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Relating to Discipline

Sgt Grit;

Recently there have been two letters relating to discipline for putting hands in pockets in boot camp. I just wanted to add my experience to the pot. But first let me give a little of my background:

I was drafted into the Marine Corps during the Korean conflict. At the height of the conflict there apparently were not enough volunteers to meet the need so the Corps resorted to the draft. The draft for the Marines started on 1 August 1951 and I was drafted on 6 August in Indianapolis Indiana and shipped by train to San Diego. We arrived at the receiving barracks late on Friday afternoon and slept there over night before being assigned to a platoon (228). On Saturday we were issued all of our clothing, bucket, etc. and instructed to dress in Utilities (the herringbone twill, solid green ones with stenciled logo on the pocket) and boon Dockers (rough out, ankle height). These utilities came from the manufacturer with a stiff paper tag stapled to each and every piece of cloth that went into the garment. We were told not to take off any of these tags until told to do so. We also had to pull our covers (caps) down to our ears, I guess to let everyone else know we were green boots. One day, after chow I had fallen back into formation while we waited for the stragglers and I reached into my pocket to remove one of those pesky staples that was digging into my leg with every step and my drill instructor saw me from some distance away. The punishment was for me to fill my pockets with sand, sew them shut and wear them that way until he told me I could empty them. After three days I quietly emptied my pockets and hoped he would not notice. Eventually he did notice but I explained that I understood it to be for three days and he let it go.

Even though I was drafted into the Marine Corps I was treated just like any other boot and later was given schooling, etc. just the same as if I had volunteered. That may have changed after the higher ups got wise to the fact that by the time these draftees finished with schooling they did not have enough time left to serve in Korea. However, I am just as Gung Ho as anybody else and maybe more so. I did not succeed in producing any Marine Corps children. I do have one son that is a graduate of the Naval Academy and is now a Navy Captain (25 years) at SHAPE Headquarters in Belgium and another son that is a helicopter pilot in the Army (20 years), I have two granddaughters at the US Naval Academy now and a grandson who is a Corporal in the Marine Corps at Quantico VA. So you see I really do have a military family, even if they are not all Marines.

One other thing: All this chatter about earning the “Eagle, Globe and Anchor”. I cannot remember ever hearing anything about that back in the early 50’s when I was in nor have I ever heard anything like that since until I started getting this newsletter. I never thought it was any big deal, they were simply emblems we wore on our uniforms. I don’t think the average person today treats it any different than that. I cannot see any problem with parents or relatives wearing these emblems in support of their Marine Corps service members.

SSgt Merton Bushong
(Active 1951-1953, Reserves -1959)

Previous article Lineage of the USMC Eagle, Globe and Anchor

Comments

Michael Hackett - April 1, 2020

While working at the Brig at KBay in about 1967, I had a young Corporal working for me. One day he was bitching about something in a humorous way and I responded, again with humor, “Shut Up! You volunteered for this!” He started laughing and informed me that he was a draftee – and he was telling the truth.

Jim Barber - April 1, 2020

SSgt Bushong. Would you be willing to submit your “sand in the pocket story” to possible inclusion in a 2nd edition of my book “SH*TBIRD! How I Learned to Love the Corps”? It is getting good reviews and it looks like another edition is possible. It has some very funny boot camp stories from old jarheads that weren’t all that funny when they were happening to us. If agreeable, send it to http://www.bootcampstories4@gmail.com along with your plt#, duty station (SD or PI), date of service and boot camp portrait if available. Also be specific that you are giving permission for all to be published. Semper Fi.

Joe Sanders Major, USMC Ret - April 1, 2020

I recall a conversation with a senior staff NCO, I think it was in 1957, about his experience in boot camp. He was not happy at all with how his platoon received their Globe and Anchors. It seems that the DI, after the recruits had been loaded into the back of a truck, threw the emblems into the back of the truck with them. The DI would not even call them Marines even though they had completed boot camp.

L. Ortiz - April 1, 2020

In reply to Michael (Andelman) Miller.
Are you sure you were in the Corps??? Never heard a Marine refer to the “Utility Uniform” as fatigues–the Army wore fatigues!!

Henry Young - April 1, 2020

L. Ortiz, I whole heartedly agree with you…. I spent 51/2 years in the Corps and I’ve always worn utility’s, never dungarees… Semper Fi bro….. L/Cpl H. Young 64/69, Rvn 65/66/69.

Ken Bougher - April 1, 2020

In reply to David S. Martinez.
I too was drafted into the USMC in 1969 at Youngstown Ohio. They took 7 out of 80 the month of March for induction into the USMC. The definition of sole surviving son was the only son of a veteran who perished while on active duty. I was an only child in the immediate family but that did not qualify as the sole surviving son definition.

Bob Rader - April 1, 2020

In reply to L. Ortiz.
We called them fatigues ’53-’56

Liam O’Connor – Kilo Co. SDI - April 1, 2020

The Eagle Globe and Anchor emblem – during my time as a Drill Instructor and Senior Drill Instructor with Kilo Company at MCRD San Diego; was presented to recruits on visitor’s Thursday (the day before Graduation)…handed out by the Drill Instructors. It is the first time the Recruits are referred to as “Marine”. I was a Hat from 2004-2007. I went through Boot Camp in 1995 – Alpha Co. Plt. 1121. We did not receive our EGAs until graduation day. It was important for me as a Recruit to receive that coveted emblem…it is a right of passage, a sense of accomplishment, and my membership card to the best damn gun club in the world! In much the same way, it was important for me as a Hat, to present that same emblem to those whom I personally transformed into Marines…a right of passage for those who had the intestinal fortitude to rise to such a challenge and privileged enough to make the cut. As a Drill Instructor – those were my most cherished days. Killing pigs in the sand pit was always a fun pastime, but the real honor was Making Marines. So much so, that if I had the chance to repeat any portion of my Marine Corps career – it would be my time on Special Duty Assignment as a Drill Instructor! …and I have caught a few Recruits in my time with their nasty little paws in there pockets. Let’s just say; the lesson was learned – real darn quick! *I think they were Fox Co. Recruits. 🙂 SSgt O’Connor, USMC 1995-2007. 5811/5815/8511 (0911). Semper Fi brothers and sisters!

sargintrock - April 1, 2020

They drafted in WW2 also!

GREGORY PAWLIK - April 1, 2020

Our receiving the eagle, globe and anchor – 1969 MCRDSD. The last week or two of boot camp our DI brought out an ironing board and an iron. We then brought forward our utility shirts and the stencils of the EGA USMC that would be ironed onto our breast pocket. Our utility covers had the emblem from the beginning, but looking back I considered this our emblem ceremony.

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