Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo Inc.
This is the fourth in a series depicting the author’s experience in Marine Corps boot camp; the story continues just after the “recruit” is injured and returns to training, but with a different platoon.
Upon returning to a boot camp training platoon following a hernia operation, I heeded the advice of a Marine gunnery sergeant I had met in the hospital--treat boot camp like Little League; learn the rules of the game; then have fun playing it.
I had learned the drill instructors (called DIs in Marine Corps lingo) were flesh-and-blood humans and the raging-bull attitude was an alter-ego for most of them. They used that attitude to get the attention of the mostly 18- and 19-year-old recruits.