I was at MCRD San Diego from March 1982 to June 1982…..Golf Co. 2nd Platoon, Platoon 2026. We were in the squad bay one late afternoon, when I heard my drill instructor yell from the duty hut, "Stillwell get in here!" I jumped up from whatever it was I was doing and made a dash toward the duty hut," Sir, Private Stillwell reporting as ordered sir!" He looked up at me, and it that DI tone, says, "is your Daddy a Navy commander!" I replied, "he was sir, he retired in 1974!" "Well, he's here to visit ya, go get yourself squared away, and go over to the regimental office". With a quick "Aye aye sir", I took a quick look at myself in the mirror, donned my cammie cover, and made my way across what seemed like a ten mile long parade ground to the regimental office building. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by a less then cheerful corporal who wanted to know what the "fudge" I wanted. I tried to explain to him while standing at attention that my Dad was on his way to pay me a visit. His reply was something like, "well, are'nt we fudgin special, your dad is a fudgin squid huh?"
Just as he finished "interrogating" me, my Dad walked through the hatch and announced who he was………what a complete 360 in demeanor……he went from talking about his love for fudge, and was "yes sir, no sir", until my Dad departed……I might add that my Dad was accompanied by my uncle who is a former Marine and Korean War vet.
Once the hatch closed behind him, he had me up against the bulkhead and subjected me to an aggressive pat down search to see if my Dad had passed me any pogey bait or other paraphernalia, which he of course he had'nt.
His parting words were, "get the fudge outta here", once again mentioning his favorite chocolate candy……needless to say, at that moment I would've been quite happy to see the roof of that building collapse right where he was sitting, but of course after almost 30 years I laugh about it…..one of my boot camp moments….Semper Fi!
Tony Stillwell
Former Corporal
USMC