hardheadjarhead
Senior Master
Several weeks ago I was in the YMCA locker room talking to one of my black belts, Jonas, when a man about my age came in. Jonas greeted him and the two started chatting. They knew each other from Boy Scout. The man was a local Scout administrator and Jonas is an Eagle Scout who is still active in Scouting at the age of 22.
I learned the man, Chuck Conard, was a former Marine gunnery sergeant. I introduced myself as a former marine. As we talked, I learned Chuck did a tour as a D.I. on the drill field in 1978.
I went to Boot Camp in 1975, I said.
Really? he said, I went to Boot Camp in 1975.
Where did you go, I asked, Parris Island or San Diego?
San Diego, he said.
Wow. Small world, I thought. So did I. What battalion were you in?
3rd battalion, Chuck said.
Whoa. So was I. You were there in the summer of 1975?
His eyes got big and wide, and he looked at me strangely. He hesitated, and didnt say anything.
I ventured in a rather small voice, I was in Platoon 3061.
He yelled, I WAS IN PLATOON 3061!
To Jonas shock, we both screamed AAAAUUUUURAAAAAH! and hugged. We had both gone to Boot Camp together 30 years ago this June 20th.
We instantly started talking about things long forgotten, our most hated and favored drill instructors, our worst experiences. For those that havent gone through this sort of thing, it is both awful and transforming a secular purgatory that reshapes a person. It was a rush to finally run into somebody who remembered the experience.
When my father died in 1986 my mother thoughtlessly threw out much of our family memorabilia. She discarded all my pictures from childhood, the WWII regalia my father had brought back from the Pacific and saved for me, and everything and anything that recorded my experiences as a young Marine. One thing she pitched was the Guidebook that we were given upon graduation, a memorial yearbook such as high school students get on graduation. The Guidebook chronicled our 12 weeks in Boot Camp and had our pictures in it.
Chuck asked if I still had mine, and I told him what my mother had done. Without blinking he said, You know, I have two of them. Ill give you one.
This morning we had coffee and he gave me the Guidebook. It was one of the nicest things anybody has ever done for me.
Enclosed are some of the pictures from it I include Chucks, though he doesnt look much like that anymore. The Marine Corps surgically corrected his overbite while he was a D.I. at Parris Island. He also now has hair. I dont look much like that either but I still dont have hair.
Thanks for letting me share this.
Semper Fi.
Steve
Pics:
Two shots of me on the rifle range (one Im the one wearing the eye-patch on the side of my head with the Buddy Holly glasses). One each of Chuck and me in dress blues. A top and bottom shot of Chuck and me during final inspection, each of us at the right end of the picture wearing glasses. These glasses, incidentally, are called BCG's...or "Birth Control Glasses." You can see why.
I learned the man, Chuck Conard, was a former Marine gunnery sergeant. I introduced myself as a former marine. As we talked, I learned Chuck did a tour as a D.I. on the drill field in 1978.
I went to Boot Camp in 1975, I said.
Really? he said, I went to Boot Camp in 1975.
Where did you go, I asked, Parris Island or San Diego?
San Diego, he said.
Wow. Small world, I thought. So did I. What battalion were you in?
3rd battalion, Chuck said.
Whoa. So was I. You were there in the summer of 1975?
His eyes got big and wide, and he looked at me strangely. He hesitated, and didnt say anything.
I ventured in a rather small voice, I was in Platoon 3061.
He yelled, I WAS IN PLATOON 3061!
To Jonas shock, we both screamed AAAAUUUUURAAAAAH! and hugged. We had both gone to Boot Camp together 30 years ago this June 20th.
We instantly started talking about things long forgotten, our most hated and favored drill instructors, our worst experiences. For those that havent gone through this sort of thing, it is both awful and transforming a secular purgatory that reshapes a person. It was a rush to finally run into somebody who remembered the experience.
When my father died in 1986 my mother thoughtlessly threw out much of our family memorabilia. She discarded all my pictures from childhood, the WWII regalia my father had brought back from the Pacific and saved for me, and everything and anything that recorded my experiences as a young Marine. One thing she pitched was the Guidebook that we were given upon graduation, a memorial yearbook such as high school students get on graduation. The Guidebook chronicled our 12 weeks in Boot Camp and had our pictures in it.
Chuck asked if I still had mine, and I told him what my mother had done. Without blinking he said, You know, I have two of them. Ill give you one.
This morning we had coffee and he gave me the Guidebook. It was one of the nicest things anybody has ever done for me.
Enclosed are some of the pictures from it I include Chucks, though he doesnt look much like that anymore. The Marine Corps surgically corrected his overbite while he was a D.I. at Parris Island. He also now has hair. I dont look much like that either but I still dont have hair.
Thanks for letting me share this.
Semper Fi.
Steve
Pics:
Two shots of me on the rifle range (one Im the one wearing the eye-patch on the side of my head with the Buddy Holly glasses). One each of Chuck and me in dress blues. A top and bottom shot of Chuck and me during final inspection, each of us at the right end of the picture wearing glasses. These glasses, incidentally, are called BCG's...or "Birth Control Glasses." You can see why.
