more on USMC boot camp brutality: one recruit's mom mailed him some cookies, a big bag. the DI made him.......

Question

eat the whole bag in one sitting. when he was half way thru the bag, he got sick and started vomitting, the DI grabbed a handful of cookies and start shoving it down his throat. alot of u think i was never in the Corps but my platoon number was 2067 (second battalion) yellow t-shirts with red stripes. once, we were in second phase, ITS, a DI asked a fat recruit if he had a pic of his wife. the recruit pulled out the pic of his wife and showed it to the DI. the DI looked at the pic and asked the recruit, "what is that! she is ugly!", and the recruit simply replied, "she is a human being sir". my question is, was that a nescessary part of traing or was the DI out of line? most of u will take up for the DI anyway. maybe this behavior isnt done aas much as it was almost 30 years ago but i think in isolated instances there is still unnescessary brutality in usmc boot camp

everybody, check out rich A's answer, now the truth is coming out!!

Answer 1

So some not nice things happened 30 years ago. How much sympathy do you think you are going to get from those of us who have been to Iraq?

Get over it.

I have seen _real_ brutality and the stuff you complain about is chickensh*t.

Answer 2

Cookies are deemed contraband. They are not allowed in Boot Camp. This recruit got off easy. DI's jobs are to prepare boots for worst situations because of war conditions. What if this recruit was ultimately a POW? Do you think the enemy would be so kind as to allow him to eat a cookie? In the military you have to make sacrifices, some that will save your life or the life or your buddies. If he can't handle doing without his Mama's cookies, then he shouldn't be in the Marines. This DI should be commended for the job he did. Tell your buddy to toughen up. Next time he may chained up with a blindfold over his eyes with an AK-47 pointed to his head.

Answer 3

Yeah so what? Things like that happen in all branches of service boot camps. You are still just passing along stories someone else told you.

Your comment that "a lot of you think I was never in the corps" gives you away as never having served. Marines NEVER refer to being in the Corps in the past tense - once a Marine always a Marine - YOU ARE NOT A MARINE! Never have been - never will be. Now get off this military board or show us your DD214

Answer 4

What is wrong with his mom? When my daughter went to Marine boot camp and when my son went to Army boot camp, I was told NOT TO SEND ANY TREATS, like cookies, cakes, etc. Why didn't she obey? It's her fault, not the DI's. I was told all the different things they would do. First by my kids, then by the recruiter. Don't blame the DI for mom's stupidity!

Answer 5

While never in Marine Boot Camp, I did attend Army Basic Training in Missouri in Dec, Jan and Feb, 1984-85, one of the coldest winters I had ever been through, and I was born and raised in New Hampshire. I understand Army Basic is not as "brutal" (your word) as Marine Boot Camp, and, short of actually killing recruits while in training, I suspect there is very little which is unintentionally "brutal" in the training of service members of ANY branch of the US Armed Forces.

Brutality implies an unthinking, unreasoning antipathy toward a particular recruit. I believe, in the vast majority of cases, this is not the case. Army (or Marine) DIs who enjoy brutalizing their recruits never last long, as it isn't in the Marine Corps best interests to have such people (sadists) in power positions of any kind, but especially training positions (it's the "fruit of the poisoned tree" doctrine: Men trained by sadists can never be fully trusted [and shouldn't be] by Marines who weren't).

While the Army does not engage in this as much as you seem to feel it happens in the Marines, I am certain it happens, nonetheless, just maybe not for the reasons you believe. The Marines HAVE to be as tough on their recruits as they can be, short of inflicting serious physical injury or death, because, let's face it,recruits aren't being trained to go into conflicts to pass out roses and pillow mints to the enemy, ya know? I do NOT want the Marines handing ANYONE a weapon who hasn't gone through a good "trial by Drill Instructor" and come out of it, a better, stronger, more responsible person because of it.

In my own Basic Training cycle, my mom sent ME a "care package". It wasn't just cookies, it was ALL kinds of junk food, high in sugar, not so much the protein and carbs constant physical exercise made me crave. My DI had me hand over the box the treats were in, he cut it open and threw in into the middle of our barracks room. He gave the room 15 minutres to eat everything in the box. We did it, we didn't enjoy, but I don't think anything ill about either of my DIs at this point, because of this or any of the other (seemingly) pointless little cruelities they handed out to us on a daily basis. That was 20 years ago (in my case).

My advice is, HEY you ultimately survived, let this go, nothing you do at this point will change what happened then, it's just time to put this aside.

It is the Marine DIs' JOB to be as tough as they have to be, to ensure no unqualified recruits (physical strength can be built up with exercise and diet over time; the same cannot be said for the requisite mental strength needed to be a real US Marine) becomes a Marine. They HAVE to weed out the ones who are not qualified to be Marines and after seeing so many types of recruits go through, they develop a sense on who they feel lis tough enough and who isn't. Sending unqualified recruits into combat only gets Marines killed (not just the poor ones, their actions often cause REAL Marines to be killed or injured as well)

Answer 6

i think you have some issues with how boot camp treated you, yes there are rough moments in basic training, but in the overall picture there is a goal to make people into marines, Navy boot camp was nothing but there was a mental game everyday to get you into military thinking, the old days are gone, just hope that marine recruits will get the mentality that they need to make it as a marine,

Answer 7

Although I spent ten years in uniform and rose to the rank of sergeant, I have to agree that sometimes a DI takes things a bit too far. Gratuitous insult and physical insult are not approved, and in most cases will result in disciplinary action against the perp - be he or she a lance corporal or a sergeant-major - or even a commissioned officer.
Yes, a few get away with it now and then. The system isn't perfect and never will be. But they don't get away with it repeatedly. The Corps, as with the other Armed Services, monitors the training of basic recruits very, very closely. And anyone who believes they have evidence of abuse is strongly encouraged to come forward. Charges of that nature will be investigated. It may seem a slow, ponderous process, but we have to be thorough - a great many such charges prove to be unfounded, and undeserved damage to careers has to be prevented. I've seen three Drill Instructors busted to private, fined and jailed for abusive behavior, and one given a life sentence for abuse that resulted in severe harm to a recruit.

Answer 8

I think you should have enlisted in the Boy Scouts instead of the Marines. "Eating cookies", "ugly wife", big deal. When I was there they beat the crap out of us. But the tough training and discipline paid off when we hit Vietnam. Go cry to your mommy about the big mean DI, wimp.

Answer 9

You are the kid that will lead us into weaker country I went to boot camp 22 years a go and the did worse then that and no compliance that what make you a Marine so if you went through it you should know that what tough you up they do it to get that reaction they need so suck it up and take it.

Answer 10

That never happened.

You probably don't realize this, but your post is loaded with inaccuracies that a Marine would never write.

Sorry to blow the lid off your cover.