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Mess Duty

I wonder if any other Marine experienced this. I went through boot in the early 70s back when 1st Bn was in Quonset Huts. I had always thought San Diego was nice and sunny even in the winter but if you went through boot around December until March you realize how cold it can get when the breeze comes in from the Ocean. Several recruits in my platoon, myself included, had really bad cold bordering on Pneumonia. To get to gist of my story when the platoon pulled mess duty the Di’s had us swipe stuff from the mess hall. I remember seeing a case of steaks and hams loaded into the back of the Di’s car. I often wondered if this was a test to see whether or not us lowly recruits would obey orders and pilfer food or if it was just plain theft brought on by the recruits fear of punishment if they did not obtain the requested items. Did anyone else experience this? On another note the platoon next to us swiped a sheet cake and disposed of the cake pan in a dumpster. They paid for that. Severely!
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Comments

Sgt L.D. Osborne,, 63-67 - March 27, 2020

If you remember, the 6th Marines did some serious requisitioning of M 1 Garands from the Army during the fighting in the islands during WW II. Worked better than the Johnsons. Was it stealing or just good supply methods?

Richard King - March 27, 2020

Damn it Marines do not steal…we acquire the equipment we need. My heart goes out to Cpl Snow…US Army in Desert Storm, we needed a trailer for Sta platoon, so I took my Police Sgt and company clerk to an army depot, we told the we need fuel and supplies, while I chatted up the Army Supply Sgt, my Two Marines went found a trailer and hooked it up. They picked me up with the supplies I got and we left. When we returned to the cp I told the to unload the trailer and paint over the numbers…about 15 minutes later, the clerk come to and says Gunny you need to see this, what we had was a sea bag full of 782 gear, all marked P. Snow, sets of BDU’s, personal gear, two cases of 81mm WP, two cases of K Rates (large tins of different meals that feeds 10, supposedly). All I could think about, as we gave the mortar rounds to weapons company and divide up the gear and chow…was that morning some Cpl is on the spot because he lost his gear. As we wound down the motor t officer came over and said…Gunny we can’t turn that trailer in, it’s not on our equipment list….so we gave it back to the Army….sort of, thank you Lcpl * and Cpl ****** ( names deleted to protect the guilty) GySgt King.

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