Hollywood Marine

By Douglas C. Morris

This book is a humorous recounting of my experiences during Marine Corps Boot Camp. These memories are still with me today. This book is a walk down memory lane for any veteran. I think we all remember the names of our drill instructors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532095894

Douglas C. Morris

I grew up in a military family. My father was a career officer in the U.S. Army. Following high school I joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Following an honorable discharge I earned a B.S. degree and worked for an electrical companty in various engineering positions for 37 years.

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Copyright © 2020 Douglas C. Morris.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-9588-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9589-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020904546

iUniverse rev. date:  03/10/2020

This book is dedicated to the following:

My Three Grandchildren

My son who has grown to be a good

Father whom I am very proud of

Lt.Col William W. Morris USA Ret

Decorated World War II Veteran- Deceased

Radioman Third Class Charles Edward Morris USN

KIA- 11-13-1942, Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

And to all that gave their lives for this country

A special thanks to my daughter for her

assistance in the preparation of this book.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1     What A Mistake

Chapter 2     Clothing Issue

Chapter 3     Getting Squared Away

Chapter 4     Welcome To The Sand Pit

Chapter 5     Becoming A Team

Chapter 6     The Grinder

Chapter 7     The Rifle Range

Chapter 8     A Breath Of Freedom

Chapter 9     The Great Candy Bar Caper

Chapter 10   Graduation

Chapter 11   Itr Camp Pendleton

Chapter 12   Aviation Fundamental School

Chapter 13   Semper Fi

Glossary

INTRODUCTION

This book recounts my experience at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, Infantry Training at Camp Pendleton and Aviation School. The memories of this experience are still with me today.

Having grown up as an Army brat, my childhood was heavily influenced by the military. I spent many hours listening to my dad and his military acquaintances recounting their combat experiences during WWII.

When I was young I lived in Japan during the Korean Conflict. This was my first exposure to the Marine Corps. There was a Marine combat unit located on our Army base. I spent a lot of time hanging out at their barracks.

During my senior year in high school, the conflict in Vietnam began to escalate, beginning with the Tonkin Gulf incident and culminating with the amphibious landing of U.S. Marines on the beach of Da Nang, in the Republic of South Vietnam.

While in high school I had no interest in going onto college. I had a compelling urge to enlist into the military. The leader of my Sea Explorer troupe was a Marine who fought in the Pacific during WWII. We talked a lot about me joining the Marines. In fact before I left for boot camp he gave me the eagle globe and anchor emblems he wore.

My high school invited military recruiters to talk to the seniors. If you saw the movie Born of the 4th of July, it was very similar to the scene in the movie with Tom Berenger. I was most impressed by the Marine recruiter. I told him I was interested in joining the Marines. I invited him to meet my parents. He and my dad swapped some war stories. Unfortunately, a couple of years later he was killed in action in Vietnam.

I remember a brochure showing pictures of the various Marine career opportunities. I especially liked the picture of a Marine Air Traffic Controller. He was dressed in green trousers and a tropical shirt with green chevrons. He wore flight glasses and was in a control tower. That was it! I wanted to be assigned to Marine Aviation. In order to do this, I needed good entrance exam scores and would have to agree to a four year aviation enlistment.

Having enlisted in Indianapolis, Indiana, I had the choice between Parris Island and San Diego for recruit training. There is a standing joke amongst Marines about recruit training at Parris Island or San Diego. The Parris Island Marines will say they are the toughest because they endured the South Carolina swamps, summer humidity and especially sand fleas. Us San Diego Marines just laugh and say that we had to endure nice weather, excessive sunshine, and wearing sunglasses. This is where the term "Hollywood Marine" came from. In any event, I chose San Diego and so this story begins.

This recounting of my Boot Camp experience, infantry training and aviation school is as factual as I can recall. Some technical points may not be totally correct and for that I apologize. My best memories are those of the friendships I made. I remember most of their names and have been in contact with a few of them over the years. Names were omitted to protect individual privacy.

At this point, you need to know you will be exposed to Marine and Naval terminology that may be foreign to you. Look to