I enlisted into the Marine Corps out of Waterloo, Iowa, and left for boot in September 1967. After all the initial harassment and things settled into a routine, I became friends with a recruit from Oklahoma. He came up with this idea that we would hit each other in the gut from time to time, without warning, to toughen us up and sharpen our reflexes. When we did this in the shot line one day a Corpsman saw it and thought we were really fighting. When we explained what was happening, he just shook his head and said that this confirms that fact the Marines are indeed crazy. I think he was right.