As a member of platoon 3013 in Janruary 1970, one of the most amzing uses of the bucket I witnessed was by the "motivational" platoon. We were in the quanset huts by the back fence line to the airport and had a sand area next to us. One day we were going out to PT and the motivational platoon was building a sand pile and moving it from one side to the other. The pile and recruits were gone when we got back in an hour.
You could do a lot with those buckets back then with the "right" motivation
Norman Root
Leader of Men
Sergeant of Marines
70-73