Chasing a plane at basic training

I joined the marines in December of 1962, and February of 1963 found me at Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) basic training in San Diego. My first introduction was at the barber shop, where a Marine with a cast on his arm gave me my first Marine hair cut. He was not gentle but was fast. In the next few days, we had formed a platoon and were getting in the rhythm of becoming United States Marines.

Now, I'm a country boy and had never seen a large airplane, so one day as we were marching along, a huge plane took off from the San Diego Airport and I had to look over at it. My drill instructor was unhappy with me and told me because I liked airplanes so much, I should go get that one. It was three miles to the fence around MCRD, so I ran down and back as fast as I could. I didn't dare cheat, as by then I knew my drill instructors had eyes in the back of their heads and some kind of crystal ball that told them anything they wanted to know. When I got back, I just thought he was mad at me for looking at the plane, but he was livid that I hadn't brought that plane back with me. It seemed a little unreasonable to me, but all I had to say was, "Sir, yes, sir."

I survived boot camp and even got my first stripe soon after. I still enjoy running into guys and sharing memories of when we were in the service. God bless all of our servicemen and women.

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