M14 Forum

Hawk

We all remember our DIs. How about we list them and sort of a description of the way they were. Please enter the Platoon and year so we can date them as well. Also whether it was PI or SD.

Austin

Platoon 3099 MCRD SanDiego Sept 1976

SSgt McMurray (senior) - He was a psychotic sob, had some weird eyes, reminded me of Manson. His favorite name for us was "Fu## sticks" SSgt McMurray still make me nervous to this day.

Sgt Magee - funny in a way, his favorite little deal was when he caught you looking at him he'd say "you like me boy? you wanna F### me boy!?"

Sgt Fernando - (junior) He was a real cool character, and a running fool. He started the hog board....with a bang. The guy that was stupid enough to be the first to get his girlfriends pic was not pleased by Sgt Fernando's assessment.

siefly

MCRD--Plt. 1107
1972

SSGT O. Poole---Tall black guy who would always whisper at you, look around before punching you in the chest. He would then make a comment about it shouldn't hurt because we had no chest.

Sgt Mars---White guy who actually was fairly "tame". He seemed more concerned about teaching you in a normal way. He did have his "'days" though.

Sgt. Ashworth---Just one word....MEAN!

Siefly

lpnracer

Gunny Sgt johnson-tall, lean, mush mouth speaking, shifty eyed ******* who enjoyed smacking young boys around.

Staff Sgt pierce-Tall, well built, with red hair and piercing eyes. He was a bigger sadist than the Gunny. Always hit you harder than anyone else and more often.

First day at the range with the M-14 there were only six or seven of us out of the platoon that qualified. The DIs had everyone else crawl to a drainage ditch and roll into it. One of us shooters said a prayer, another a hymn and finally a eulogy.
then the shooters were allowed to sit and have a cigarette while the DIs were screaming that this was the fate of a Marine who couldnt shoot. A mass grave and embarassing the Corps. This went on for the entire live fire section with each day getting more and more bizzare. On Pre qual day those who didnt make it a, dozen or so, were forced to write a dictated letter to thier parents telling them that they were going to die in Nam because they were worthless and a rifle had kicked thier ass and they were a disgrace to thier family. The letters were sealed and collected with the DI threatening to mail them if they didnt qualify the next day for record. The DI asked if anyone could shoot better if they had a "tune up". Oddly enough half of them went into the head for a beating. I was amazed. However the next day the DI got his streamer for 100% qualification.
Looking back, I dont think that basic helped me to survive Nam or become the man that I am today. I view it as the hazing process to join the most elite and fearsome group of warriors that have ever fought together. In Nam I served with WWII and korean vets and younger multiple tour vets and they were the Marines that kept me alive and gave me thier knowledge. These men were the ones that shaped the rest of my life and the hazing process at PI was the cost of getting the opportunity to meet and fight with these men.

Parris Island
Plt 3064
July1966

RAMMAC

SSGT Sutfin, DI,1975, 2nd Btn (Plt. 2109 I think, sorry memory goes out sometimes), MCRD San Diego.

Guy was about 5'6" tall and almost that wide at the shoulders. Several tours in Nam, Force Recon. He was the best DI when you did good and your worst nightmare when you screwed up! I can remember being smacked in the back of the head when, as the guide, I didn't execute a proper column half right. It was at night and the series was moving from a night fire exercise, in column, on the side of a hill, at Pendleton.

Another time I had the 2nd to the last fire watch and Sutfin showed up in uniform and falling down drunk. He was having flashbacks and screaming and yelling about charlie. I tried to calm him down but I had to do a little play acting like we were on some kind of patrol in the bush. He finally got calmed down and I put in one of the empty racks (we were only a few weeks from graduation). He was a great Marine, I would have done anything for the guy.

carpshooter

First off ,as many of you may know ,I was Drafted back in'69 in the month of April. NO recruiter in dress blues sign me up , as an Army sergeant E5 ( shake and bake no doubt ) put my carcess in the Corps out of 110 and another guy that eventfull day .

I was in 1st Battalion, platoon 1067,MCRD San Diego

Platoon Commamder was SSgt . H.E. Copeland ,he was a Nam vet, could not run for very long distances , he thought he was really the go to guy for the Corps ,he needed help as he lived in a dream world .Was the first one to drop me ,claimed that he make sure that I'd never run ,I don't know how I could laying down ,but I got tuffer for him .He wanted me to be an 03 than the 3100 MOS that the Corps gave me ,must of wanted me to be a real grunt as did he scream about that !

Sgt . R. T. Holden ,was a real nut case , had only the firewatch ribbon (National Defense ) and a goody too shoes good conduct ribbon , really hated me and gave me the name of " Farmer " with no rank used with it ,I think he was jealous as I grew from 150 lbs into 195lbs. while in bootcamp and he couldn't drop me toward the end of my time in this platoon .

Sgt. G. L. Sexton ,this guy had about all the ribbons the Corps ever made ,he was recon and earned alot of ribbons as he wore ten and was a Nam - vet , was a nut case and well I about thought of taking him out , could still drop me throughout bootcamp as he was in excellent shape ,but I felt I was too toward the end of my time with him !


PS I know that many of you wonder how could I remember this ,well those nutcases force everyone of us gradutes to purchase the platoon books and I still got mine ,it's like brand new as I'm looking at it .

They would make the Movie " Full Medal Jacket " look mild , my bootcamp was worst thanks to these three and no I didn't make PFC out of boot ,had to put my four months in before I got it.I only stayed in the Corps because of my family pride ,though they always were asking me why did I join the Marines ( family of draftee Army heritage ) and I broke that and never mention my bootcamp experiences to anyone until lately .Can you believe that three of my buddies back then joined the Corps after seeing me change so much !


I will forgive these three Marine DIs with my last breath as maybe Chesty Puller and God may of liked them !

I am amazed that I lived though my bootcamp as only half of us who were on those yellow footprints finished that journey ,but thanks to pickups we were about the same number on graduation day .

NewtoM1A

Echo Company, Follow Series, Platoon 2133 - 2005- MCRD San Diego

SDI GySgt Clark- Bodybuilder type, tough, but more than fair. Forgave more than he should have, but taught us well. OIF I vet, was his Battalion Commo chief. Told us lots of stories that we learned from. Very soft spoken for a DI, but when he went off, he WENT OFF! A great guy that I would've done anything for.

DI GySgt Smith- Funny as all get out. Always cracking us up, but a professional with Close Order Drill. Pretty level headed.

DI GySgt Cade- Mean little SOB. Always load, always in our face, always harsh. Had to be an inner-city guy from the way he walked and talked. But he spoke Thai with one of our Hmong recruits, so I have no idea what to actually think of him. Gulf War vet (1991) and had ribbons up to his shoulder. No combat though.

The one thing I didn't like about DI GySgt Smith or DI GySgt Cade was how they would talk about how certain things reminded them of Iraq and fighting there, but they had no CAR. That struck me as a bit off, but for all I know they did fight, but somehow didn't get a CAR.

I'd go back any day, get smoked all day to make it to graduation with those men. (See Mil. Profiles)

davecampperry

SD, summer 1968, Plt 3037, GySgt B.F. Westmoreland. Kentucky. We thought he was psycho. Korea and Vietnam. SSgt Leo C. Davis. Tennessee. Quiet, rather pleasant, beautiful cadence caller. Vietnam. SSgt R.D. Knutson.Wisconsin. Vietnam. Short, tough Viking, with a Scandanavian accent. Would talk to you man to man if you asked. A friend of mine who went through later had GySgt Westmoreland and said he was a real cutup as long as you tried. Another friend had SSgt Knutson, and was terrified of him. Hope I'm not talking out of school here, but it was almost customary to 'draw straws', one being mean, one being almost pleasant, and one being reserved and distant. This allowed a recruit with a real problem to choose which DI to talk to without having a personality clash. Not every cycle did this, of course, but almost all of being a DI was acting, convincing the recurit to be more afraid of you than whatever he was facing.

The Pistoleer

Honor Platoon 150 Nov/62 MCRD SD
SDI, Sgt. P.J. Morocco. The only E5 platoon commander on MCRD SD at the time (funny thing, my son had a E5 SI 18 years later)
DI, Sgt. R.A. Shamrell, a pretty good guy that would talk to us when he had the duty.
DI, Cpl. A.E Cook, not a bad guy but could be pretty hard on you if you screwed up. We had another DI, Sgt. Bloom. He was an E-4 Sgt. Three stripes without the crossed rifles. He was kind of a Hard A$$. I see he isn't shown in our graduatuion book.

Pete
NRA Endowment Life

Dare2Think

MCRD San Diego
2BN “H” Company - 2050
Oct 10 1992
SSGT Williams (Senior)
SSGT Sims
SSGT Stamour
SGT Childress


I had great Instructors. Tough, good teachers, ready to trash you for scratching your nose. My Dad on the other hand had a bad experience with one of his Drill Instructors since his worst DI was only a PFC. He said that you could still see the marks on his sleeves where he once HAD sergeant chevrons sewn on. Now, after before being “Busted Down” for doing God knows what, this guy was on a mission to make your life hell. He said that SOB was the devil himself. When my Dad graduated boot camp he was the same rank as that DI…strange?

coloradosherpa

1999
Parris Island MCRD
2nd Bn H Co Plt 2072

SDI SSgt Donald
DI SSgt Gray
DI Sgt Compton
cant remember the last one I'll look it up :(

Donald was a BEAST. He was an 0311 Rifleman and could do 10 set of pullups with 1 minute between sets. He was also the only Purple Heart on PI at that time. He had a dental partial and you could see how he had had plastic surgery around his mouth & jaw. Ths was form taking a stray AK round to the mouth when he was a LCpl in Desert Storm. He was the best cadence caller I have EVER heard.

Sonnybubba

USMC - Parris Island, SC
Summer '81
3rd BN, H Co. Plt.3037

SSGT Snyder - One of the finest marines that I've had the pleasure of knowing, even if it was only for bootcamp. Re-qual'd at riflerange while with my platoon. Made the challenge that anyone who bested his score would split a shitcan of iced down Michelob with him in his DI hut. No one did.

SGT Sherman - mean, just plan mean. Gave me hell at graduation about not being an 0311.

CPL Hope - promoted to SGT while with my platoon. Had just returned from jungle survival school before that. During bivouac, sent three of us out to find him a snake and some frogs. We came back with only a single toad, big sucker. We paid - mountained climbed for what seemed like hours. In front of everbody that night by the firepit, CPL Hope bit the head off, swallowed, chewed up the rest, then pulled leg bones from his mouth and flicked at a bunch of scared-ass recruits.

As I sit here writing this some 30 years later, I look back upon those three faces with a smile and warm feelings. At the time, however, we cursed them but idolized them. We hated them, but loved them - would have moved heaven or earth (so we thought) had they told us to. They're the Marines that made a bunch of nothings into Marines. I'll never forget them.

drbub22

MCRD San Diego,
Third Bn, Lima Co., Platoon 3001 - Honor Platoon!
Jan - Mar 1985

Senior DI SSGT McMillan
DI SGT Lara
DI SGT Newman
DI SGT Evaro

I have forgotten many, many names over the years, but I've never forgotten those men's names. All outstanding Marines. Wherever you are, thank you.

Another weird little thing I've never forgotten from boot camp- my lock combination on my footlocker. To this day when I reach for a combination lock, I think of x-xx-xx ( I still won't tell you).

ripcord

Platoon 363, Parris Island, July - September 1960

SDI: S/SGT R. L. Metten
JDI: SGT J.H. Freeman
JDI: SGT R. O. Williams

SGT Freeman was the best of the three, S/SGT Metten was okay but SGT Williams I had no use for. Perhaps he was new on the job. I would give anything to hear from any of them - they were the main reason a skinny 17 year-old kid grew up in a hurry. Many things they taught me I still use - I owe them a lot - more than I could ever repay.

cannonfodder

MCRD SD
SDI S/Sgt Moore
Sgt Blonco
had a few other Cpl 's
But if I ever see Blonco at a Marine Corps Ball
I will run him thur