Ah, you have now reached the bootcamp and marine corps exchange. Please leave your attitudes at the door.
Ah, this is me at the gas chamber.
I'm not sure which one I was madder at: the fact that I had just been put in a gas chamber with gas that burned every inch of my body, or the fact that the camera man was there to take this picture!
"THEY SAY IN THE MARINE CORPS THE PAY IS MIGHTY FINE, THEY'LL GIVE YOU FIFTY DOLLARS AND THEY'LL TAKE BACK FORTY NINE, GEE MOM I WANNA GO, BUT THEY WON'T LET ME GO HOME..."
Of course, it's hard to find time to complain when this is one of your Drill instructors.
This is drill instructor Sgt. Danielle Shock.Within five minutes of meeting this lady, I got in trouble three times!She used to say that we would find out why her name was shock. And we did...Oh lord did we... It wasn't a good day in Shock's view if recruits weren't given individual physical training(ipt aka punishment exercises) at least six times a day--daily.
"EVERYWHERE I GO, THERE'S A DRILL INSTRUCTOR THERE...DRILL INSTRUCTOR, DRILL INSTRUCTOR WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO HOME, AND LEAVE ME ALONE, OH EVERWHERE I GO...."
And then there is Drill Instructor Gunnery Sgt Martin. She was a small lady but hard to the core. She always had a way of being completely serious and saying something that would make the recruits laugh. She wasn't trying to make us laugh because she was trying to be nice...she was trying to get us to laugh so that she could have a little fun with us on the quarterdeck. (For all you civilians, the quarterdeck was the center of the squad bay where recruits would get IPT all day long.)
"To the pit, to the pit, to the pit, pit, pit!"
Of course, she was also fond of IPTing us in the Pit. The Pit was basically a big sand box loaded with hot sand and sand fleas. It was always impossible to do the exercises they wanted us to do in the sand because the sand was so deep. But the sand fleas loved us!
"DON'T LET THE GREEN GRASS FOOL YOU. DON'T LET IT CHANGE YOUR MIND..."
Well here I am at Line training...
Heh, during this training I said "Blood and guts!", so many times, I wouldn't be surprised if I said in my sleep. Of course that's what the drill instructors wanted.
All that intensity certaintly made this woman proud 
This was my Senior Drill Instructor. She was the "mom" of the platoon. Don't let her nice smile fool you. When we disappointed "mom", boy did we feel it. The worst days of our lives at bootcamp was when mom was mad. We would live on the quarterdeck and the pit for days!
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