Brian Meyette's USMC Boot Camp Diary
To read the entire story in one file, go to main BOOT CAMP DIARY
INTRODUCTION
In the fall of 1984, I had run the Barstow to Vegas motorcycle desert race. Toward the end, I crashed and broke my leg (I got back up and finished, though). While recuperating from the broken leg, I read a book about the Green Berets and thought I'd really missed out by never doing any "real" military stuff or going to Vietnam. Being in the Air Force in the early 70s was just like a civilian job, except I happened to work on planes at a military base. In fact, at least half of my coworkers there at McGuire AFB, NJ were civilians!
I decided to join the Army and get into the Green Berets for some adventure, before I got too old to do it. The recruiter was highly skeptical when I came in there on crutches with a leg cast, and said I wanted to join up. He apparently decided I must be a mental case, so he sent me to their testing facility to take the ASVAB, the military's vocational aptitude battery of tests. He was flabbergasted when he got the results back. He said it was the highest scores, in every area, that he'd ever seen. So, he started doing a bit more for me, but I'm sure he still thought it must be a prank.
While many weeks went by working with that recruiter, I decided one day to check out the Marines and see if perhaps they had some hard-ass unit like the Green Berets. It turned out they had a unit called Recon, so I decided they were probably even more hardcore than the Green Berets, and I decided to forget the Army and go for the Marines.
The Marine recruiters did not take me seriously at all, especially the first time I pulled up to the recruiting station, driving my Porsche 911 and wearing a 3 piece suit! Eventually, I was able to convince them that I was not kidding. Once I got the recruiters going for me, the Marine Corps turned me down, and said I was too old (33 then).
I complained to my Congressman, and eventually, after many interviews with various officers locally, a Captain at the San Diego MEPS, and even a Colonel at MCRD, I was allowed to enlist and go to Marine Corps Boot Camp. They were sure I'd bomb out, but they finally relented, saying it would only cost them a bus ticket to send me home when I couldn't hack it with the young studs. Then, I asked about getting a 3 year enlistment, instead of the usual 4 years. I figured that, if it turned out to be the big mistake everyone was saying it would be, enduring it for 3 years was better than 4 years. At first, they said "not available", but then they said that, after all I'd been through for so long, trying to get in, I could have a 3 year enlistment if I wanted it.
I was doing computer service and running a retail motorcycle accessories shop in Westminster, CA, where I lived, at the time. After I got the Marine enlistment all lined up, I started working out regularly to get into shape to enter USMC boot camp in early October. I was doing a lot of running, bicycling, and swimming. At one point, I had what I thought was a unique, "Brian-type" idea, as I’d never heard of it before; I’d ride my bicycle clear across the whole US! Of course, I later found out it wasn’t all that unique an idea, as many people had done it, but the plan was in motion. I tried all through the spring of 85 and into the summer to sell my store. I had a couple close nibbles, but time kept ticking away, and I had no buyer. I needed to wait to sell the shop before I could leave for the bicycle trip. By mid-July, a buyer had given me a deposit, but then he chickened out and backed out of the deal. I was so disgusted and fed up with the whole thing, I decided to just close the store, pack all the inventory into my garage, and leave on my bicycle trip. It was a great adventure, and I completed it just in time to go to Marine Corps Boot Camp.
GO TO PROCESSING
USMC DIARY TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. PROCESSING
3. PHASE I
4. RANGE
5. RFTD
6. PHASE III
7. EPILOGUE
BACK TO MY RV BUILDER'S HOME
BACK TO BRIAN'S HOME