Joining and Boot Camp

After attending business college, I moved to Salt Lake City in the spring of 1967. I was working at Baker's Shoes on Main Street and at the LDS Hospital, living in an apartment on 1st South.

While living there I received my "Pre-Induction Physical" notice from the Selective Service. I was ordered to go to Boise, Idaho to receive my physical. After taking the physical I was told I was in 1-A shape and get ready to be drafted into the Army or join another service.

I didn't want to join the Navy. I checked with the Air Force and they had a 6 month waiting list. When I visited with the Marine Corps they said I could join with a 4 month deferment to get my affairs in order. Just what I needed, so I joined. Luckily, I made sure the contract was signed in the way I was counseled by my roommate, who was an E-6 in the reserves.

The Vietnam was was in full swing. In January of 1968 the Vietnamese executed what was known as the "Tet Offensive", where hundreds of soldiers were killed. This, of course, worried me - and my mother.

I went on active duty around March 15, 1968. I was assigned to go into Boot Camp at MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) in San Diego, California. I arrived in a Marine bus and was yelled at by the Drill Instructors to stand on yellow footprints. We were herded into a big, warehouse where we were told to take off our civilian clothes, including our underwear, put them in a box to ship home, and were given military boxers and green fatigues.

The first night they didn't let us sleep. They kept all the new recruits cleaning the building. I was told by my army roommate to treat the experience as if I were a prisoner and find ways to work the system in my behalf. So, even though they wouldn't let me sleep, I found an office which I started to clean and when everyone had left, laid down under a desk and slept for a few minutes. Then, I would get up, start to clean another area and later go back to the office and sleep some more.

The only thing that I couldn't handle was the first day of exercise. The morning after the first night we were taken to the Mess Hall and fed food (to this day I don't know what it was), told to eat it all (gag) and then taken to a field and made to exercise - situps, pushups and jumping jacks. They worked us so hard that most of us (me included) threw up everything we had eaten. But from that day it got better.

Over the next 8 weeks we did physical exercise, attended classes where we learned about the Marine Corps, military information and we had to learn how to take care of our rifles. At that time we carried an M-14, which were wooden carbines that weighed about 8 pounds.

I was assigned to Platoon 4. This seemed to be the platoon with the most rebellious of Marines. At night time the boys would cover the windows with blankets and pitch pennies. It was against the rules to take food from the Mess Hall, but everyone of us would get something and take it back to our quanset hut (a large tin can, cut in half and turned upside down), where we eat the food. One time I almost got caught because the orange I had hidden in my arm pit started to slide into my pants.

In the middle of the training we went to Camp Pendleton for live fire training. We learned to crawl under barbed wire with real bullets being shot over the top of us. We learned how to shoot the rifles and here we earned our marksmanship badges. And, we threw granades and shot 50 caliber machine guns. I was a good enough shot (having hunted for years with my father) that the Drill Instructor bet another Drill Instructor that I could outshoot his best shooter. Unfortunately, I lost.

There are many other incidents. I was one of the top recruits. When I joined I signed the contract, as instructed by my friend, making sure I was promised an Aviation Guarantee. I wasn't given that. We had been tested throughout boot camp to find our best talents and was assigned to be a clerk, MOS 100. That assignment will keep me from going to war in Vietnam, which I will explain in another post.