Late Arrival At MCRDSD

All the letters about boot camp and DI's have me on memory lane of late. Of course my favorite is waking up after the late arrival at MCRDSD. I'm guessing we hit the rack about 3:00 AM and reveille was at 4:00 AM. My first thought upon waking was I've really messed up this time, only messed up was not the exact term I used. Funny, I remember thinking the same thought before we hit the rack.

The DI's lined us up in platoon columns and we half azsed marched over to this little yellow building where the DI's stopped us. The platoon discovered that this building will be forever known as the head. The command that the DI gave will forever be engrained in my brain. "Platoon 3059 get in the sh-tter" I don't think it registered with us right away but after the usual "Sir, Platoon 3059, get in the sh-tter, aye, aye sir" (which we screwed up a few times before we could say it in unison). Suddenly 75 guys are sprinting to the head, trying like h-ll to fit the entire platoon into those double doors. Ramming and jamming each other we were on a very urgent #1 or #2 mission.

Finally, we were all inside for maybe 20 seconds trying to complete our mission when we heard a call from the DI outside "Platoon 3059, get out of the sh-tter". We looked at each other with that WTF look on our faces as half of the guys hadn't gotten their mission accomplished. Again, 75 guys ramming and jamming through those double doors to get into formation.

That, my Marine friends will recall, was the start of the first day of 8 weeks of an experience we will never forget.

Kim B. Swanson
9th MAB
RVN '67-'68