Military Personnel leaving the Service in Record Numbers

[BountyHunter]

When asked why? They replied:

"When I joined the military is was illegal to be homosexual.

Then it became optional.

I am getting out before Obama makes it mandatory!"


**** glad I am retired now!

BH

 

[roaddog1m]

Kind of reminds me of the movie "Stripes".

Q: "Are you a homosexual?"
A: "No but we're willing to learn."

I guess it was ahead of it's time!

 

[iggy]

As the saying goes "It is legal...but not compulsory". Retiring from the Air force Reserve in 2 weeks

 

[Chas1]

Glad I was in and out before the BS started.

 

[1/2 slam]

Amen to that Chas1. If boot camp today were as tough as it was in the 60's or early 70's we wouldn't have gay's in the military. Semper fi

 

[retiredcpo]

1/2 slam
I could not agree more and you have no Idea.
I ran recruits for the last four years I was in
OMFG what a joke that has become.
more about their feelings than turning them into men

 

[Chas1]

retiredcpo, what years were you in the Corps? PI or SD?

 

[retiredcpo]

chas1
was in the Navy
went to sd in 84 and left 2005
I ran recruits in great lakes my last duty station

 

[Chas1]

retiredcpo, sounds like you had quite a few years in the Navy, thank you for those years of service. I went through Boot Camp in Parris Island 70' and it was exactly like what you see in the opening barracks scene of the movie FMJ...it's not that way anymore. My son went through in '93...and I went to PI the day before and day of his graduation and man has it changed, a whole lot milder. Still I think IMHO Boot Camp often finishes the job not finished at home.

 

[1/2 slam]

Chas1, I went into boot camp in '68' and was one of the first ones at the recieving barracks to form a new platoon. It took two days to reach the desired number of " boy's" (70) for our new platoon. Those two days were spent cleaning and scrubing the barracks with no sleep. The DI's never let up, we were yelled at, cussed at and if you reacted wrong you were greeted with a fist. Everyone was scared to death and did exactly as they were told, no questions asked, it was just YES SIR! The first Sunday every boot went to Sunday Services because that was the only hour you got when you didn't have a DI breathing down your neck. The Sunday Services were dedicated that morning to a recruit that had died on a run that week. Reality started setting in and everyone's thinking "Oh ****" this is for real. Not your sheltered home life anymore. We did what we were told, when were were told no questions asked. We dropped boys out of the platoon that were to heavy or couldn't pass the obstacle course or couldn't climp the rope and added others as our training progressed. Our platoon became a cohesive unit. If you were a trouble maker or a winer you got a blanket party in the middle of the night. All the baby fat disappeared and was replaced with muscle, grit, respect and determination. 70 boys started out and about 60 proud, young men graduated. Sorry about the rant, but I can't imagine serving with gay', spoiled brats or winers, they don't belong in the military.

 

[retiredcpo]

1/2
I aggree they dont belong but sadly they are not only in but taking over
have a blanket party in boot camp now and congress will investigate
and the DI will fry even if he knew nothing about it
sunday services takes 2/3rds of the day and really the only reason most go is to hook up with the female recruits.

 

[Chas1]

1/2 Slam, so true, your post brings back memories. PI 70' arrived 2am, my bunch must have been the last few they needed to form up as by 8am we were issued gear and introduced to our DI's. Church...it was the only way to escape the madness for 1 hour. Most folks don't realize it but in Marine boot camp there's no free time was so ever period. The DI's are with you 24/7, except for Church everything was by the numbers. When they said there was only one way on and off PI and that's through the gate they weren't kidding. I remember 3 recruits went AWOL on the 2nd or 3rd night, early the next morning the choppers went up and they found all 3 in the swamp out behind the rifle range. 2 alive, one dead from rifle range live fire, I guess before anyone knew they were out there. Our platoon started with 88, 40 graduated. My DI's were Carr, Conant and Vinson, any chance one of them was one of your DI's?

 

[1/2 slam]

Chas1, Did you add recruits to your platoon as your training progressed? We would drop one for different reasons but add some that had been dropped from other platoons. When they were up to par with the training schedule they would advance with the next platoon. My DI's were Gil, Elrod and Seagriff. Seagriff was the bad ***. He bought a German Shepard pup and kept it in our barracks at night. Revelry was at 0400 and you had to be fully dressed, racks made, barracks clean and ready to line up outside, all with no lights. We had to crawl around in the dark feeling for the piles of dog crap, and clean them up before inspection. I saw Seagriff hit a recruit in the jaw because he couldn't climp the rope. Broke his jaw then called for a medic and said he fell. I watched him grab a M-14 from a recruit that was marching out of step, hit him in the forehead with the steel butplate, split his skull open then call for the medics. He was an animal. I can see discipline but he was sadistic. DI's like him are why we have the boot camps of today.

 

[Chas1]

1/2 Slam, yah we'd drop a few here and there and other times we'd pick one up. A bunch went the DAB route...got to remember the draft was still in full swing and some of these guys didn't know there butt from their elbow but if you could breath and walk you were drafted. I remember we were in our 4th week(early phase 2) and we got this recruit sent to us who looked like walking death (been on PI 6 months so they said) guess they must have saw something in the guy and weren't going to give up on him. He didn't finish with us instead he was sent back to another platoon, I sometimes wonder what eventually became of him.

Oh the memories, bittersweet. Semper Fi.