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I joined the Marines once.
I was hoping they would brainwash me and make everything simple.
Unfortunately their methods don't work on everyone.
They told us "You could be the next Presley O'Bannion!" (He attacked "The shores of Tripoli" in the song "The Marine Hymn.")
and "A Marine doing his job in lives an average of fifteen minutes!""
Hearing that we all barked like dogs as loud as we could because we were Gung Ho.
One of our drills was running up a hill with our unloaded M16s yelling Bang! Bang! and pretending to shoot some bad guys in a little dirt fort at the top. Human wave tactics like this were why we'd die so quick if we ever got to do our jobs.
The M16 was a surprise. At the rifle range we had to put pieces of black tape over the charging handles to keep puffs of hot smoke from hitting us in the eye. That seemed like the worst possible design for a weapon you were supposed to hold steady and not flinch at all.
The workouts were really good. We ran back and forth to the PT (physical training) in formation. The warmups and warmdowns were so good that although I was totally exhausted every time, I never got sore. There was unlimited high protein food to eat in the "mess hall" but we only had fifteen minutes to wolf it down with two spoons. If anyone talked we'd be ordered to stand up and march out of the hall.
Between the good workouts and meaty food I got lots of big muscles.
The obstacle course was lots of fun. Among other things we learned the "High Vault" and "Low Vault" methods of fencejumping that are the subject of this article.
Excellent photos by theinfonaut Her nifty concept for this sequence of photos is that if you pass your mouse over the thumbnails above, they will appear to be animated.
I was hoping they would brainwash me and make everything simple.
Unfortunately their methods don't work on everyone.
They told us "You could be the next Presley O'Bannion!" (He attacked "The shores of Tripoli" in the song "The Marine Hymn.")
and "A Marine doing his job in lives an average of fifteen minutes!""
Hearing that we all barked like dogs as loud as we could because we were Gung Ho.
One of our drills was running up a hill with our unloaded M16s yelling Bang! Bang! and pretending to shoot some bad guys in a little dirt fort at the top. Human wave tactics like this were why we'd die so quick if we ever got to do our jobs.
The M16 was a surprise. At the rifle range we had to put pieces of black tape over the charging handles to keep puffs of hot smoke from hitting us in the eye. That seemed like the worst possible design for a weapon you were supposed to hold steady and not flinch at all.
The workouts were really good. We ran back and forth to the PT (physical training) in formation. The warmups and warmdowns were so good that although I was totally exhausted every time, I never got sore. There was unlimited high protein food to eat in the "mess hall" but we only had fifteen minutes to wolf it down with two spoons. If anyone talked we'd be ordered to stand up and march out of the hall.
Between the good workouts and meaty food I got lots of big muscles.
The obstacle course was lots of fun. Among other things we learned the "High Vault" and "Low Vault" methods of fencejumping that are the subject of this article.
Excellent photos by theinfonaut Her nifty concept for this sequence of photos is that if you pass your mouse over the thumbnails above, they will appear to be animated.
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Signing UpStep 1High Vault 01
Do the high vault if you're
Lightly loaded.
The fence isn't too high.
You're confident of the footing on the other side.
You're in a hurry.
You want to show off.
Trot up to the fence, put your hands on top and jump.
Lightly loaded.
The fence isn't too high.
You're confident of the footing on the other side.
You're in a hurry.
You want to show off.
Trot up to the fence, put your hands on top and jump.
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......Now 40 years ago this would have been indescribable!!!!
I would like to just jump clear over a fence you know? I think the taller you are the harder that becomes, but this is cool :)