A Marine Corps Thing-- Part 5: The Trouble with Drill Instructors

One last Drill Instructor story.

When we were camping out at the rifle range, I drew canteen duty where I had to bring my squad's canteens to the pump and fill them.

The pump was on the other side of where the drill instructors' tents were. It was hot and I was tired and decided not to walk the quarter mile it would take me to bypass them so I just walked right by. Plus, I had heard they were at a meeting.

MISTAKE!!

Wrong!! No, they were in their tents and looking to inflict some agony when along comes good old me. Prime target in sight.

"Get Over Here Right Now!!"

Two of them began circling me, looking for that one thing they could use to persecute me. Fortunately, I was pretty-well squared away that day, but then one noticed my cover (hat) was not the prescribed two fingers above my eyebrow. This led to all kinds of in-your-face jawing.

Then, one says he is going to help my to remember in the future how that cover is supposed to sit upon my head. He takes my cover, reaches down, picks up a couple handfuls of dirt, and puts it in my cover.

OK, so I'm going to have a hat full of dirt placed on my head. I could live with that.

But, NO!!

Then, he takes a canteen that was half full, opens it, pours the water into the cover, mixes it up with the dirt and then places it back on my head. "Now you will remember how to wear your cover correctly."

"Yes, Sergeant Instructor!"

"And furthermore, I'd better not see that cover off your head for the rest of the day!!"

"Yes, Sergeant Instructor!!"

"What, I Can't Hear You!!"

"YES, SERGEANT INSTRUCTOR!!!"

The rest of the day wasn't very pleasurable as that mess started dripping down my face. But, at least at nightfall, I was able to remove the hat and I used a canteen to rinse the stuff off (there were no showers out at the rifle range, but at least I didn't have any hair so it could have been worse).

My own fault, though. My rule was to avoid DIs at all costs. I should not have walked by their area. Like the guy from "Apocalypse Now" said after the tiger scared him, "Don't get off the boat." "Don't go near the DIs."

I Should Have Known Better. Hey, That's a Beatles Song. --RoadDog