MORE FUN AND GAMES AND MENTAL CONDITIONING
     AT PARRIS ISLAND...by F.E.(Jim)DeVine
	
Following are a few of the discipling exercises I remember well:

    When one or more boots fouled up we would have bucket practice wherein
    we were in formation with our very own personal 5 gallon galvanized
    bucket over our head and shouting "I'M A SHITBIRD" as loud as we could
    as we marched. Of course, the DI could not hear us so he would bang on 
    the buckets with his shell-tipped swagger stick and scream " I CAN'T 
    HEAR YOU'.  Needless to say, after a while we were out of formation
    and all over the marching area.

    When the DI was not satisfied with how we slapped our rifles during  
    the manual of arms, we had to hold the rifles between our knees with
    the butts extended out front.  Then we had to beat the butts with our 
    hands until he was satisfied "I CAN HEAR YOU"!

    Another time the DI could not 'hear well' was when we came to
    attention and did not click our heels snappily enough. Then we would
    stand there interminally kicking our boondocker clad heels together.

    One character-building episode I remember well was one Saturday
    nite the DI came in drunk about 2:00 AM. He ordered all us "SISSIES"
    outside in the nude with our lockerboxes over our heads and to run 
    around the barracks until someone was "weak enough to fall over".
    We ran for a long time because no one wanted to be the first to
    fall over.  Now, that is character building. I didn't fall over.

    More character building ocurred one hot August day when we were 
    marched off to the macadam parade ground for what we thought was 
    a parade.  There were hundreds of us in our khakis standing in 
    formation at parade rest in the hot sun. Nothing was happening
    and after a while one would hear a thump and a click as a body
    and rifle hit the deck.  Then another thump and click.  Then
    another.  Now you make up your mind that you are not going to fall.
    More thumps and clicks as the corpsmen haul the guys away.  
    Still you stand because you have made up your mind that you can
    take more than they can give.  Now the Corps has you with the 
    proper mental attitude.  There was no parade.

    In the beginning of training, one swears to himself that he will
    kill the DI if he ever has a chance. About the middle, one has 
    developed an attitude that he can take more than the DI can dish 
    out and do it better. At graduation, the DI is your hero.

    This was wartime, and our boot camp was only 8 weeks long. The 
    offensive was hot in the Pacific, and they needed bodies on the
    beaches, or as one swabbie said recently, "They need bullet sponges".
    We did not have an obstacle course or the CRUCIBLE. Fortunately,
    I made Pfc. and was assigned to radar school at Camp Lejeune. I
    graduated on August 12, 1943, in Platoon #457.

    Jim DeVine, Reading, PA