An excerpt from My Small and Mighty Corps
The best boot camp stories, I truly believe, happen over the holidays. Our platoon got very little sleep around the holidays. Just days before Christmas, we were stood up, in our underwear, next to the bulkheads (walls), and told to ‘break out our moonbeams.’ When every man had his angle-neck flashlight and was standing against the wall again, we were assigned a post – two men per window. Since every moonbeam has two additional colored lenses, we had to alternate red, white, and blue. For two hours each night, we were the ‘Christmas lights’ for our building. All the way around our deck (floor), the colors were alternated. The DI called cadence with the slow, steady, heavy step of his boots as he paced up and down the DI highway. Red, white, blue, red,… by Christmas Eve, we all had cramps in our thumbs from holding our flashlight buttons.
Hello. My son is a recruit on Parris Island. Are presents sent? Me was already disciplined because of the flower sticker I put on his first letter
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Are recruits allowed to receive Christmas presents? If so, any recommendations?
ReplyDeleteMom
Mi 'Mom,' recruits are usually allowed to receive Christmas presents, but they are limited to either (1) hygiene items (a really nice razor, some exciting toothpaste, Q-tips, cotton balls, aftershave, etc., or classic holiday foods (cookies, candy, e.g.) in sufficient quantity to share with the entire platoon. Hope this helps. P.S. Regarding the flower sticker, check out the story on this blog entitled "Our Life in Letters."
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