Where the hell did Pvt. Pyle get a rifle from?
- Thread starter Strikerkc
- Start date
I watched that again last night, I wanna say they did that back in the day at Ft. Benning, maybe others, I could ask my mother but somebody will chime in sooner I bet (yeah, she wore combat boots too). I do know there was a crazy guy/guy trying to get out who stole ammo in basic and shot up the barracks when nobody was in it. Instead of getting kicked out, they strip searched him after every range, my dad recalls them doing it at the grenade range because if he got one of THOSE back in the barracks, then damn. Anyway, he had to be escorted and other shit; ended up going straight to Vietnam.
My fucking roomie when I got to first unit was trying to get kicked out. He joined at 17 and had the mind of a spoiled ten year old. He wasn't very smart either. This kid got the SAW as a punishment and so he stocked up a couple drums under his bed. He also managed to get a few arty sims. Visions of a barracks sniper went through everyone's mind. He could have fucked up two companies at once from the third floor too.
Fucker stole NODs and fucked a 14yo major's daughter. Stole a bike and a rifle and some NODs and went AWOL from a training exercise. Threw the NODs in the first dumpster he came to out of the woods. He did a bunch of other shit, ended up in Levenworth because he couldn't stop jacking off at the female guards in lockup at Ft. Lewis. One of them was my friend's ex wife, and I almost feel bad for the guy having to jack it over her, all considered...
Sometimes firearms are brought into the barracks for certain reasons, for cleaning when it's super shitty outside (but Starship barracks have the formation area underneath, so it stays dry). We NEVER did it during basic, but we always brought our weapons into our rooms when we drew them at my first unit. You weren't supposed to but each one is different. For cleaning, before deployment, before training, afterwards, etc. They weren't too big on us doing it, but never made an effort to stop us. Ammo was a big no-no though.
My fucking roomie when I got to first unit was trying to get kicked out. He joined at 17 and had the mind of a spoiled ten year old. He wasn't very smart either. This kid got the SAW as a punishment and so he stocked up a couple drums under his bed. He also managed to get a few arty sims. Visions of a barracks sniper went through everyone's mind. He could have fucked up two companies at once from the third floor too.
Fucker stole NODs and fucked a 14yo major's daughter. Stole a bike and a rifle and some NODs and went AWOL from a training exercise. Threw the NODs in the first dumpster he came to out of the woods. He did a bunch of other shit, ended up in Levenworth because he couldn't stop jacking off at the female guards in lockup at Ft. Lewis. One of them was my friend's ex wife, and I almost feel bad for the guy having to jack it over her, all considered...
Sometimes firearms are brought into the barracks for certain reasons, for cleaning when it's super shitty outside (but Starship barracks have the formation area underneath, so it stays dry). We NEVER did it during basic, but we always brought our weapons into our rooms when we drew them at my first unit. You weren't supposed to but each one is different. For cleaning, before deployment, before training, afterwards, etc. They weren't too big on us doing it, but never made an effort to stop us. Ammo was a big no-no though.
At PI we cable locked our rifles at the end of our racks. They hang nicely on a GI bunk.
They were always available for at anytime the DI decided we needed some motivational drill.
At lights out we would recite the Riflemans Creed or sing the Marine Corps Hymn while either laying at port arms or position of attention. This would usually be after "Skuzz brushes, get'em"
At a few seconds prior to designated lights out the DI would have us secure the rifles with our cable and Master dial lock. You were issued three locks, one for the locker, one for your seabag and one for the rifle. All had the same combination. A DI finding an unsecured lock was a bad time.
Because we had access to our rifles its for reason that they shake you down thoroughly when leaving the rifle range to prevent live ammo being available in the barracks.
Kubrick did his homework.
I went in at a time when every second of a recruits existence was scheduled.
I read a letter from a Marine that was in PI during the early 50s. It seemed like the recruits would train than get some unstructured time. One of the letters mentioned recruits sitting on the steps of their barracks smoking in the evening and two recruits got in a bayonet fight. Such freedom was not my experience.
They were always available for at anytime the DI decided we needed some motivational drill.
At lights out we would recite the Riflemans Creed or sing the Marine Corps Hymn while either laying at port arms or position of attention. This would usually be after "Skuzz brushes, get'em"
At a few seconds prior to designated lights out the DI would have us secure the rifles with our cable and Master dial lock. You were issued three locks, one for the locker, one for your seabag and one for the rifle. All had the same combination. A DI finding an unsecured lock was a bad time.
Because we had access to our rifles its for reason that they shake you down thoroughly when leaving the rifle range to prevent live ammo being available in the barracks.
Kubrick did his homework.
I went in at a time when every second of a recruits existence was scheduled.
I read a letter from a Marine that was in PI during the early 50s. It seemed like the recruits would train than get some unstructured time. One of the letters mentioned recruits sitting on the steps of their barracks smoking in the evening and two recruits got in a bayonet fight. Such freedom was not my experience.
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Not when I went thru basic (Army) in 1964, they were in racks in the middle of the barracks and were never locked. Ammo was easy to get as well.
we had our rifles at all times in boot camp(97') same as pmclaine. i cannot say i remember cable locking them to the rack but maybe we did. in reality what went down with private pile could very easily happen in reality during rifle range.
Hate to say it but people were expected to be responsible than and they were held accountable if they weren't.
People knew the repercussions were severe so they did the right thing.
Soldiers should have access to their weapons.
People knew the repercussions were severe so they did the right thing.
Soldiers should have access to their weapons.
Fair enough. The movie certainly made it seem like they had 24/7 access; only folks I had around to ask in person went through that stuff in the last decade, so they turned in each night (and were air force any ways 
)
Thank you much All. .
)Thank you much All. .
In the Fleet rifles were kept in the armory and you had to check them out with your weapons card. Weapons generally were only checked out by unit not by a single guy showing up asking for his 16.
Personal weapons were also supposed to be secured in the armory.
I lived on base, open squad bay existence, Camp Geiger.
Others experience may differ.
Personal weapons were also supposed to be secured in the armory.
I lived on base, open squad bay existence, Camp Geiger.
Others experience may differ.
According to an interview Ermey did a few years ago...
He was a DI t San Diego at a very tough time in the Vietnam War. Basic had been shortened because they needed to move Marines out and into the field faster than at any time since WW2. They had bad morale, bad attrition overseas, draftees in the Corps for the first time (before, it was Volunteer only), and the DI's knew they were sending a lot of kids out to be cannon-fodder. He said that the DI's were unbelieveably tough because they simply did not have time to teach. They were 'hands-on' which was not the practice in peacetime (In other words, they would beat the hell out of non-hackers) and were simply cutting corners. Recruits slept with riflles... because that's what they would have to do when got to RVN.
On a 'movie' note, the Parris Island scenes that Kubrick shot were something of a breakthrough in movies. Putting both the actors and the audience through a cathartic 'basic' training before telling the 'war movie' story. Though The Boys in Company C had also done something like that previously. Kubrick took it to a new level. And it's now pretty 'standard' to put actors through a boot camp. Kubrick hired Ermey because of his DI background and basically left him un-scripted. They followed him around with a steady-cam for a couple of weeks, putting the actors through the mill. Actors were scripted. Ermey was often not. The 'opening scene' (I am Gunnery Sergeant Heartman your Senior Drill Instructor..." was totally unrehearsed. He went on for something like 1/2 hour like that and then Kubrick cut together the best parts. Ermey had total technical control of the entire first part of the movie Full Metal Jacket. So recruits sleeping with their rifles.... was how they did it at San Diego, if not PI.
It's an interesting movie on many levels....
The Vietnam scenes were filmed, BTW, in Northern Ireland. In wrecked buildings. Kubrick flew in the palm trees, had them planted, and then removed them all after the filming. No CGI back then. Just tons of palm trees on transport planes.
My favorite Ermey movie, however, remains "The Siege of Firebase Gloria." Absolutely great flick.
Cheers,
Sirhr
He was a DI t San Diego at a very tough time in the Vietnam War. Basic had been shortened because they needed to move Marines out and into the field faster than at any time since WW2. They had bad morale, bad attrition overseas, draftees in the Corps for the first time (before, it was Volunteer only), and the DI's knew they were sending a lot of kids out to be cannon-fodder. He said that the DI's were unbelieveably tough because they simply did not have time to teach. They were 'hands-on' which was not the practice in peacetime (In other words, they would beat the hell out of non-hackers) and were simply cutting corners. Recruits slept with riflles... because that's what they would have to do when got to RVN.
On a 'movie' note, the Parris Island scenes that Kubrick shot were something of a breakthrough in movies. Putting both the actors and the audience through a cathartic 'basic' training before telling the 'war movie' story. Though The Boys in Company C had also done something like that previously. Kubrick took it to a new level. And it's now pretty 'standard' to put actors through a boot camp. Kubrick hired Ermey because of his DI background and basically left him un-scripted. They followed him around with a steady-cam for a couple of weeks, putting the actors through the mill. Actors were scripted. Ermey was often not. The 'opening scene' (I am Gunnery Sergeant Heartman your Senior Drill Instructor..." was totally unrehearsed. He went on for something like 1/2 hour like that and then Kubrick cut together the best parts. Ermey had total technical control of the entire first part of the movie Full Metal Jacket. So recruits sleeping with their rifles.... was how they did it at San Diego, if not PI.
It's an interesting movie on many levels....
The Vietnam scenes were filmed, BTW, in Northern Ireland. In wrecked buildings. Kubrick flew in the palm trees, had them planted, and then removed them all after the filming. No CGI back then. Just tons of palm trees on transport planes.
My favorite Ermey movie, however, remains "The Siege of Firebase Gloria." Absolutely great flick.
Cheers,
Sirhr
Watched all those movies. FMJ was pretty authentic, but the idea that a Boot Private could get live ammo off the range is very unlikely. Co C was pretty good until they went down the Soccer Game rabbit hole. Again, unlikely with line troops, too valuable elsewhere. Fire Base Gloria, OK movie, not high on my list, and my memory if it has become very dim.
I was a Draftee Marine. My Boot Platoon (246/1966) had 15-20 of us, they called us The Gangsters from Newark NJ. Which we were anything but. We were all pretty squared away. I made PFC out of Boot, there were meritorious promos in the Platoon. One of my Junior DI's, Sgt Al Kent, went on to become Gunner Kent, National Commander of the VFW.
I have no (ZERO) memory of my M-14 being secured in any way in the squad bay. It was not racked, either. Best I an recall, it was stowed in my wall locker when not being handled with authorization and/or orders. Our wall lockers were not locked. Nobody wanted to go through DI Hell by messing with anything in an unauthorized manner.
Our DI's were hands off. There had been a very recent and very public incident where several DI's had been busted out of The Corps for physical punishment of recruits, and our DI's explained that they couldn't/wouldn't be doing anything of the kind, but that Squad Leaders would be required to fill in as instructed in that respect. I was the only Squad Leader who held that position from the beginning, all the way through to Graduation, which was the basis of my promo to PFC. I was not any kind of thug. Discipline was maintained by other means nearly always, usually by "Group Counseling", or in my Squad, by actually helping the recruit who was underperforming, and by providing him with a helper Buddy.
As above, our time was closely rationed, but squad Leaders has to do their own stuff and still find time for educating/motivating Squad members, which was why we went through a fair number of replacement Squad Leaders.
In Boot, the "I" in the English language was expunged, and replaced with "We". We learned that when you mess with a Marine, you're messing with all of them.
Greg
I was a Draftee Marine. My Boot Platoon (246/1966) had 15-20 of us, they called us The Gangsters from Newark NJ. Which we were anything but. We were all pretty squared away. I made PFC out of Boot, there were meritorious promos in the Platoon. One of my Junior DI's, Sgt Al Kent, went on to become Gunner Kent, National Commander of the VFW.
I have no (ZERO) memory of my M-14 being secured in any way in the squad bay. It was not racked, either. Best I an recall, it was stowed in my wall locker when not being handled with authorization and/or orders. Our wall lockers were not locked. Nobody wanted to go through DI Hell by messing with anything in an unauthorized manner.
Our DI's were hands off. There had been a very recent and very public incident where several DI's had been busted out of The Corps for physical punishment of recruits, and our DI's explained that they couldn't/wouldn't be doing anything of the kind, but that Squad Leaders would be required to fill in as instructed in that respect. I was the only Squad Leader who held that position from the beginning, all the way through to Graduation, which was the basis of my promo to PFC. I was not any kind of thug. Discipline was maintained by other means nearly always, usually by "Group Counseling", or in my Squad, by actually helping the recruit who was underperforming, and by providing him with a helper Buddy.
As above, our time was closely rationed, but squad Leaders has to do their own stuff and still find time for educating/motivating Squad members, which was why we went through a fair number of replacement Squad Leaders.
In Boot, the "I" in the English language was expunged, and replaced with "We". We learned that when you mess with a Marine, you're messing with all of them.
Greg
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Parris Island in '92 when I went through, your issued M16A2 was cable locked to the racks at night, both you and your rack mate had to know the combo for those two rifles. Each night the fire watch's duty was to check that all rifles were accounted for and locked coming on and going off post with their relief. Rifles were basically checked out of the armory in forming, and were cleaned and turned in a couple days before graduation, otherwise you didn't see the armory the whole time in boot camp unless you were marching past it for whatever reason. The same held true to when I worked the ranges there '96-'98.
As for ammo, that's one of those things you can easily come by if you wanted to, but it was far from easily accessible. All recruits were checked multiple times for ammo, every time you came off the line the coach checks that all rounds were expended, when leaving for the day recruits are searched by the Block NCO and had to make the verbal declaration "Recruit Schmuckatelly has no brass, trash, or saved rounds Sir!" (damn did I hear that line a LOT), then the drill instructors behind the range with a metal detector wand, then again by the hats when they get back to the squad bay. But, of course, if someone really wanted a round they could sneak one out, it's not like we were doing cavity searches there and even slipping one down the boot, where the eyelets set off a Garret wand anyhow, would work.
Going from memory here, not from any actual studies... Suicides at MCRD PI happen, same with MCRD SD, but they are typically hanging, jumping off the 3rd deck, or wrist slashing with their safety razor busted apart. The vast majority are attempts that are thwarted, in my two years at PI there seemed to be an attempt once or twice a month, one rare week a company at the ranges had two attempts and one successful in a week. But the shootings are usually more visible because they are successful. The only suicide by gunfire I remember in my two years there was one young man shot himself in the head on the firing line on the range next door to mine, all because he had just gone "UNQ" and being the star athlete his whole life until he picked up a rifle left him with little ability to deal with failure. He used a fellow recruit's rifle to do it, that guy on the firing line and the loop sling was still attached to his arm. Sad, really, but I talked to the young man and future grunt who's rifle he used the next day, gauging if he was going to be okay after catching a pink mist the day before, his response was "Fuck that POG, he went down like a bitch and I didn't like him anyhow." He went on to reshoot his 500yd stage, damn near cleaned it, and I'm sure he turned out just fine.
They also are at the ranges at about two months into training, kind of the witching hour for getting "Dear John" or "Bro, hate to tell you but your old lady is whoring all over town" letters, I can only imagine how bad it is these days when the girlfriends are really used to continuous communications and has probably never sent a letter in their life until their "Bae" flew off to become a man, instead signing up on Tinder and personifying good ol' Mary Jane Rotten-Crotch to the best of their abilities. Fucking sluts.
Enough of my ramblings, I have work to do...
As for ammo, that's one of those things you can easily come by if you wanted to, but it was far from easily accessible. All recruits were checked multiple times for ammo, every time you came off the line the coach checks that all rounds were expended, when leaving for the day recruits are searched by the Block NCO and had to make the verbal declaration "Recruit Schmuckatelly has no brass, trash, or saved rounds Sir!" (damn did I hear that line a LOT), then the drill instructors behind the range with a metal detector wand, then again by the hats when they get back to the squad bay. But, of course, if someone really wanted a round they could sneak one out, it's not like we were doing cavity searches there and even slipping one down the boot, where the eyelets set off a Garret wand anyhow, would work.
Going from memory here, not from any actual studies... Suicides at MCRD PI happen, same with MCRD SD, but they are typically hanging, jumping off the 3rd deck, or wrist slashing with their safety razor busted apart. The vast majority are attempts that are thwarted, in my two years at PI there seemed to be an attempt once or twice a month, one rare week a company at the ranges had two attempts and one successful in a week. But the shootings are usually more visible because they are successful. The only suicide by gunfire I remember in my two years there was one young man shot himself in the head on the firing line on the range next door to mine, all because he had just gone "UNQ" and being the star athlete his whole life until he picked up a rifle left him with little ability to deal with failure. He used a fellow recruit's rifle to do it, that guy on the firing line and the loop sling was still attached to his arm. Sad, really, but I talked to the young man and future grunt who's rifle he used the next day, gauging if he was going to be okay after catching a pink mist the day before, his response was "Fuck that POG, he went down like a bitch and I didn't like him anyhow." He went on to reshoot his 500yd stage, damn near cleaned it, and I'm sure he turned out just fine.
They also are at the ranges at about two months into training, kind of the witching hour for getting "Dear John" or "Bro, hate to tell you but your old lady is whoring all over town" letters, I can only imagine how bad it is these days when the girlfriends are really used to continuous communications and has probably never sent a letter in their life until their "Bae" flew off to become a man, instead signing up on Tinder and personifying good ol' Mary Jane Rotten-Crotch to the best of their abilities. Fucking sluts.
Enough of my ramblings, I have work to do...
good write ups, gents...
san diego, our rifles in the 80's were in outbord rifle racks behind our racks in the squadbay... we locked them with a cable and master lock...firewatch inventoried rifles coming on duty...
"fuck that POG, he went down like a bitch", fuckin love it...
san diego, our rifles in the 80's were in outbord rifle racks behind our racks in the squadbay... we locked them with a cable and master lock...firewatch inventoried rifles coming on duty...
"fuck that POG, he went down like a bitch", fuckin love it...
ICT. Sitting on the old runway in formation. Tried to hide my MRE caramels under my boot after the SDI said he wanted any caramels recruits got in their meal.
I almost pushed the earth off its 23.5 degree access for that.
I almost pushed the earth off its 23.5 degree access for that.
My Dear Johns arrived while was in 'Nam, maybe 3 months in...
...All three of them...
I came home a completely free man...
Sorry, Ladies; you had your chance...
Two years later, I married the Girl Next Door.
Tuesday, we will be married 47 years.
Greg
...All three of them...
I came home a completely free man...
Sorry, Ladies; you had your chance...
Two years later, I married the Girl Next Door.
Tuesday, we will be married 47 years.
Greg
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