RTC San Diego

[gray eagle]

I went to BC at RTC Sandy Eggo in '63. This is a video of how it looks now and sad to it go away and how some of the old barracks are in disarray.

The old asphalt grinder is gone, is now a grass field.

I see that the only Navy boot camp is Great Lakes and noticed how the curriculum has really changed.

The "Company Commanders" are now RDC's (Recruit Division Commanders). You address them as Chief _ _ _ _ or Petty Officer _ _ _ _ (Not Sir, like the old days.)

and you have to first pre-qual for a 1.5 mile run before you can go to week one of training. No rifles drills like there was. No washing clothes by hand like I did.

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/navy-boot-camp-4057224

Here is the vid on RTC SD now.

 

[MrZippy]

Good ol' Navy Boot Camp in Sandy Eggo. Was there in April '68. Washed clothes, stood clothesline watch, did 3 days of service week in the mess hall scullery, and then was lucky enough to be picked for the Color Guard unit that was front and center for every graduation ceremony, including my own. Been there recently to have lunch at one of the great sandwich places. Some of the old buildings are still there but much has changed.

Boy, do I remember walking under this sign!

 

[gray eagle]

Good ol' Navy Boot Camp in Sandy Eggo. Was there in April '68. Washed clothes, stood clothesline watch, did 3 days of service week in the mess hall scullery, and then was lucky enough to be picked for the Color Guard unit that was front and center for every graduation ceremony, including my own. Been there recently to have lunch at one of the great sandwich places. Some of the old buildings are still there but much has changed.

Boy, do I remember walking under this sign!

Yeah buddy!!! I remember doing all that stuff you mentioned too. Glad I didn't smoke. One dude got caught (by cc) and had to eat his unfiltered camels.
Did you toss your scrub (kiyi) brush to the roof of your barracks during your last days there? I wonder if any can be found on those roofs. After all those years, probably not.

After BC, I was at Miramar but never had any reason to go to the RTC there but was close to the Base there.

Do you still have your yearbook? The Anchor? I misplaced my copy but was very lucky to find excate copy of it on Ebay. It even has that 33 1/3 plastic record in the back.\\

Remember the rifle drill "butts muzzles butts chest" - you would take grab your rifle with both hands and reach out away from you and then pull the riffle back toward your chest.

Rinse and repeat...

That was one of the drills we did to marching music during graduation day. Fun stuff.......

 

[MrZippy]

No need to do the quote for this post. Yeah, Butch, I still have my Anchor yearbook! I still look as stupid and bald as ever! Don't remember the scrub brush. It was just there on the washstand outside by the clothesline. After being chosen for the Color Guard, I never touched that rifle again except to turn it in. In fact, I never did anything with the company again except to sleep in my rack and stand whatever watch was assigned.

Dems were da days!

 

[fsafranek]

I did my time in Army armor at Fort Knox, Kentucky but I live in the San Diego area and find myself near Liberty Station a lot.

This was a very cool tour of the facility. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Willy]

I went to Boot at RTC Orlando in '74. Last I heard it's all gone and is a city park now.

 

[PhantomTweak]

And I went to boot at MCRD San Diego, right next door. Yes, I'm a Hollywood Marine
HUGE grinder, "General's House" (actually, just a name for the Admin offices), as seen on the album cover for Hotel California, at one end, Base chapel at the other.

Had a Navy recruit try to jump the fence to go AWOL. Unfortunately, the Marine MPs caught him. It was the fence between the two bases. He had automatically just joined the Marine Corps. Threw away all his Navy clothing, uniforms, tennis shoes, sweats, all of it, and got his Marine issue gear. Needless to say, he was a "little upset". He went on to graduate, though...

Heck of a 3 months we had there...

Co. A, Plt. 1058, 1st Squad...
Pat☺

 

[MrZippy]

What year, Pat?

 

[PhantomTweak]

What year, Pat?

1978, Zippy. I hit July 17, and graduated Oct. 21, IIRC. I was just so happy that I could wear the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, and that I could finally go see my girlfriend back at her home in Atherton, that I wasn't paying much attention

Drill Instructors were SSgt. Jackson (senior), SSgt. Jorden, and SSgt. Morrow.
Morrow was a total drunkard. He drank 2 bottles of Listerine just before we went out for graduation, and was drunk during the ceremonies. The other two quietly snuck him out before the troop-n-stomp.
We Were SSgt. Jackson's last platoon. He was done with Drill Instructor duty after we graduated. Was slated to go to Pendleton for Infantry duty. Sadly, he got a flat tire on that looooong road going to Camp Pen's main gate, and while he was changing it, a deuce-and-a-half ran him over. Killed him instantly.
Since we were his last platoon, we busted our tails, and took Initial Drill, and Practical, Rifle Range, and final Drill and Practical, as well as both PFT's. He was proud as a peacock when we went out for the Pass In Review, once we had graduated. Great way to drop off his final platoon ever.
Greatest voice I ever heard for calling cadence during drill practise. Simply incredible. What made it even more amazing was that he smoked like a chimney. Hadn't affected his voice, and he ran an 18 min PFT. He'd have another Drill Instructor hand him a lit cigarette at the 1/2 way, turn-around point, and would smoke it as he ran back. Never did figure that out!
SSgt. Jorden was a REAL character. He was within a few months of his 30 year retirement. He'd been in Viet Nam 3 or 4 times, we never got the whole story. When he wore all his ribbons, medals, and badges, he had a full set on the left side, and over a half set over on the right. That's a LOT. So many Service Stripes they went all the way up to the bottom of his stripes...
He also had a "house of ill repute" in Oceanside, and offered to get any of the Cherry Boys in the platoon laid for free after graduation. We had a few, too, that took him up on the offer.
When we were at the Rifle Range up at Pendleton, I saw him hold a shooter's M16A1, which he hated as much as we had come to, in one hand, like a pistol, and stand there and put 5 rounds into a 3 inch group, on the 500 yard line. We were all awestruck. The shooter had claimed his rifle had something wrong, causing it to shoot all over the place. Jorden put paid to that little excuse. He threw the rifle back to the shooter, like he would have during a Inspection Arms drill, and just walked away again.
The guy (not from our platoon, BTW) found a live round later while they were out doing brass pickup, put it in his rifle, and blew himself away. Took out most of his entire chest and abdomen. Nasty!

Quite a bunch, but, after we graduated, we could look back and realize how well they taught us.

Sorry, I babble, as usual...
I shut up now.
Pat☺

 

[MrZippy]

Young, punk kid! In 1978, I had been out for 6 year and working my butt off like a true civilian

 

[PhantomTweak]

Hey, I never claimed to be older than dirt, like you are Zippy!

I yam what's I yam, and that's all what I yam, If I can borrow a quote.

Amd before I went to boot, I was working. Since I was 14 I'd been working. Granted the military was a trifle bit more difficult work than I was used to...
Have fun, all!
Pat☺

 

[n4gix]

Did y'all enjoy the junk on the bunk inspections? The Army DI's hit us up with that more than once during basic.

 

[MrZippy]

Ah! "Things on the Springs". I think we had only one of those in Boot Camp!

 

[PhantomTweak]

We had them 3 times, once in First Phase, once at ITS, which was Second Phase, but up at Pendleton, with all our combat gear, and once in Third Phase, back at MCRD.
Tough, but since everything had just been issued, really, not that bad. Some boots had been damaged, some utilities, whether cammies or sateens, damaged, etc, but the Drill Instructors made sure we all had everything we needed, and in proper condition. Marked, tailored, etc. No-one had any rank insigniae, or Eagle, Globe, and Anchors that needed repainting or touch-up work, etc. We weren't authorized to wear any of that until graduation. Only exceptions were on the uniform items, like the various shirt pockets, covers, etc, where we had to iron on the insiniae. Those the Drill Instructors measured 12 ways from Sunday, to make sure they were perfect. Each and every recruit, each and every item. If they weren't, that item went into your sea bag, and you went and got another, new, one, and did it again. I wound up giving my parents 3 sateen shirts for my dad to wear working on their vehicles.
The better we looked, and did, they better they looked and did. They wanted us to be as perfect as possible, and 2 of them had the experience to do it.

By the way, we never, ever, shortened Drill Instructor to "DI". We had drilled into our heads that "DI" stood for "Dumb Idiots". If you got caught saying it, you PAID for it. As bad as answering one of them with "Yeah, man" instead of "SIR, YES, SIR!"...

Then I had 2 others, during the two IG inspection Yuma had when I was there. Not any tougher, but a lot more expensive. "Where did I put that...". Getting all the little bits and pieces, uniform items that had worn out or been damaged, etc etc. All came out of pockets that were just making ends meet, especially those with families. A lot of loans went out during those...

Plus, we had the barracks, AND our work areas, that had to scrubbed, painted, dusted, arranged etc etc. Made IG's that much harder once we were "out in the Fleet".

Have fun, all!
Pat☺

 

[n4gix]

Pat, we never referred to them as "DI" even in private. God help the recruit who failed to address the Senior Drill Instructor as "Senior Drill Instructor" as well.

Back in 1967 every DI had the CIB after multiple tours in 'Nam, and they were a proud and scary bunch of guys!

I did notice that after the first month and thereafter that they seemed to not yell nearly as much. During the last two weeks they even softened up enough to almost resemble normal humans.

One day I was on restricted duty after sick call that morning (mild symptoms of flu) so I was instructed to remain in barracks and sweep, wax and buff the floors. When the platoon returned later that afternoon, I was sitting on the floor trying to get the buffer running again. It had suddenly stopped and refused to start again.

My Drill Instructor yelled out "What are you doing with that buffer!" I told him what had happened and that I was trying to determine why it stopped working. He looked over the situation then yelled back, "There's a knot in the cord you stupid dumbass recruit! It won't let the electricity through! he shouted."

I tried hard not to roll my eyes, but he must have seen me out of his left ear or something. He unplugged the buffer, took the knot of the cord and plugged it back in. Of course it now ran perfectly.

I figured out later that one of the wires was broken right where the knot was and the curve pulled the break apart enough to break contact. Removing the knot and the tension on the wire allowed the electricity to flow again. I figured out that I'd best not poke the bear further so kept my mouth shut.

 

[PhantomTweak]

Sounds like a non-electrician/E-Tech.
I just explain to them that it's magic. 2 kinds, Advanced Magic, and Friggen (you get the idea) Magic.

Still, a recruit NEVER argued/back-talked a Drill Instructor. Not more than once anyway!
Just say "SIR, YES SIR!" and go on and do what you're told. It backfires it's on them, whether they admit (they wouldn't) it, or not. Just part-n-parcel of being a Marine Recruit, below the lowest fecal matter, etc etc.

My Senior did, once, near graduation, during an Oral Health class, tell me that he was going remove his cover, and turn around, and he expected a little bird to S%^& a cigarette in his cover. It did, too!
Amazing, what those little birds could do...

After graduation, you can always pull the "with all due respect, SSgt, F*** YOU!" thing, but most of us just wanted to get on with our lives, and never see these guys again. We didn't either

Have fun, everyone!
Pat☺