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The one who's name shall not be spoken had completed boot camp and is now part way through his EN  "A" school for the Navy.

He called the house tonight and we talked for a little while then he had to go.

So i suppose things are getting pretty relaxed in the military now a days, He said in boot, they got a half hour to eat!!!

He said in boot, they got a half hour to eat!!!

i went to air force boot camp in 93..... it was the start of the "don't ask don't tell" "make them feel good" military.... we got about 20-30 minutes to eat

yeah. a bud of mine said that bootcamp in the marines wasnt all that bed. the DI cant even swear at you anymore. wouldnt want to hurt anybodys feelings you know.

That is just plain sad.  How the hell are you supposed to expect a kid to pull the trigger when it counts if you coddle him?:mad:

i went to air force boot camp in 93.....  it was the start of the "don't ask don't tell" "make them feel good" military....  we got about 20-30 minutes to eat (but we couldn't talk... eyes foreward) and the TI's (instructors) WERE NOT ALLOWED TO CUSS AT US!!!!  talk about a "strong" military.....  needless to say, i was disapointed.....  nothing like a good kick in the ass to alter your perception......  that's what i was looking for.... i never got it

TRAINING A FEW GOOD MEN
By Chris Barron

How do young men, mostly teenagers, handle the mental and physical strains of the military's toughest boot camp? You're stupid, dumb and worthless. And those are on your good days.

You're just a measly recruit. You're not a Marine. Not yet anyway.

Your identity and all that you know is stripped from your being like the civilian clothes you wore off the bus to boot camp.

And when you make a mistake, which can happen at any time for any reason, you can be sure you'll be made an example for your entire platoon to see.

Take for example, David Barr, a 2002 North Kitsap High School graduate. As Barr descended a 60-foot tower during a rappelling exercise, one of his drill instructors singled him out. The DI knew Barr's hometown paper was following him that day.

"The headline is going to read, 'Recruit screws up!' " the drill instructor yelled.

"They make you feel stupid at one point or another," said Barr as he entered his final week of camp in mid-October. "No matter who you are, everyone's going to get made a fool of.

That lesson was quickly driven home to Reggie Williams, a 2002 Bremerton High School graduate.

In just his second week of boot camp, Williams, a squad leader and considered one his platoon's stellar recruits, managed to consistently draw the wrath of his drill instructors.

"I've screwed up a lot," he said. "I've done some stupid things.

"If you do something wrong, you might have two or three guys screaming in your face telling you you're not doing it right."

For 13 weeks, it's a life that is not your own. Considered by far the toughest of any of the services, Marine boot camp constantly challenges with head games and tough physical training.

The hardships of camp are nothing compared to a real battlefield. And that, Marines say, is why their boot camp is the toughest.

"This is the way it is in the real military," senior recruit and 2002 Bremerton High grad Peter Steagall said of the intense, exhausting exercises. "So that's the way we train."

From the moment they step into a waiting bus at the airport, they become Marine recruits.

"When you get off the bus, you wonder, 'What the hell is going on, and what the hell did I get myself into?' " Barr said. "You can have 20 drill instructors around you and just screaming at you. You're already tired, and you don't know what's going on."

The first of the 13 weeks is supposed to be an introductory period when processing and paperwork are completed and not much else. But that's not what the drill instructors have in mind.

"The first two weeks tend to be the hardest adjustment," said drill instructor and Moses Lake native Staff Sgt. James Ossman. "They're making the transition from civilian to recruit. The stress never really turns down. They just have a harder time dealing with what we expect from them in the beginning."

Those expectations include changing a recruit's entire way of thinking. They learn how to speak, how to stand, how to walk, how to shower, how to eat, how to sleep and how to wear the uniform. They even have to ask to go to the bathroom.

Recruits can only speak in third person and can't use the words me, I, we, them, us or you — for example: "Sir, this recruit doesn't understand why the drill instructor won't let this recruit use those words."

"It's kind of a culture shock," Williams said. "You come in being able to go wherever you want or do whatever you want, and all of a sudden you have to do everything by a certain rule."

"It was as if you don't know anything," Richard Sweetman, a 2002 Bremerton graduate, said of the first few weeks. "Everything is so confusing. You don't know what you can eat, what time you can sleep or what happens next. You realize the drill instructors have unlimited possibilities on what they can do to you.

"You just have to figure out what buttons do I not want to push and what limits do I stay under."

Recruits will say the hardest part of boot camp isn't the mental or physical challenge; it's being away from home.

Finding the changes in their lives staggeringly difficult to handle, recruits can't rely on family for comfort or support.

When a recruit arrives at boot camp, he gets a five-minute phone call home to let his family know he made it safely. Besides writing and receiving letters, that's the last contact most have with their family for the next three months.

"Usually, in weeks two through four are the times they most come to us," said Chaplain Ken Medve, one of eight chaplains at the San Diego boot camp. "Ninety-nine percent of them are homesick.

"There's a lot of stress, but if they get a time where they need to let out and decompress, they can come to us. We're the one place where they can go and get complete confidentiality."

Considering that the average age of a recruit is 19, and most are straight out of high school, the adjustment is difficult.

"You want to go home every day," Williams said. "There's a lot of guys who want to quit. They talk about quitting every day."

Carlito Schlemmer, a 1995 Olympic High graduate, was an exception ... a happy, satisfied recruit. But he had a big advantage over the others — he's 25 and has worked six years in the real world. His maturity showed.

Interviewed in his seventh week of boot camp, Schlemmer said he hadn't had a difficult time with the mental aspects. But he admitted he can't wait to get home once boot camp is over.

"It's been tough, but there have been some days where it's very motivating," he said. "To be honest with you, yes, I do want to go home, but I have enjoyed my time here."

On the other end of the age scale was J.J. Zettle, 19, a June graduate of Olympic High School away from home for the first time. Zettle said he tried to prepare himself for the stress.

"Boot camp's rough," he said. "It's a little bit harder mentally than I expected. There are a lot of mental games. I came in thinking, 'They can yell at me all they want.' But there are times when you're thinking, 'I don't want to deal with this now.' "

Physically, Schlemmer could be a Marine poster boy. In the four months since he signed on the dotted line to join, he's lost nearly 70 pounds, turning a somewhat soft, pudgy civilian into a well-trained, fit specimen.

"Before I came here, the only exercise I got was walking to my car," said Schlemmer, who lost 20 pounds before arriving at boot camp and another 40 to 50 during. "I feel a lot of energy. Our drill instructors are very motivating."

The physical demands placed on a recruit aren't overwhelming, but they consistently must live up to and maintain certain standards. A recruit must be able to do at least two pull-ups, 35 sit-ups and run 1.5 miles in 13 and a half minutes to pass the initial strength test.

Those who don't face three weeks in a physical conditioning platoon before they can even begin boot camp.

"Nothing amazes me as far as a recruit goes," drill instructor Sgt. Brian Bland said with a laugh. "We get strong ones, weak ones, smart ones and ... ones who aren't that smart."

From the first week of boot camp, recruits are subjected to constant physical training in addition to the required long runs and marches.

"My pants don't fit anymore," said Steagall, who lost about 25 pounds in the first seven weeks. "I have to tighten them real bad to keep them up. You eat three meals a day, but training is so hard."

During the first week of rifle training, recruits must sit crossed-legged, kneel and stand while practicing firing without bullets. It might not sound difficult, but try sitting cross-legged for 30 minutes holding a rifle without switching positions for a little perspective.

Although some stereotypes are true, boot camp also is a more supportive environment than traditionally thought.

And there are limits.

In the new "PC" Corps, drill instructors can't swear and can't touch a recruit (unless aiding him in training).

"When you figure out that they have limits," Sweetman said, "it becomes a little easier to deal with them."

Recruits also are supposed to get 20 minutes to eat and eight hours of sleep. They will tell you, however, that rarely happens.

Drill instructors, despised at first by most recruits, also must walk a fine line between motivating — most often practiced as in-your-face yelling — and teaching.

"A lot of people think they come in and go to boot camp and they're hazed from day one, they're brainwashed and they're turned into some killing machine," said Gunnery Sgt. Robert Meyer, a 17-year veteran and three-year drill instructor. "That's not true. Yes, they get yelled at. But there's a standard, and they're held to it.

Marines will say that boot camp is one big reality check.

Drill instructors may be hard on the recruits, but they can't be as hard as operating in the hostile regions of the world. For Marines to survive adversity on the battlefields, drill instructors feel they must create some at boot camp.

"We are trying to ... build mental toughness," senior drill instructor Staff Sgt. Mitchell Green said. "When it comes down to a situation where you're tired, your mental toughness is going to get you through."

Near the end of boot camp, drill instructors begin to show their human sides. They share their personal stories and recruits begin to see them in a different light. By graduation, the relationship often becomes a strong bond.

"We had one drill instructor who was especially hard on us," Barr said. "He was the cause of most of our pain. We all hated him. And then we began to realize that he was just trying to train us to be the best Marines we could be. We all had the most respect for him."

Published in The Bremerton Washington Sun: 11/03/2002

2004 322 TRS

3 Min Meals until the last week.

Also when we first got there a TI told us they were not allowed to cuss at us and then yelled "does anyone have a FU#KING PROBLEM WITH THAT!?" I actually found that bit quite humorous but obviously I did not laugh. Most of the time they did not Cuss though. It was always WHAT THE PISS?!

Hard conditioning yes, Cruel....Not so much. And I think you hit the the nail on the head.  It doesn't make much sense to me either.  And just so you are aware, I don't consider you a hypocrite for stating that which is blatantly obvious.  You just keep you eyes and ears open more than the average bear. :)

Kinder, gentler SDI (http://"http://youtube.com/watch?v=VYVBlXGuVYg") (Language NSFW)

Voldemort is in boot camp?

Are you sure he isn't making it up? !

You guys are amazing someone you disliked and disrespected often always seems to become a topic of conversation and still a person you find it necessary to $hit on. Leave the kid alone already... Hes banned stop talking $hit about him...

yes I could have ignored this thread and not read it but it bothers me when people are getting picked on especially when they are not here to stick up for themselves. But its no surprise to me because there quite a few members on here that have a im better than everyone attitude.

Any time anyone does something to their car they dont like they always have to chime in on how bad they think it looks when in the first place I didnt see the person ask their opinion and it doesnt stop there they constantly have to chime in and remind the person how bad it is

If someone wants "easy",there's always a McDonalds hiring somewhere.

You guys are amazing someone you disliked and disrespected often always seems to become a topic of conversation and still a person you find it necessary to $hit on. Leave the kid alone already... Hes banned stop talking $hit about him...

...but the original post was deleted?

I know a kid who joined the Army, and they had 30 min breaks to use cell phones in the middle of the day, and they lounged around at night.

a half an hour to eat?! that's the marines??  .  i was in the coast guard and when i went through basic, we got like 5 or 10 minutes tops to eat.

He called again yesterday and is doing well.

He has the a very high score in his class and gets done with A school in about two weeks.  From the set of orders he has,, Id say he is doing really well and he is top of his class.  Not too many average and even above average folks qualify for C school directly after A school and get offered mine sweeper duty.  To beat it all, he is going to be stationed about 100miles from his home town (original home town).  That in itself takes some seroious knee pads or some hard work. 

He wants permission from someone to be allowed to come back to the board.  Im not sure who else he talks to and such but i have no rank or pull on here, just passing on the message.

anyway,, good job so far, hats off to you.

yeah, but if he hasn't made ammends with those he fouled (both monitarily and emotionally), he shouldn't be given the "keys" to the board

I am all for seacond chances but first I think he should make good with everyone he did wrong. That should be the deciding factor. In all honesty I don't see him getting un-banned soon though. he dug a really really really deep hole. Just my :2c:

Let it go.

I don't see why he still needs to be banned. Everyone knows not to buy something from him. Maybe one of these days he could actually get the title and join actual fox owners.

One guy at my work who went through basic and was in the army for 3 years said that we do more and work harder then he ever did the whole time.

I am all for seacond chances but first I think he should make good with everyone he did wrong. That should be the deciding factor. In all honesty I don't see him getting un-banned soon though. he dug a really really really deep hole. Just my :2c:

Eric
He mentions that he has called many times and has gotten your voice mail. Just passing on the message.

Eric, This will be for *if* I can get leave to some home. All Differences aside, I would love to meet up with some old friends again. Please, give me a call at 330-429-8235 if there is a problem with this request