Werner Schmidt
Enterprise Networking and Security Expert

Boot Camp

Our youngest son graduated from boot camp at MCRD in San Diego! I have to congratulate the US Marine Corps on a job well done. We really enjoyed being there two days. The first day was a family day and was by far my favorite. The second day was the actual graduation. It was a brilliant decision to do it that way. During family day we got to meet him, converse and basically get reacquainted with our son. It took all the pressure off graduation day as we had already seen him the day before.

During family day we got just a small taste from the DI (Drill Instructor) of what their life was like and learned several new vocabulary words:
- Deck (floor)
- Bulkhead (wall)
- Portal (window)
- Cover (hat)
- Latrines (toilet)
- MRE (Meals Ready to Eat)

We learned about the sacred ground of the Parade Deck. We kept an ever watchful eye just waiting for someone to make the mistake and to see what happens to them. We were assured that there is good medical assistance on base to take care of the resultant injuries.

We also were trained on how to respond to various commands:
- Eyes: Stop in your tracks, look at the DI, say “Freeze Sir”
- Ears: Listen and say “Open Sir”
The rest has been removed from my memory.

We got a taste of an accelerated countdown (funny how fast a countdown goes from 100 when the 60s, 50s and 40s are skipped!) and how repeatedly folks in our group didn’t listen properly to the commands and us family folks had to do them over and over again.

My favorite part of all though was during their liberty from 1-5 p.m. We watched our son eat almost continuously. During his first three weeks we found out he had lost 16 pounds. Now, keep in mind he was fit and trim to begin with. He didn’t have 16 pounds to lose. He eventually got double rations, the biggest benefit of which was getting first in line and therefore more seconds to eat. We learned they had to eat with spoons to alleviate stabs to the mouth. We watched him eat a large lunch with second helpings of chicken and bread at a local restaurant on base, then pizza slices, ice cream, muffins, cookies, candy and protein bars. He had to sit whenever his mouth was chewing, as walking and eating are not allowed. We watched in fascination as the covers were constantly removed and put back on by him and all the men as they entered and left buildings. That evening, after all the binge eating from the men we did hear that there were issues with the latrines getting backed up that night at the base.

It was great to see a slice of America, most uplifting actually. I had a blast just people watching. There are two bases for the Marine Corps for boot camp training - MCRD in San Diego serves the West coast, mostly west of the Mississippi and then another base for the East coast. MCRD is only for men and the other base is for men and women. There were plenty of people from California and out of state, especially Texas. The uplifting part was seeing professionals and regular families from across the nation all with sons who are voluntarily serving for this nation. They all had a certain gait and air about them. Their smiles and the families were just priceless. It just felt different there.

In terms of graduation day, they graduate by company and over 500 graduate every week from MCRD San Diego. In case you didn’t know, the recruits pay for almost everything (toiletries, clothes, uniforms, boots, sea bags, etc.) They even had to buy the medal they received on graduation. They are fed and housed, of course, and do get their monthly pay, but there are no hand-outs. Everything is either earned and purchased.

We also got to learn something new about our youngest son, something we never observed before. We learned how
clever and creative he can be to adjusting and adapting to his environment. I’ll give a few short samples. At one point everyone takes off their shoes, throws them in a pile and then later you have to grab them quickly for a run or whatever they did. Our son said guys would be running around with two different sized shoes on. He said he learned to tie his shoe laces together very quickly before tossing them in the pile, guaranteeing him a matched set! Another time before a big multiple day hike, they had to pack rations with MREs but had to remove any candy (e.g. Skittles) from the MREs. Many of them removed more than the candy and got rid of muffins and other related snacks. He saw the pile they had built, grabbed the allowed snack items and stashed them in his bag. Later he shared with his teammates and then was able to hold his MREs until the latter days. On a major uphill hike where he excelled, he was going so fast that he caught up with the other group in front of his. He was hoping to get an apple from that group and then wait for his and get another. That plan didn’t work, but still creative. Lesson being there’s a difference between doing what’s said or needed and knowing how to adjust to what’s still allowed and yields better results. Perhaps a lesson there in being compliant versus being secure.

Now he’s off again, this time for infantry training in Camp Pendleton. We were able to visit him on base last weekend. We don’t know yet exactly what will happen during Thanksgiving or even if we’ll get to see him for Christmas. We’re on military time now and always subject to orders and change. We were actually looking forward to having Thanksgiving on the base with the men. We won’t know until we know, to that we’ve adapted.