Week 8

Field Week!

Aside from Range week this was my favorite. A whole week of humping(hiking) heavy packs, sleeping under the stars, combat simulations...the whole nine yards. This week is really everything that little boys dream about...minus the several hundred times you will have to low crawl in the gritty rough dirt, or in Jared's case probably the mud.

Thats about it. You actually hump more miles this week than the Crucible but over an extra day or two.

Saturday Jared is back down at MCRD in San Diego.

In other news Jared shot a 231 out of 250 on the range! That is some serious good shooting! He also did well on the combat marksmanship but it is kinda a joke...targets 15-25 yards away...you don't even have to aim.

Mom says he sounds upbeat in his letters and with a coupled of easy weeks coming he should be just fine and ready for the Crucible!

Happy New Year Recruit Fullmer!

Week 7

This was by far my favorite week.

The rifle range! Monday through Thursday is spent at the rifle range practicing. As opposed to grass week were Jared was just sitting around staring at targets, this week he is actual shooting at targets.

Marine Corps Table 1 shooting consists of three different ranges. The 200 yard, 300 yard, and 500 yard. You start at the 200 with a 15 round slow fire that takes 20 minutes. You start in the sitting firing your first 5 shots. Each individual shot is marked on a the target one at at time. From the sitting you go to the kneeling for 5 more shots, than the standing for the last five.
Then the 200 yard rapid fire. 10 rounds in 60 seconds. Then the target gets pulled and all 10 rounds are marked.

The next set is 5 rounds in the kneeling from the 300 yard line with a 5 minutes. Then another rapid fire. 10 more rounds in the sitting from 300 yards with 60 seconds.

The final set is 10 rounds with 10 minutes from the prone position(laying down) at 500 yards. This one was scary at first because I couldn't even seen the black and white of the targets at 500 yards. Easy enough though. Just aim center mass. At 500 yards your front sight covers up the entire center ring so it can be tricky.

We are the only service that fires at 500 yards. This is because the Marines started out as snipers on Navy ships when we were first formed.

Each round is worth a possible 5 points with a total possible score of 250. Depending on you score you will be awarded 1 of 3 rifle badges that are worn on your dress uniforms.

The right is marksman, center is sharpshooter and left is expert.

As a bit of morbid history...

Charles Whitman killed 12 people from a 28 story tower in Austin Texas from distances up to 400 yards.

Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy from 250 feet at a moving target with an old Italian bolt action rifle. He got off 3 rounds in only 6 seconds scoring 2 hits including a head shot.

The thing they have in common? They learned to shoot in Marine Corps boot camp. While these are both bleak moments in history, Marines carry this as a sort of badge of honor.

"The most dangerous weapon is a Marine and his Rifle."
"No better friend, no worse enemy."

The Marines Rifle creed. We recited this constantly during the second month.

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 nothing. Without my rifle, I am nothin. 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, nor 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 ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle 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!

Weeks 5 and 6

Hydration is key!

Week 5

This week was one of my least favorites. Monday through Wednesday is Combat Swimming. If you want more info on this just ask and I will tell. I talked about it back in June or July on my blog. Anyway it is all the same tests except you have a pool FULL of screaming Drill Instructors. This makes swimming VERY stressful.

Gunny helps a Marine in swim Qual

Female recruits at Paris Island, NC

Thursday is the Pugil Sticks 3. This one is the best because it is held in the Thunder Dome. You can't see your opponent but you start on either ends, war crying until you get to the middle and then duke it out. About the best 3 mins of Boot Camp!

Friday is More History

Saturday is Movement to Edson Range on Camp Pendleton. This is a busy busy day. You have to spit knowledge the whole way there so it is a very miserable trip. The part I remember the most is seeing all the people at the gates. It gave me a huge sense of pride to see all those supporters there.

Week 6
Grass Week. This week is dedicated to learning the fundamentals of firing a rifle. You learn all types of stuff. 4 different firing positions, Standing, Kneeling, Sitting and Prone, which you practice all week. It is called Snapping In. You get in the positions that you DI wants and you practice looking at a barrel with targets on it. Prepare for body parts to fall asleep. You Snap In for hours on end...no exaggeration.

You also do a couple of "Death Marches" but that is up to you DI's. These are used to get you used to your pack for the Humps(hikes). These packs are AWESOME. The best way to describe it is how the supply chief did when I was in Boot. This pack is a Boy Scouts wet dream! You can fit TONS of stuff in it.

ILBE pack

Grass week is one of the easiest weeks there is. It is relatively stress free, not what you or I would call stress free, so that you can learn your fundamentals.

The part I remember the most about grass week, other than snapping in, was my sweater. We have these green Marine sweaters that we have to turn inside out because we haven't earned the EGA yet. We marched all over the place in this sweatshirt and it was the middle of June so naturally we sweated like pigs. The worst part was it wouldn't dry out overnight and you had to put this soggy sweater on every morning. ICK!

By this week you usually get to blouse your boots and unbutton you blouse unless you really tick off your DI's. This may seem like a little thing but it is a huge status symbol, probably the biggest one in boot. If you see recruits with un-bloused boots then you know they just got there. It is a pretty big deal. The worst thing is getting to blouse your boots and THEN tick off your DI's and they will make you undo your boots. It is amazing what can be demoralizing in Boot.

Week 4

(Nightly inspections before lights out. You say some ridiculous stuff, drink some water, pound on your rack screaming "HONOR, COURAGE, COMMITMENT" and then beautiful sleep!)

Monday starts off very exciting(at least for me) with the confidence course. The confidence course is made up of three main events. The Stairway to heaven, The A-Frame and the Slide for life.

The Stairway is basically just a big ladder. It is about 30 feet high and each step is a big log. It gets harder as you go higher because the steps are further apart. No problem! We grew up on a ladder. I zipped right up and down this bad boy and I'm sure Jared followed suit. Just a funny thought...Staircases in the Marine Corps are called Ladderwells. The Giant ladder is called the Stairway to heaven. This cracks me up every time I think about it. Marines have to be different!

(Coasties on the Stairway to heaven. Recruits don't wear helmets...or silly blue jumpsuits)

The A-frame, apparently, is the hardest of the three.Recruits climb up a rope, maneuver through 3 logs, cross about 20 feet on wooden beams to the end that is shaped like an A. They the climb to the top, swing onto a rope and descend on the rope.

The Slide for life is the funniest. It is a big tower with three cables traversing a pool. Recruits start out inching along the top of the cable like a caterpillar. About midway you are told to swing underneath the cable, Face the end of the pool, kick your legs up and the slide down the rest of the way. A couple recruits from each platoon will fall in the water and it is pretty funny.

(The bottom of the Slide for Life)

All three of these are designed to make recruits force there fears of height. many don't even know they have a fear until they get to the top. On a side note one of the Sgt. here is DEATHLY afraid of heights. Ten feet up and he can get dizzy. However he said that because of Boot he didn't conquer his fear but he knows he can ignore his fears and accomplish a mission if he has to.

Tuesday is their first "Boots and Utes" run. This is you running in you cammies and boot minus the Blouse. It can really suck sometimes but it can also be motivational. Running in boots will make your legs really sore in ways regular running doesn't. It also doesn't seem like much but boots and Utes weighs and extra 8 lbs.

Wednesday is Pugil sticks 2. Refer to the last post. It's violent, it's exciting, it's AWESOME!

Thursday it a 2 mile ability group run. The bunch you into groups based on the time of your 1.5 mile run from initial PFT. The DI leading you knows the pace and is supposed to push you...HARD. When I signed papers to got to Boot the main thing I was worried about was running. I was fat and out of shape. I practiced a 1.5 two times before boot and they were both failing times. I don't know exactly what happened at Boot but I have run three miles in 19 mins since then. I have also run up to 15 miles at a time. It's all in your head!

Friday is your Senior Drill Instructor inspection. You stand in formation and get yelled at by all the Drill Instructors in your company before your senior looks you over. You are asked questions on things such as your rifle serial number, basic knowledge that you have been learning and are graded on your appearance. The inspection is as much about bearing as anything. Can you stand stone faced while someone screams at you. You are often asked questions that they think you don't know the answer to. This is to see what you do when you don't know.

(Officer Candidates at OCS. )

Saturday is a great day...depending on how you place. Initial Drill. You have spent up to 7 hours a day practicing Drill movements for the last three weeks. This is to see where you are. Drill Instructors are graded not only on their performance but the recruits performance. It is a huge load off when it is over. It is even better if you win. My platoon won Initial Drill and our senior was so pleased that he let us make a phone call which is a very big deal!