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December 2, 2016 Grunt.com Admin

Drill Instructor do have a heart and passion

By: chuck seward

I started boot camp MCRD SD Feb 5th 1960. My Di’s were Sgt Hardy and Sgt Harr, very tough and rough Marines. I was the youngest and the smallest in my plt. 216. Needless to say I got a lot of attention and none of it good. They used to grab me by my stacking swivel (my adams apple) and squeeze and ask me the eleven general orders and other things. Also they would stand in front of us when at attention and hit us in the stomach hard. Before we went to Camp Mathews we did a px call, we all had to buy chewing tobacco and we found out later why. They said that the smoking lamp would not be lit at Mathews, that was fine with me because I didn’t smoke anyway. So why the chewing tobacco?

They marched us down in back of the tent area one evening and made us all fill our mouth with as much tobacco as we could hold and chew and looked in our mouth with a flashlight to make sure we had enough. All you heard all night was one very sick Plt. Still at Mathews one day while sitting on our buckets cleaning our M-1’s the Drill Instructor called pvt Nichols to the duty tent with bucket of warm water, canteen cup, and his tobacco in which he was instructed to fill his mouth with tobacco and drink it down with the warm water. I have never seen anyone so sick in my life. Still at Mathews on the rifle range pre qual day, I was not doing well when I felt my DI standing over me and said ” maggot one more maggies drawers and your azz is mine”. Target went down, target came up, maggies drawers, he said maggot and I looked up as he hit me in the mouth and split it wide open. Next day on qual day I made one point from expert. Anyway getting to what this post is all about, before I went to boot camp my girlfriend was in the family way, we were young, dumb, and stupid and my DI’s knew about this and how troubled I was over this. One day he called me over to where he was and said “as man to man not DI to recruit” would I like to call my girlfriend. Of coarse I did not know what to say or what was coming but he took me to the phone center at Mathews and let me call and even asked me for a dime to call his girlfriend. From that time on I was left alone and never picked on again. Our Plt. was 2nd highest shooters of F Company and we graduated series honor man and series honor Plt and of all the complaining I’ve done I would not have changed a thing. It was an honor to be trained by two great Marines, they made a man out of someone who wasn’t much of a man when I went in. Lance cpl Chuck Seward 1960 to 1968 Semper FI

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Comments

buzz alpert - June 13, 2020

I enlisted upon graduating from the Univ of IL in June of 1960, declined an offer to apply for jet fighter pilot school and served in the ranks. My best junior DI was Sgt. Jimmy McCall from Ashville, NC. I won’t mention my senior DI’s name because he took money from us and also made us buy two packs of cigarettes at the PX for him. He called it “flight pay” and was court martialed for it. One of the recruits turned him in upon leaving boot camp at PI. It was a real big deal and I had to testify. I made sure I told the court that he was a great DI and did a fine job, but I could not deny that he stole. A lot of the boots were angry that he took their money and testified against him for it. Even though I didn’t like what he did I refused to report him after boot camp and I felt bad about what happened. He ruined his career for a few bucks. What a shame. We also had Sgt Wazelewski who was retiring upon completion of our boot camp and to be honest, it was obvious his heart wasn’t in it though he made an effort. However, Sgt. McCall was blood and guts and nothing got past him, especially when I couldn’t control my laughing though I really tried. I got my butt kicked for that more times than you could count and I never resented it. I knew I had it coming, but screaming at me reminded me so much of my old man who screamed at the drop of a feather and I just thought it was stupid. I would do anything the DI’s asked of me. I loved the Corps and I was in good shape when I went in and was able to do whatever they asked of me. I could do more push-ups, sit-ups, etc than anyone in the platoon (lst Btn, #152) and though I was a quiet hard working lad, Mac made a man out of me and I have forever been grateful. I got punched, kicked, slapped and God knows what else, but I learned to take it and shut up. I could never repay Mac for what he did for me. 5 years after boot camp he was assigned to my reserve center as an armorer and I saw him in hallway and still called him sir even though we were both Sergeants (E-5). I felt bad we were the same rank and we became buddies. I never forgot on graduation day he came looking for me to shake my hand and tell me he gave me “special attention” because he thought I’d make a good Marine. I was touched, surprised and happy to hear it because I really respected him. In 1980 I wanted to go back in the reserves and the reserve center i had served in wanted me back, but HG said no because of my age. I was 42 and still in tremendous condition, running and exercising. I was disappointed, but accepted the verdict without rancor. In 1993 I decided to send Sgt. McCall a letter of inordinate gratitude for all he did for me and got the Commandant to forward it on my behalf to Mac. I never heard back from him and just hoped that he was okay. Earlier this year I posted a note on this blog and asked if anyone could help me find Sgt. McCall and Larry Netter, a great guy and a former Marine helped me. He went on Together We Served and found out that Mac had gone to Viet Nam, made Captain and eventually retired. Sadly he died a few years ago. He was only 3 years older than I am. I am 78 at this time. But Larry got me his son and daughters address. I wrote to them about what a great dad they had and what an outstanding Marine he was for all his recruits. I would have loved to have wished him well and thanked him one last time. I was the only guy among my buddies who enlisted in the Corps and nothing in my life has ever been so influential as the Marines. They put the grit in my gut and gave me an attitude that I could accomplish anything if I put my mind to it. It seems to me you can take a guy out of the Corps (finished his tour, retried,) but you can’t get the Corps out of those who served. That spirit will be with me until I cross that final river. I wear a great jacket I got from Sgt. Grit and it says US Marine Corps on the back. I bet a dozen people have asked me if I served in the Marines and I always look them in the eye and say, “I wouldn’t wear if I hadn’t served.” But I always smile at them when they don’t know what to say next. And if they thank me for my service I tell them I served with pride and it was the best thing I ever did in my life, closing with a thank you to them. Best of luck to all you Marines out there who read this. Thanks for your service to our great nation, knowing that what you did kept all of us free. Semper Fi, Buzz

CPL. WILLIAM J. DOHERTY - June 13, 2020

GREAT STORIES OF EVERYONE’S EXPERIENCES IN BOOT CAMP, I CAN RELATE TO MANY OF THE THESE STORIES. I WENT THROUGH PI IN ’65 AND VIET NAM IN ’66- 67. I KNOW THAT I WOULDN’T BE HERE IF IT WASN’T FOR THE TRAINING I RECEIVED IN PI AND LATER AT CAMP GEIGER AND CAMP PENDLETON. I WAS IN THE 3RD BLT IN PI, PLT 3027. OUR DI’S WERE; SGT. MOORE, SGT. MCKINNON AND SGT RAMSEY.

Bill Miller - June 13, 2020

I would have given a semi month’s pay for a good chaw in boot camp. I was at mcrdpi “57-58 2nd bn. No chewing tobacco in base px so I bought some cigars not to smoke but to chew. When the smoking lamp was lit and all the smokers were a smoking, I was a chewing. Not quite the same as the real thing but you know what they say about any port in a storm. Semper Fi.

Marilyn Gerhardt - June 13, 2020

I don’t have any wild stories from my days as a Woman Marine. But, I can tell you that the Corps prepared me for the futurel. Eventually, I married a Marine at Camp Pendleton and raised 8 kids. Whenever anyone would ask the kids how come they had not served in the military, their quick answer was “We lived through a boot camp, already.”
LOL. My Marine and I had 50 years and 1 day together before his passing.

Jack Webb(Joe) - June 13, 2020

Arrived at MCRDSD 56 years ago today. Went in 5’10, 142, came out of boot camp 5’11, 190 solid. You might say I bulked up a little. I don’t remember the names of the original DI’s because about a month in we heard they got a little aggressive with a recruit and suddenly we have new DI! Lucky us , as you can imagine the new DI’s may have harbored some resentment toward us, but it’s all good, we all made it through fine. Funny story that my enlistment buddy and I, a couple of Oak Cliff boys who hadn’t grown up around firearms were the only 2(as far as I know), who qualified expert. The DI’s and boot camp helped me in life to be more disciplined, more organized, and to appreciate the opportunities this country has afforded me. Semper Fi!

Tom Shane - June 13, 2020

Memories of boot camp will never be forgotten, along with the others. People don’t understand what these mean to fellow Marines. I had a former Marines wife ask me how it was we always recognized each other no matter where we were. Once a Marine always a Marine! If you can cut the CORPS, you can cut anything.

chuck seward - June 13, 2020

thank you for being a DI, it had to be very rewarding and like I said, it was an honor to be trained by my two DI’s which were the greatest Marine”s i’ve ever met.

chuck seward - June 13, 2020

that be me

chuck seward - June 13, 2020

John, you are the first contact from my plt.in 56 years. If you have your plt. picture, where are you in the pic. What have you been doing all these years? Please contact me.

Sgt Angelo J Manos - June 13, 2020

I don’t think any D.I. ever failed doing their jobs.Life can throw a lot of curve balls at you for whatever reason.I can credit my drill instructors,SSGT Brown,SGT J.I.Justice,and SGT Pornavetts for making me look adversity straight in the eye and say That ain’t sh#t.

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