footprints painted on the ground. I believe there was 4 rows of footprints. I quickly placed myself on the prints. The angry Marine that met us was with a whole bunch of other angry Marines. I was in deep shit I thought. The reminded us again of our duty to our Country and how we all smelled like civilian slime. I never realized that civilians were such bad people before! After being yelled at for several minutes we were quickly escorted to get our haircuts and supplies. First thing was the supplies. We were issued everything from soap to pants. Items like laundry detergent, bags, writing material. And a huge green sack to put everything in.
The worst part was yet to come. After we got all our supplies we had to have inventory. We were all assembled very roughly in a hot room that smelled of human sweat. We were told to place our bags directly in front of us. After that we spent several hours holding up each and every item from toothpaste to underwear with our arms directly in the air with the items. My arms were so tired. A lot of recruits started dropping their arms or items and they were dealt with on the spot. They would be attacked by the angry Marines. It was very motivating! Even though I couldn’t feel my arms any more I was too scared to let them down. I will always remember this moment for the rest of my life. I was in a state of controlled panic.
Then we got our haircut. This was the 70’s so my hair was at my shoulders. I always had long hair from birth to this moment. All my beautiful hair was gone in less than 15 seconds.
After the haircut we were all instructed to shower off the stinky civilian slime. I swear I heard civilian slime term at least a 100 times by this moment. The shower was one room with a big head in the middle and a few heads on the wall. It was truly belly buttons to assholes. Here I was this sheltered small town whiteboy in the shower with people of all races. I was from Montana. My town had one race……White. Black people scared me. Roots had just come out on television. Later on several of my best friends were black More later.
It was 3 am. We were all tired and scared and hungry. I was very thankful I filled my stomach at LAX. We were led to a room with a whole bunch of bunk beds. Normally I would want the bottom bunk. But I was not going to argue with any of these rough looking recruits. I am going to do my best to lay low. The angry men in green told us that we had no idea on how to make a bed so we were to sleep under wool blankets and that’s it. I was tired. I didn’t care. I fell asleep within minutes.
At 5am we were awoken by a large Marine in well dressed attire. He was yelling at the top of his lungs banging a steel garbage can with the lid like it was a drum. He yelled……Get on the road for Chow! I got up right away and started dressing. As soon as he came in the room other Marines joined him immediately. One of recruits was sleeping on the top bunk. He just kept on sleeping. This drove the angry Marine nuts. Get up recruit! He yelled. The recruit said. I want to keep sleeping….I am tired. As soon as he said that and put his head on the pillow. The drill instructor promptly went over to his bunk and flipped the mattress over while he was sleeping on it. He came crashing down to the floor and made a big thud on the concrete. I think I was very scared at that moment. I realized these people mean business. They are not fooling around.
My first meal was green eggs and ham. I am not kidding. The eggs were green from being cooked early and sitting out. I was so hungry I could care less.
I heard of Physical Fitness Training before from my recruiter. He never referred to it as PT. Before boot camp I was told to buy a nice pair of running shoes for boot camp exercise training. As soon as we left the chow hall we were put in a line. We were told that the first words from now on to come out of our mouth when speaking to them would be Sir! We were to finish every sentence with Sir! The drill instructor said…..Do You Understand?...... We all said…… Sir….Yes Sir…… at the top of our lungs. After the short training class we were escorted to the PT field. It looked overwhelming. The obstacle course seemed as high as a sky scraper! I love climbing. This could be fun! Instead of going to the obstacle course we went to the track. All of a sudden I notice a whole lot of dogs barking very loud across the fence? Very strange. I learned later what we heard. It was another division of recruits that were doing PT and yelling Oooooorah! Over and over again! It sounded just like a whole bunch of dogs barking!
We did not go to get our running shoes. We did not put on our running pants. Here we were in our brand new Marine camouflage pants and shirts and combat boots. The drill instructor started us on a run in platoon formation. It was complete chaos to me. We were not jogging. We were running. I had never ran before. A few recruits started dropping out. As soon as they did the drill instructor really came down on them hard. I did everything I could to keep up and not fall back. I made it. At the end of the run the recruits that fell back had to stay in the very back of the line. We went back to our barracks. The recruits that finished the run got to take a shower. The recruits that fell back had to do exercise on command in the middle of the squad bay(room). When I say exercise on command I really mean torture! LoL! The drill instructors are just like the crazy character in the video. The will have you on your stomach blowing like a whale to doing squat thrusts until you puke. Thank you God for giving me the strength to make this run. I never fell behind on any run or hump ever while in boot camp. Too scared to deal with the consequences. I had to find other ways to get in trouble. More later…..
We were taught to wear our Cover a tall times while outside. We were to take our Cover off when entering a room. A cover is a hat. Never call your hat a hat. It is now a cover. Call it a hat and you will be in the middle of the squad bay doing PT.
We were taught to march in formation. Formation is 4 lines with a selected recruitat the head of each line. The recruitthat led the line was the squad leader. He had the responsibility of keep all his recruits in order.
I was not a squad leader. Glad I was not picked. I was having a hard enough time to wrap my head around just being in boot camp. I didn’t want any extra responsibilities.
The first day after we had our PT we went to class. We were given our Marine Corps Handbook. This book contained all of the things we needed to know to be a good Marine and stay out of trouble. To me it was one of the most boring books I have ever seen. It contained our General Orders…very important. And the Rifleman’s Creed! We were to recite and memorize the Creed and the General Orders.
Rifleman’s Creed.
This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I amuse less. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...
My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, or the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...
Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!
We were marched to the armory where we were each assigned an M-16 Rifle. We were to memorize the serial number. We were told that when this rifle is in our possession we were to protect it at all costs. This rifle would be our sweetheart for the next 3 months. We were never to refer to our Rifle as a gun. If we said the word gun when referring to our rifle. The Drill Instructor would have us in the middle of the squad bad in front of all the recruits doing PT. We used to stand together as a group. The drill instructor would have us grab our crotches. Then have us all yell out in unison….
This is my rifle this is my gun…..(when we said gun we had to grab our crotch)
This is for fighting… this is for fun…..(again we would have to grab our crotch)
Most of the time this seemed as a form of torture. No kidding……sometimes we would do this for hours straight. I am not kidding.
The very first class we went to was the first time I got into trouble. We marched to a very cramped room with chairs just like we had in high school. As we sat down I placed my cover on the floor by my feet. I didn’t think anything of it. The class was extremely boring to me. I had a very hard timekeeping my eyes open. It was about the basic duties of a Marine. The General Orders. I had an extremely hard timekeeping my head up the entire class. I was half asleep and fighting with all my strength to remain awake. At the end of class I was very happy I made it. Everyone was instructed to assemble into formation. I quickly went to grab for my cover. It was gone! It was gone?!! My head was racing. This was not good. I asked the other recruits if they knew where my cover was an they laughed at me. I did not think it was funny at all. I went to formation without my cover. The Drill Instructor noticed my bald head with no cover. I knew he noticed. My heart was racing as he walked directly tome and purposely jammed his wide brimmed DI hat into my fore head. His words were very loud……Private Farmer…….Were is you cover……I replied…Sir, someone stole it sir…….He replied…So someone stole your hat?.....Sir Yes Sir, I replied. He replied back…..Well Private Farmer…Next time you get a cover, you better make F#$king sure you don’t let it out of your site! So when we are marching back to the squad bay with your bare F#$king noggin you think about that! When we got back to the squad by I was the next subject for PT in front of all the other recruits. All I can think about is….my low cover is blown. Now I have the full attention of the Drill Instructors. This is not good.
