The Grinder

[birdguy 3,943]

During these times of sequestration I've been doing a bit more writing of my Marine Corps days as I remember them.  Sometmes an incident will pop into my mind and I'll write a short story about it.

Of course when you are writing about Marines the story will have a number of (word not allowed) in them.  I'm cleaning this one up and hope it will pass muster.

You've all seen movies about Marine Corps boot camp.  It's always about men.  Well, women go through boot camp too.

This story is about close order drill and I call it The Grinder.  It's been cleaned up as far as I can without making the story meaningless.

 

THE GRINDER

The grinder was about a two acre paved area where we performed our close order drill.  We spent at least an hour a day there.  Sometimes two or three depending on our schedule.

I liked close order drill.  It was easy, fun,  and a welcome break from the routine of dungaree duty, classes, and other tasks we were scheduled to do every day.

I liked the cadence of marching and some of the songs and Jodie calls we sang or responded to.

“Left, right, left, right, your mama was home when ya left.

You’re right, left, right, left,  right left!

Your baby was home when ya left, right, left, right left!
Cadence count, one, two, three, four...three four!
Cadence count, one, two, three, four...three four|”

“You get a line and I’ll get a pole, baby, baby.
You get a line and I’ll get pole, baby.
We’ll go down to the crawdad hole,
Baby, Oh baby mine.
Left, right, left, right, cadence count, One, two, three, four...three four!”

Oh, there were a lot of those.  And as time wore on we became quite good.  We were becoming Marines.

There were always several platoons on the grinder performing close order drill and the air was filled with marching songs, Jodie calls, and cadence calls.

One afternoon our drill instructor was marching us down the road from our hut to the grinder.  As we marched onto the grinder there was platoon of BAMs performing close order drill.  BAM is an unofficial acronym we had for female Marines.  Broad (word not allowed) Marines.

Our drill instructor brought us to halt and the BAM drill instructor marched her platoon close to us and halted them.  Then she walked over to our drill instructor and whispered something to him.  He smiled and nodded his head.
We continued on.

“Forward March! Left, right, left, right, left shoulder arms!
Left, right, left, right, right shoulder arms!”

“Heels, heels, heels!”  He wanted us to bring our hells down sharply.  He said we should wear them out by the end of boot camp and that they would be re-heeled for us.
  
We continued to the far end of the grinder where he halted us.

“Right face!”  We faced right.

“Open ranks march!”  The first rank took two steps forwards and the second rank took one step forward.  The third stood still.  The fourth rank took one step back.

“Dress right, dress!”  We stretched our right arms out touching the shoulder of the man to our right and looked to the right to line up properly.  We were getting good at this.

“Inspection arms!”  We brought our rifles across our chests and pulled the bolt back.  Our drill instructor walked down ranks randomly taking a rifle from one of the troops and inspecting it. Then he got to one of the troops, took his rifle, held it to squint down the barrel and shouted, “Jones!  Do you call this rifle clean!”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Looks like a land slide in there Jones.  You clean this rifle when we get back to the hut and I’ll inspect it agin.  Meanwhile give me ten!”

While the drill instructor held his rifle Jones got down and gave him ten pushups.  When he got up the drill instructor shoved the rifle back at him.  “Don’t forget.  I’m inspecting it again this evening.  And make sure those boots are polished!”  

“At ease!”  We spread our feet apart, held our rifles out with our right arms and put our left arms behind us.

There we waited.

Soon the BAM platoon marched toward us.  When they were opposite our platoon their drill instructor halted them.  “Right face!” she shouted.

The BAM platoon was facing us.  We were looking at each other.

Then the BAM sergeant shouted, “There’s sixteen feet of swinging (word not allowed) over there but you’re not getting one inch of it!”

Our drill instructor chuckled.  We remained straight faced.

Then the BAM sergeant shouted, “When I give you a facing movement I want to hear those (word not allowed) suck air!”

Now our drill instructor was laughing.  We remained straight faced.

Then the BAM drill instructor gave her platoon a left face and marched them off.

From then on we always looked for the BAM platoon when we went to the grinder for close order drill but we never saw them again. 

Noel

Edited November 25, 2020 by birdguy

[charliearon 3,026]

"I don't know, but I've been told.............I'ts mighty cold!"  Boot camp grinder at Navy boot camp, Sandy Eggo.  😄

[n4gix 4,947]

Ft. Benning, Georgia 1963 Boot Camp. Go Army!

Our Colonel drives a Cadillac, our Captain drives a Ford,

I drive a (donkey*) and beat him with a board,

Sound off, one, two. Once more, three, four

Bring it on down, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four!

*NB: jack.ss

[charliearon 3,026]

"I know a women dressed in red........."  None of these marching callouts are printable here! 😯

[n4gix 4,947]

Roger that! The one I posted is the "cleanest" one I know! 😷

[birdguy 3,943]

No FR Bill, you did have to substitute a word for that one.  Try this...

I know a girl who lives on a hill. She won't do it but her sister will.

…...Knit me a pair of sox?  Cook dinner for me?  Go to the movies with me?  

Noel

Edited November 25, 2020 by birdguy

[W2DR 1,860]

Remember these Noel?

Mama told Jody not to go downtown
Marine Corps Recruiters are hangin' around.
Jody didn't listen and went anyway
Now he is livin' the Marine Corps Way.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ain't no use in lookin' down
Ain't no discharge on the ground.
Ain't no use in lookin' back
'Cause Jody's got your Cadillac.
Ain't no use in feelin' blue
'Cause Jody's got your lady too.

 

[birdguy 3,943]

I remember them well, and more.

Noel

[birdguy 3,943]

20 hours ago, W2DR said:

Mama told Jody not to go downtown
Marine Corps Recruiters are hangin' around.
Jody didn't listen and went anyway
Now he is livin' the Marine Corps Way.

That happened to me this morning.

We do have barber shop open in town but with the virus claiming 100+ a day my county I'm afraid to go there.

My hair was hanging down over my ears.  I looked like a hippie.  So I ordered a hair clipper from Amazon and this morning Betty sheared it all off with the Number 1 blade.

I now look like I'm in my first week of boot camp.

Noel

 

[W2DR 1,860]

Good on ya Noel. I did the same thing a couple of months ago. But for me it wasn't much of a change. I lost most all of my hair years ago. It's really nice, though, to just sit down, fire up the clipper, and be done with the whole thing is 5 minutes. No driving and no barber to pay. Life is good. And, I do a much batter job than that boot camp barber dude 😀 .

[HighBypass 2,339]

On 11/25/2020 at 7:37 PM, birdguy said:

I know a girl who lives on a hill. She won't do it but her sister will.

ZZ Top had that line in their song Tube Snake Boogie..

I know this is fictional, but here's an entry which turns up when searching for "cadence" which involves a classic song too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EAHlHD9qcA

 

[birdguy 3,943]

That would be hard to do while shouldering an M-1 Mark.

Noel

[HighBypass 2,339]

... One gig for HighBypass.. ...

How did one complete gigs (demerits) - did the punishment vary?

[charliearon 3,026]

28 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

... One gig for HighBypass.. ...

How did one complete gigs (demerits) - did the punishment vary?

You kiddin'?  Pushups on the spot! 

 

[Penzoil3 480]

That is a very good movie. I have it in my collection. Haven't watched it in a while. I think I will...

 Sue