SIGforum.com Main Page Mason's Rifle Room M16a4/M4 question for current or recent Marines (or others)
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| Member |
I'd avoid weighted runs unless he has been doing it as part of his soccer workouts. You don't want knee or back injuries prior to boot camp. | |||
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| Bunch of savages in this town  |
As far as qualing, just get him use to the positions. Standing, sitting, kneeling, prone. Snap-in week is very long and boring, but it's all about teaching the fundamentals. Proper sight alignment, trigger control, respiratory pause, natural point of aim, etc... You can do all of this dry firing. I would stick to mostly "body weight" exercises. He will not be running with 40lbs on his back. And pretty much everything else will be high reps, over heavy weight. I went in at 195lbs and 8% body fat. I left at 162lbs. My wife didn't even recognize me when she came to my graduation. We were in formation, and she was 50 feet away trying to find me. She couldn't. I'd honestly suggest "fattening" him up before he leaves. You don't get to eat much, 3 meals a day, but given the caloric output of training, bulking up will be marginal. I remember seeing recruits eating out of the trashcans in the chow hall when we were told to get back outside. They send in platoons by squads, so if his squad is first in line, he will get more time to eat. If he is one of the last squads, he won't get much. The DI's have a reason for this, but I never figured it out, other than they just wanted to screw with us. They pretty much start the clock once the first squad goes in, so they are already eating by the time the last squad goes in. And that 1 or 2 minutes can make a difference. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT send him care packages. We had a recruit whose mom sent him a huge container of powered Gatorade. Since there wasn't enough for the entire platoon, the DI's made him eat the whole thing. If you send him a letter, just send it to Recruit Elkabong. Don't write anything else other than your name and return address. It's a long standing tradition to send things to recruit that stand out, don't subject him to that. Just tell him to suck it up for 3 months. They won't kill him. It will most likely be the proudest achievements in his life. Keep us updated on his progress. Semper Fi! ----------------- I apologize now... | |||
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| Member |
When my son went through MCRD a few years ago, and subsequent combat school, weapons training was minimal, muzzle discipline abysmal, and there was no mention of iron sights; everything done with a red dot optic. | |||
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| Ermagherd, 10 Mirrimerter!  |
Thanks for the advice, I hadn't planned on writing or sending anything, just waiting for him to call when allowed. I've talked to his recruiter a couple times, and asked since he was in good shape if he should fatten up a little. He said they would put him on double rations if he lost too much weight, and he cant afford to lose much. He eats pretty good now, but skips meals, so maybe 3 good ones a day will help. I quit school in elementary because of recess.......too many games --Riff Raff-- | |||
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| Lead slingin' Parrot Head  |
As this thread has spun slightly away from the original topic I thought I would add this to those who are suggesting other preparations for your son's Marine Corps experiences. I just finished re-watching a DVD copy of the Dirty Dozen 2 disc Special Edition. Although the story involves Army soldiers, one of the leading actors was Lee Marvin, a WWII Marine PFC. As one of the several bonus features on the Special Edition version, there is a 1985 vintage Marine Corp recruitment video called Marine Corp Combat Leadership Skills with Lee Marvin appearing and commenting. Although it has some of the typical 'guts 'n' glory' aspects you would expect from a service recruitment video, I thought they did a nice job covering what to expect in both training and combat. A number of Marines, from recruits in boot camp to current and former Marines, were interviewed including a number of notable (including a couple legendary) Marines from WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, and Granada. Uncertainty and fear were mentioned as natural and to be expected by recruits, as well as what to expect and what was expected of Marines. The video depicted various training sites, from the Qualification firing range to Sniper training, showed rifles and equipment, and showed various scenes from the barracks to various combat footage. It was well done for a 30 minute video and even though it might be dated by current standards and equipment, it's still worth watching, especially for a new or prospective recruit. There is also an option on the video to watch the movie Dirty Dozen with comments from various producer/director/author/actors...and also by USMC Capt. Dale Dye retired, who saw service in Viet Nam and elsewhere, who created a company to help Hollywood produce more accurate depictions of war and combat, and I found his comments and critiques of the movie interesting. If you don't want to buy a copy of the DVD perhaps you could check out a copy from your local library or elsewhere. Best of luck to you and your son! Semper Fi.   | |||
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| Bunch of savages in this town |
Elkabong, this thread has gotten me interested, and yes, it has swayed off topic. 3 things a Marine needs to be proficient in for promotion are: PFT, Rifle quals, and MOS knowledge. It sounds like he has his PFT down, there will be recruits showing up that won't make the bare minimums, and it will be a long, if not longer, 3 months. They will teach him proper firing techniques. He'll learn his MOS once he gets to that point. I have a 15y/o son who is also interested in going into the military. He would already score a perfect PFT. But I am telling him to think about his future, post military, and decide the best branch for that path. I think he wants to go to USMC to please me, and I've told him he doesn't have to do that. We are exploring his options. Tell your son to take advantage of everything the Marines can give him. College if he wants, but invest for the future. Don't buy a $50,000 car, and don't get married until after his first enlistment and he has picked up rank.  I've been out long enough that things have changed about recruit training, but as I mentioned it before, earning the title Marine is one of my proudest accomplishments. You keep that for life, and become part of the brotherhood. I see you live in WV, take a road trip down to the USMC museum in Quantico. If you plan it right, you can even see the Silent Drill Team perform at the Iwo Jima memorial. ----------------- I apologize now... | |||
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Member |
You may want to make sure the boy can swim. The PFT is changing or has changed to include a combat fitness test that was recently changed again, it stresses more of a cross fit type fitness than what the traditional PFT has tested. May be more difficult for a lanky kid. The purpose of course of Basic Training is to produce a basically trained Marine and they a good job of accomplishing that. Honestly the real training, is when he gets to the Fleet. What is his MOS? | |||
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| Leatherneck |
The swimming advice is good too. We had more than one guy who had a hard time with the pool. Depending on his recruiter there may things he can do with them. I was lucky and the office I went to did monthly meetings where we would PT together and go back to the office and learn some stuff. Once they even picked up some M16s from the local NG armory and showed us how to disassemble and clean the rifle. I used to go to the office a lot after school and run with them. Another thing I did was read a book called Boot where a writer was embedded with a recruit platoon on PI. It was dated when I read it but still have me a good idea of day to day activities during boot camp. I know there have been others written since I got out that will be way more current than Boot. They might be dated now but like I said it’s probably still correct enough to give him a good idea of what to expect. Thanks to some outstanding recruiters I was pretty well prepared mentally and physically so honestly boot camp was pretty easy for me. But I’d been preparing for it for about a year. There were some guys who were really shocked when we got there and weren’t prepared one way or the other. While most everyone we started with made it to graduation some guys had a harder time getting settled. “Everybody wants a Sig in the sheets but a Glock on the streets.” -bionic218 04-02-2014 | |||
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semi-reformed sailor |
my bro sent me a letter with confetti in it.... after that letter I quit going to mail call don't fret the possible loss of weight, I was 125 at 6'01" in boot with a 29" wiast....after one week the CC made me eat a PB&J sandwich at each meal after eating all my tray for the rest of the cycle remind him that there are no extra points for doing more than what is required... try not to stand out "Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein “You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020 “A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker | |||
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Works to Farm |
Reconsider not writing. My son completed Bootcamp at Parris Island last October. He has said that the letters were a huge encouragement and helped pull him through. I would highly recommend to write, write, write. There is an app called Sandboxx that makes writing much more convenient. I’m not much of a writer but found it to be very convenient to just type a quick note of encouragement and to let him know I was thinking of him. Additionally, don’t expect any calls because it’s highly unlikely until completion of the crucible. Calls can be awarded for excellent performance but not all DIs do it and my son’s didn’t. Some would award phone calls for things such as shooting expert. Also on the original topic of the thread, shooting expert was a huge boost for my son. I could see the tone of his letters improve after he earned the expert badge, it greatly boosted his morale. Also, most DIs allow you to send protein bars and vitaminC and cough drops after the first few weeks as long as you send enough for the whole platoon. Just don’t send them until your son requests/DI says it’s ok. Use Amazon have shipped directly to PI. I’ve never been in the military but from a parents perspective, I have very recent experience with this. Feel free to drop me an email if I can help answer any questions you may have. | |||
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| Leatherneck |
I got to call home once during boot camp for winning final drill. I called my girlfriend. I wouldn’t put too much faith in hearing from him as I know a bunch of Marines that didn’t get any calls home. Most definitely write letters. Mail call was always a little better when you got something. “Everybody wants a Sig in the sheets but a Glock on the streets.” -bionic218 04-02-2014 | |||
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SIGforum.com Main Page Mason's Rifle Room M16a4/M4 question for current or recent Marines (or others)
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