MCRD Parris Island 1950s

[bloodybagobonesful]

oh god, iw onder what it was like back then

[Guitars254]

Not exactly nostalgic, but from 1/6/58 I was there, Platoon 105, 1st Battalion.

I got out of the do-nothing rut quickly!

[TheBanshee4302]

Platoon 22 1957, They took an immigrant and made a Marine of him and later a successful lawyer. We went back for my son's graduation in 1980s. The Corps made me. I love it and I'm nearly 80 years old. Wonder what happened to Red Coleman from Plant City Florida. A good Marine and a right pain in the a**

[macreal65]

I went through in 85 PLT 3049. I Love That Damn Place. One of the best time I have ever had & that's no BS. Hey just asking, do the still give new recruits the Green Monster or is a Laptop now?

[cvm8281]

Man, has Parris Island changed! Getting your haricut in your underwear, arriving to the island with luggage. MAN HAS PARRIS ISLAND CHANGED!

[KillerXify]

Damn recruits get their own K-Bar back then? THis new boot camp is holding out on US!

[rollomaughfling]

@KillerXify Those are bayonets, jughead...lol

[blurryfast]

at the beginning, am i the only one who thought the music was the music from the wizard of oz?

it sure would have made a good ironic theme.

[hankmaze4]

Having graduated from USMC Parris Island Boot Camp in the summer of 1954, I recognized everything in this film. I was the only one in my Platoon to receive orders to remain at PI after graduation. I remember well the Parris Island Death March in 1956 and in fact typed the pre-trial investigation a few days after the incident. Parris Island does not look like it did 60 years ago. Our wooden barracks and tent Battalions have been replaced with brick barracks.

[MsJollycholly]

@hankmaze4 - hank, what did you do at MCRD after your class moved on? These old films clips are treasures, indeed! YouTube can certainly be an education if one selects the historical views. Thank you for your service and glad you lived to tell.

[hankmaze4]

@MsJollycholly -Thanks for your question. During boot camp, I was asked if I had ever played a musical instrument and replied that I had played the snare drum in grade school. At the end of boot camp I was placed in the Parris Island Drum and Bugle Corps . A few months later they sent me back to 1st Recruit Training Battalion to make training schedules and parade rosters as the S-3 and Recruit ID Clerk. Left Parris Island in June 1977 and completed a 20 year military career in the Army Infant

[hankmaze4]

@MsJollycholly Thought I responded but nothing happened so I will try again. Initially I was in the Parris Island Drum and Bugle Corps and then later became an S3 Clerk in lst Recruit Training Battalion making training schedules and parade rosters until funishing my enlistment in June 1957

[wolfdog1113]

I grew up just a few miles from PI... My dad was a DI at PI 2 times in the 50's...

[navilluswp]

GET OFF MY BUS!

[barmtrail]

Everyone was skinnier back then because they burned more calories than what they took in. They didn't get mommy driving them everywhere and men didnt sit on their asses. Today the MRE has over 3000 calories! My fathers boot camp was 4 weeks in 1942 then it was off to the great warm south pacific where only 3 of his graduating platoon survived. My old man was a marine until the day he died, and we owe are freedoms of today to him and all the others men and woman of the 40's. Give me 50 maggot!!!!

[NForcerSA]

@barmtrail My grandfather was a MARINE through and through. SSgt. Robert Sydney Kennemore. God bless your fathers soul and every MARINE!

[MsJollycholly]

@barmtrail THAT's why they're known as THE GREAT GENERATION! Amen and rest in peace.

[phillydion]

I attended PARRIS ISLAND NOVEMBER 1987 GRADUATED 1988 THOUGHT IT WAS A NIGHTMARE PLATOON 3015 I COMPANY

[tapoutordie89]

everyone was so much skinnier back then

[0587dave]

@tapoutordie89 im sure they got smaller after training because i think monthly pay during that time was like $40-70 a month. i made a little over $1300 as an e1 which i starting actually making during boot i couldnt imagine how hard it was to life back then. tough training and nothing for it. we all have it lucky now

[wafflecushioned]

@0587dave It was probably easier to live back then because the economy was booming. Now it sucks.

[Quasimodo1957]

Ahhh...memories. The heat, the sweat, the sand fleas, the 'love taps' from the DI's.

Active Duty 1976-1981

[RedFang4]

semper fi

[2SSXGamersX]

OOORAAAH 3 BTN MIKE CO 3262 honor platoon MCRD SD

[NorthLAPimpin]

love how the fucking statue of Iron Mike is in there-3rd Btn Mike Co

[FLSHBK1]

@NorthLAPimpin Naw ~ Iron Mike was over in 1st Bn, near HQ. Third Herd was over by the Rifle Range.

You ain't callin' in artillery or airsupport for my people!

[fatdaddync]

1:30 - were the DIs armed back then?

[IEKUKATAKA]

They carried an M1911a1 but without ammo. Then is was discontinued but they wore a web duty belt with a first aid pouch in the rear (cigarettes).

[makingcentz]

I love this shit! I could live off of the military channel, FOX News, and one movie channel like HBO/MAX. Just those three.

[hardcharging]

0:23: That road hasn't changed; I remember both that road and that willow tree!

[bumblebee4me22]

made way more sense back then, as oppsed to today it's 2010~ they need to make some changes!

[SeibabLlik]

ooh rah

[stewie84]

Semper Fi....

[OneRadRudeboy]

needs more yelling.

[krzy18]

I did my boot camp in San diego 1975. I was stationed at Paris Island in 1981 and worked in Special Services at the boat marina, talk about a cake job! Sometimes I'd have lunch at the W.M. chowhall, I remember that whenever they served hotdogs they were cut up!

[KrautAttack78]

Freakin Jarheads....semper fi

[airbomb34]

Paris Island is in a time warp. That place looks exactly the same as it did 60 years ago. Everything is the same except for the dudes cutting your hair are all black civilians with ghetto doo rags. Paris Island is like the twilight zone and I'll never step back on that island again.

2001 - 2005 active duty 0311

[abyss210]

LMAO yea your right about the black civilians with the ghetto doo rags.

Semper Fi

[AH92387]

i definately agree with this. i too, will probably never go back to parris island. 13 weeks of the most bizzare, scary,funny, and awkward situations i have ever been involved in

[FLSHBK1]

@AH92387 Don't be too sure, guys. Weird things happen to you when you get old, and see most of your buddies die off. You sort of want to remind yrslf that you were young once, that you really did all that, and you weren't dreaming.

And if you have kids, there's no way to explain to them what we went thru. But a trip back to PI, to let the sandfleas munch on yr family awhile as they try to stand at attention in the sun, proves a lot of what we've told them about.

Now NAM, I'll never return to!

[Twofry]

airbomb i know how you feel. i graduated from san diego in 1988, and the only thing that was changed was the cars in the parking lot.

[usmc7242]

@airbomb34 oh, no it dont!

I was at PI in 77. We had one full row of wooden barracks near 2nd battalion that were used for forming and receiving. We lived in the H-shaped barracks for training.

Receiving was in the wooden barracks, not some huge receiving center like you had. I saw a cockroach that had antlers 6 to 8 inches long stick out of the sink drain my first night!

I was told all them are gone, now. Also, the airfield for ITC training must be overgrown with weeds by now.

[altoids79762]

@airbomb34 the time i turn 17 in 2013 that building would be 100 years old

[crazyfireworks12]

@airbomb34 oorah love that 03

[MsJollycholly]

@airbomb34 - you crack me up about the barbers! But YOU SERVED and therefore have the goods to back it up! Twilight Zone for real, I can hear the theme song playing even now!

[hankmaze4]

@airbomb34 Actually, PI has changed tremendously since the 1950's.

[pa791taylor24]

@airbomb34

LMAO The black civillians with ghetto doo rags. You couldn't be any more fucking right Devil.

[marine919]

I went through Parris Island 1965 and the foot locker drills in the dark was rough on the knuckles.The 1st battalion barracks looked the same.Our DI's knew some us would die in Vietnam and made sure no marginal recruit graduated.Back then a bloody mouth was the soup de jour and we worked from 0400 to 2200 24/7.We were scared of our DI's,but love and respect them for making us Marines,sadly 8 of our platoon died in Vietnam ,while the rest survived Vietnam.We owe much to our Drill Instructors .

[yonder101]

Semper de Corps

[cpkphil]

Does anybody remember air raid / flood? Holding your rifle at port arm with just your right hand? The DI hittting you in the bridge of your nose with the edge of his cover while yelling at you? Stepping on your hands while you were in push up position and telling you to get up? All the other games they came up with. One tried to really mess with our heads and said he was going to have us do manual of locker box when we got back from chow!

[cpkphil]

I have spoken to alot of other Marines about it but never met any who actually had to do it. It was almost on the level of an urban legend, I could see some of the bigger men possibly doing it but us feather merchants would have been getting our asses kicked for not being able to do it.

[cpkphil]

BOY, did this bring back memories! I did boot camp twice. Being Italian & from New York, I caught alot of crap & couldn't keep my mouth shut. I got sent to motivation which was watching war movies, KP & trying to sneak over the BAM barracks for 2 weeks then started over again with a new platoon. I learned my lesson & was saluting & yes sirring, I was house mouse, squad leader, guide on & graduated PFC. So to all my brothers out there, Semper Fi!

[slipknotatheart]

What is the bucket drill?

[bearcatcgt]

everyone was issued a bucket and scrub brush. Bucket drill was usually done when someone F--ked up. It was everything from Manual of arms to filling with sand and water and scrubbing the deck. You could also put it on your head and shave while marking time in place.

[mirikam8]

"You could also put it on your head and shave while marking time in place." - sounds hilarious, but I wouldn't want that to happen to me.

[ryuhyubusa]

thank you to these marines from a marine..

[ashjon10]

wished i could do it all over again

[gunslinger113]

this is some micky mouse shit right here!

[pwm02176]

Did you catch the quick view of the round dog tags? Anyone know when they tags shifted to the oval ones ?

[mnnole]

not to be ceratin, but its when they shifted to placing the tag in the boot laces rather than the teeth/mouth. Please someone correct me if I am wrong.

[mystikalninja2]

they never put tags in the mouth, that whole thing is made up

[cpkphil]

supposedly that is why they had the notch in them, so they would stay between the teeth?

[Sergeant218]

Lets just hope Matthew McKeon was there during the time this video was filmed.

[fireball897]

I wish I could get to go kill commie turds

[eguil52]

lots of these guys were sent to Korea

[imhereyoufoul1]

My granddad was SDI back in 1953 and he talked about how they use to beat the shit out of them.

[ponic420h]

the atmosphere was worse, but yea it was easier to just get by it.. todays soldiers are better trained and more equipped and have to learn more than back then.

[golfingrobert]

is that so? it was harder back then b/c the di's have too many restrictions now

[kevdog4201]

man they used to be able to beat the shit outta ya back in the day lol you know nothing that was harder back in the day. they have restrictions now fag.

[CaptainAmerica322]

I know a Marine who just got outta SOI ITB and he said that they arnt allowed to hit recruits, but it happens all the time anyways.

[jamescram87]

The actual training is more difficult nowadays but the DIs could "get away" with more back then.

[tapoutordie89]

@jamescram87 i heard they used to beat the shit outta people

[carolina4733]

@jamescram87 on paper it is ,it was different training back then it was more the DRILL INSTRUCTORS discresion

[0587dave]

@jamescram87 only reason its harder is because the years of research finally have figured out what works best and it wasnt anywhere near what they though 20years ago. im pretty sure in the next 10 years there will be huge leaps in science and performance making it tougher yet again. gotta love the military. all this awesome information and they make it harder instead of easier haha

[RockyII5]

They all had coats and sweaters coming off the bus. Didn't they know it was gonna be hot as hell? Not to mention all the god damn humidity there.

[1MariKate78]

when you have been out long enough this will make sense, "EAT THE APPLE, PHUCK THE CORPS"

[cyclist14]

I'll be going through this in 4.5 weeks, its kinda funny that they gave the DI's pistols back then.

[cellardoor199991]

i just see a sea of white people. Now a days that bus would be filled with mexicans. I'm not a racist.i'm mexican myself. Just wanted to make a chessy stupid joke.

[hancock0351]

1/24 C co. WE have like 10 out of 190 that are mexicans and one black and he is half.

[Twistedmetal09]

lol 0:56

[scooniepenn]

Service A's have barely changed since then. The only visible difference is the division patches on WWII era Alphas.

[215jami]

I was a 60's Marine led by the 50's era Marines and the Marines serving today are probably the best that I have ever come across. The training is just as tough and the inteligence level off the all volunteer force could only be considered sophisticated. They are the light and bright and they know how to win. Now we got that straight, Get off MY bus. Hurry up Hurry up Hurry up, Your to slow get back and try it again.

[faithrider02]

man. drill instructors packing heat. even more intimidating! Marines Rock!

[cyclist14]

I noticed that too, at least they don't carry nowadays, they're already scary as hell

[FredDude27]

During the second world war alot of troopers carried a .45 for extra protection. Technically it was against regulations back then but it wasnt too strictly enforced by the officers.

[mirikam8]

I wonder what happened to the 1950's conservative types. I wonder how we as a society ended up being more liberal pathetic soft scum compared to strong conservative type.

[SmokeBP]

Back then they actually had to work for what they earned. It gave them a good sense of character that is rare to find today. Everyone feels entitled nowadays.

[tykitchens]

they still have to work for it.....youd know if youve been.

[SmokeBP]

I'm going, actually. With my last comment, I wasn't talking about Marines, I was talking about society in general.

[metall2462]

I was there in 2000 and believe me...Marines still have to EARN IT.

[SmokeBP]

Oh, I meant in general, not the Corps. I'm pretty sure every Marine has earned the title. haha

[tykitchens]

ok thanks for clearin ythat up for me, man. srry didnt mean to "shoot u down" there

[SmokeBP]

No problem, man.

[Scotty7617]

The military got soft because a military is only made up of the society it's a part of. When they start outlawing dodgeball, and giving awards for participation, and banning any negative reinforcement, then it crosses over into the military.

[metall2462]

Yeah really...what happened to 1950's conservative types? Conservatives that were willing to back up their nationalism and beliefs by actually joining the military or allowing their kids to join.

[MsJollycholly]

@metall2462 - they're here! it's an ALL volunteer force today & in this economy, many sign up or take ROTC commissions to get steady work with Uncle! Remember, the VN era had the DRAFT! You have not lived until you've had a 'smokey the bear' campaign cover making a ridge in your forehead! Then, you're MOTIVATED! By the early fifties, Americans were enjoying peace, leaving the military, returning home, starting the baby boom, getting degrees on the GI bill and buying homes via VA loans!

[LosAngeleno1959]

Good question mirikam8,I'll tell you what happened. Liberalism crept in and has "deballed" our nation. It started in 62' when God was kicked out of the classroom, then we started reaping what we sowed. Kennedy assasination,Vietnam,Hippie movement,"free love",disrespect of authority, and tons of drugs. Now you have the results today of all that mess. The Bible says that "righteousness exalts a nation" America started evicting God about 48 yrs ago so we are now in big trouble.

[ccc1194]

I agree

[TheLSK]

In the days before the DI's wore smokeys...

[fartingnoises]

ya us marine corps

[marinenut68]

We're' shovin' right off again!!! OOORAHHH!!!!

[bebopola]

wen dey cum out da bus they had some pretty cool looking clothes back then

[forcerecon238]

badass