One of the first things our drill instructors taught us was how to make a rack. In the civilian world we call it a bed, but call it a bed in boot camp and your likely to get a pit bull in your face or as Marines call ourselves, a devil dog. We learned real quick to call it a rack instead.(This talk by a navy seal admiral is awesome and explains why it's so important for us to make our racks in the morning.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxBQLFLei70)
At one point on “Black Friday” the DI's barked at us to sit around the guides rack. The guide is the recruit who is currently leading his peers. He is chosen by the DI's and is given the responsibility to answer for everyone in the platoon. Only a few get this brutal privilege of filling the billet and yes I was one of those fortunate ones who did. I will share that experience in a future post.
They gave us about 10 seconds to be seated Indian style on the floor, kneeling or standing. It may have taken us 3 to 4 attempts because of their twisted counting method and because we were not fast enough yet. I figured either the DIs had not gone to school to learn to count or that it was a tactic to ensure they won when they wanted to. Either way we got used to moving faster and faster in order to learn to move with a sense of urgency.
After settling onto our butts, knees or feet two DI's showed us once what they expected of us when making our racks. They wanted the sheets to fold at 45 degrees on all corners as well as the blanket. They also wanted it to be as tight as we could get it and the standard was whether or not one could bounce a quarter off of the fold in the upper third of the rack. We were allowed one blanket on our racks and were allowed to only use one at night. For us tall folk a 5’ blanket was not long enough to cover our feet so during the winter in San Diego I often woke up to cold feet.
What made it worse was that they required us to keep the windows open at night to help circulation because there were a lot of sick recruits at any one time and the drill instructors demanded ventilation in our cramped squad bay. Couple that with the already demanding sleep deprivation and taller recruits woke up from cold feet more often than shorter wannabees. It was just another comfort courtesy of MCRD San Diego and the Marine Corps.
I talked a little bit about being thrashed, or IT'ed in a previous post. This is what it looks like for you novices. Click on the links below and enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwQPJu228Kg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgI5CMPWmXk
Quote of the Day: Navy Seal Admiral William H. McRaven said, "Never ring the bell."
