Who knew is all I can say.
My father was a WW2 Marine as was my three older brothers in the fifties and early sixties. I was born in 47 and no one told me about Marine Corp boot camp. None the less I followed family tradition and volunteered entering MCRD San Diego October 1966. Platoon 3343. Of course we were competing with other platoons and at one point I failed the PT score and was summarily PTd to death only to find out that my score was messed up. So I was back in good form. We did make Honor Platoon and upon graduation I made PFC. I had also made expert with the M1.
During IT I made the mistake of going to the clinic due to bad blisters when our instructor cought me and chewed me out. No sympathy. During IT I qualified expert in the M14, M16 and the 45 pistol. Subsequently I went to Sniper School and qualified expert in the Remington 700 BDL. This was the 2nd class near Camp Pendleton. I arrived in Vietnam June 1967. I was assigned to C Company 1/7 as a 0311 grunt and was never used as a sniper. Go figure.
C Company as I soon found out was famous from WW2 and Korea known as Suicide Charlie. The NVA and the Vietcong feared us for good reason. Operating mostly in Quang Nam Province until 1974. Of course I managed to survive and returned to the states in September 1968. Where I was transferred to the Marine Barracks NWS at Goose Creek, SC as Sgt. Of the Guard E-5. Polaris Missile Facility. My enlistment time was up in 1970. So I enlisted in the Air Force and retired in 1988. Returning to Charleston SC I ended back at the same base at Goose Creek and became a policeman. Who knew?
I qualified expert in hand grenades in “ITR” and was sent to hand grenade school for further training. Harry 1371
I was assigned to pull butts on the M2A1 Flamethrower range …
Good one!
Damn it Harry ,you made me piss myself ! Bill
I don’t remember having to qualify for anything at ITR.
There were no Marine Corps units in country in 1974.
The last unit of the 7th left in Oct70 Bill
Rodney
I was also stationed at NWS Goose Creek SC. Was there from Sep 72 until Feb 74. Great duty station and a great town. Also got a wife and a son from there. We were together 38 years and 3 weeks before she left for home in heaven. Great memories.
This guy needs to hit the refresh button! Nobody carried a M-1 in boot camp in 66 or qualified with it. He didn’t qualify with a M-16
In ITR in 66 either. Another BS’er who probably never was in the Corps!
agree
I think you might be wrong,I was in from 66-70,and I vaguely remember marching with M- 1 rifles in boot camp and qualifying with M-14s.
After the first sentence, I’m raising my eyebrows. After the second paragraph, I’m just shaking my head. What are the birth years of your 3 older brothers who were all in the Corps in the 50’s and early 60’s? Were they born before your dad was a Marine in WWII and then you were a Ooops baby in ’47?
I’ll apologize if you can tell me that I’m wrong for questioning the years, but the numbers just don’t add up. However, you’re going to have a hard time explaining how you qualified with the M1, M14 and M16 at around the same time.
I served in C 1/7,(based on Hill 10, Quang Nam province), 0311 – 9940, a PFC at the time, and was wounded by a landmine on night patrol June 23rd, 1968 — one of two casualties from that explosion. C 1/7 was featured in the 2nd episode of “The Pacific” showing the skull and crossbones flag of “Suicide Charlie” — I think that name originated from Guadalcanal where John Basilone held off about a battalion of Japanese with a machine gun. He subsequently received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
I also went through MCRD San Diego, platoon 1081 (which was also an honor platoon) in the fall of 1967, qualified Marksman with the M-14; did not see an M-16 until ITR; from there was assigned to language school DLIWC Monterey; then Vietnam. All these years and I have never met someone from my old unit; so it is great to hear your story.
When will these wan-a-bees ever learn that you can’t bs a bunch of real garheads Paul
I failed grenade school. Pulled the grenade and threw the pin. For some reason the pin didn’t go off?