My last day

[007]

SOP is to keep the privates up until 2AM and get them back up at 4:30 on the first day of receiving. Haircut first, out of the scuzzy civvies and into cammies, pack the civvies, initial gear issue, shave, and 2 hours in the rack.

It is designed to completely disorient and strip the individuality from the recruits, all the way down to bringing them in after dark so they have no idea where they are.

I had to get moral waivers ... letters from my high school teachers and the pastor. Wow. Just think .... I was "endorsed" by a pastor who was later popped with his hand in the cookie jar.

That sounds pretty like what they did in AF, but I'm talking about back in 1979. Yeah... I know... I'm getting up there.

Best of luck to ya Semper Fi, but luck isn't going to be what you need now. You need lots of stamina, and keep your ears open and your mouth shut!

 

[Gunny]

In the sense of readying a recruit for being a Marine, this makes sense to me. But to make the recruit take the ASVAB over again under these conditions, only to potentially cause the recruit to score lower and possibly have to choose a different MOS, it seems like it would serve to lower morale in the long run. Counter-productive is the best way I can describe that.

Recruits completely undergo classification all over again the first week of receiving. They not only retake the ASVAB, but they take the DLAB and communications tests as well. If you had managed to get a ringer to test for you and get away with it, THAT little joyride ends there. If the AFQT score is over 10 points different from the MEPS score, you could have to take it a 3rd time, depending on how large the spread is.

If you have the skills to get a technical job in the Marines guaranteed to you, odds are your score on that portion of the test will not change much. And they cannot reclassify you without your consent or they have to send you home, so that's a nonplayer.

There are plenty of other ways to destroy morale without having to resort to THAT much work.

Marching the 'cruits over by the NTC gate and telling them you're letting the Navy have them cuz they suck so bad works pretty good.

 

[Gunny]

That sounds pretty like what they did in AF, but I'm talking about back in 1979. Yeah... I know... I'm getting up there.

Best of luck to ya Semper Fi, but luck isn't going to be what you need now. You need lots of stamina, and keep your ears open and your mouth shut!

I enlisted in 1980. Same shit. From then until I was a Drill Instructor in 93 it hadn't changed much.

 

[Swamp Fox]

In the sense of readying a recruit for being a Marine, this makes sense to me. But to make the recruit take the ASVAB over again under these conditions, only to potentially cause the recruit to score lower and possibly have to choose a different MOS, it seems like it would serve to lower morale in the long run. Counter-productive is the best way I can describe that.

The Marines pick your job anyway so it doesn't really matter to them. That's one of the reasons I went into the army.

Sure do look pretty in their uniforms though.

 

[007]

I enlisted in 1980. Same shit. From then until I was a Drill Instructor in 93 it hadn't changed much.

I didn't know you were a Drill Instructor Gunny... outstanding brother.

I remember one day at Nellis AFB in Vegas, some brass came around and wanted to talk with anybody that was an E-4 Sergeant. Deal was if you became a Training Instructor they'd promote you to E-5, Staff Sergeant. I turned it down. I only had like five months to go to get out. Then I go and reenlist after I'm out for ten months.... I should have done it. I think I'd have enjoyed it.

 

[Gunny]

The Marines pick your job anyway so it doesn't really matter to them. That's one of the reasons I went into the army.

Sure do look pretty in their uniforms though.

I don't know who told you that, but it is not the case. The Marines offer jobs in writing just as the other branches do.

Sure you aren't confusing that with going into the DEP? When you first DEP, you sign what is called a "general enlistment" for ease of processing. That "general enlistment" states on page 5 that if you rate to choose a job you will be guaranteed that job prior to shipping to boot camp.

The other problem is you might have just run into the wrong recruiter. What the Corps "needs" is usually expressed by a recruiter as what HE or SHE need to make mission for the month.

 

[Gunny]

I didn't know you were a Drill Instructor Gunny... outstanding brother.

I remember one day at Nellis AFB in Vegas, some brass came around and wanted to talk with anybody that was an E-4 Sergeant. Deal was if you became a Training Instructor they'd promote you to E-5, Staff Sergeant. I turned it down. I only had like five months to go to get out. Then I go and reenlist after I'm out for ten months.... I should have done it. I think I'd have enjoyed it.

One of the "checks in the appropriate boxes" to getting promoted in the Marines is doing a "B" billet (special duty assignment outside your MOS). In the Marines, that's Recruiting, Drill Instructor or Marine Security Guard (Embassy) duty.

They started looking at me with a recruiting duty screening checklist and hauled balls for Drill Instructor school as fast as I could get there. Selling cars AIN'T my game.

 

[007]

One of the "checks in the appropriate boxes" to getting promoted in the Marines is doing a "B" billet (special duty assignment outside your MOS). In the Marines, that's Recruiting, Drill Instructor or Marine Security Guard (Embassy) duty.

They started looking at me with a recruiting duty screening checklist and hauled balls for Drill Instructor school as fast as I could get there. Selling cars AIN'T my game.

So Paris Island or Oceanside?