Chapter 9

Waking up, I was like a giddy schoolgirl as we were going to be doing more shooting today.

We got formed up and went for a PT session then afterwards we hit the obstacle course. I was amazed that the rope climb wasn’t a problem anymore. We headed to chow, then back to the Squad Bay to change and grab our rifles before heading over to the range.

We got into a School Circle around Sgt Spears.

ìYouíre going to start practicing for the Marine Rifle Qualification test, which consists of shooting at targets at 100, 300, and 500-yards on the ìKnown Distance Rangeî. The firing is a combination of rapid and slow fire in a variety of firing positions. There will be 4 practice evolutions at each distance, then you will have a practice rifle qualification for each known distance. That practice rifle qual will be held to the standard of the actual qualification. On Friday you will qualify by shooting the table of evolutions at each known distance within the time limits given.î

We spent an hour or two going over all we had learned. Sgt Spear reminded us that based upon our results, and after obtaining a passing score (190), we could earn specific weapons qualification badges which fall into one of three ranges ñ 180- 200 for Marksman, 205 - 225 for Sharpshooter, and 230 - 250 for Expert. Then it was a short trip over to the 100 yd firing line.

“The 100yd evolutions will consist of 4 segments of shooting. Youíll be shooting 5 rounds at a time. The first segment will be 5 rounds of slow fire from the seated position. Youíll then be given 10 rounds and two magazines. Youíll charge the magazines (load) and commence the rapid-fire segment from the seated position. There will be a minute included for the magazine change. The first magazine will need to be retained by placing it inside your blouse. If it’s not retained, then the prior 10 rounds do not count. Then it will be 5 rounds from the kneeling position and 5 rounds from the standing position all slow fire. You get two and a half minutes for each of the slow fire evolutions. Now get to a shooting station.”

We all made it to a shooting station and got into the sitting position. Cpl Jung handed me 5 rounds then walked to the next recruit and handed them their 5 rounds. Then we did the segments like we had been instructed.

The results were pretty much the same. Time wasn’t a factor, so I was able to get into a very stable shooting platform before each shot.

My BZO was still good, so when they marked the hits, the markers were all touching. Except for the rapid fire which was a little bit of a different story.

I don’t know why, but I was rushing myself a little too much. It was both in the firing and the magazine change. There was one round that was outside of the scoring area.

Sgt Spears came up to me. “What the fuck is this shit Badzinski? You were doing so well. I expected better out of you based upon your being the guide and your performance so far.”

“This recruit just rushed a bit. The next one will be better.”

“You’re damn right it will be. If it’s not, then you’ll be spending some time in the pit to remind you.”

Just like the first evolution, Cpl Jung walked to the next recruit after handing me the next 5 rounds. I started the breathing exercises that Mr. Singh had taught me. I wasn’t able to fully meditate, but it would help immensely to calm me down.

When the second evolution was done, the rapid fire was just like the first slow fire results. I had no problems with the other three evolutions.

We went to lunch after getting searched on our way off the range. When we got back, we were instructed that we were going to do practice of the 100yd qualification course of fire exactly like we would Friday. You fired the 25 rounds and received 5 points for every hit in the target zone. The highest score we could get on the 100 yd line was 125 points.

We were handed 25 rounds, and when we finished with the 25 rounds, I ended up with a score of 120 points. There was still one flier during the rapid-fire section. I had finished a few seconds before the air horn went to mark the time limit on the rapid fire evolution. I think if I took just a few seconds more that I would have been perfect.

Iíll have to remind myself during the rapid-fire portions, both in practice and qualifying, to give myself more time.

We marched off the range and were searched for the second time today. Nothing was found, just like every other time.

We had another class on land navigation after we cleaned our rifles and evening chow. The class went over the stuff from the last class and went over the principles of shooting an azimuth and reading topographical features on a map. It was the exact same thing that 1st Sgt Gibbs taught me. I figured Becker and a couple of other recruits who had needed help with the classroom stuff before would need help with this as well.

When we got to free time, I wrote Kiku a letter. I had decided to see if she wanted to come down for my graduation. It would be during her summer break if my hunch was correct.

If she did decide to come down, there would be a slight issue with Grandmother though. She and Grandfather had a lot of resentment from WWII. Hers was a deep hatred and resentment for anyone of Japanese descent due to witnessing the attack on Pearl Harbor while Grandfather viewed anyone who was German or Russian in a similar vein.

Though it wasn’t an ideal way to be, I could understand why they felt the way they did. It would be a discussion that I’d have to have with both sides if Kiku decided to come down.

Getting up, everyone got ready and then we formed up and headed over to the Mess Hall. When we got back everyone brought out their uniforms to make sure everything was ready for inspection after lunch.

Going over it, I decided to check everything again. It took me a few minutes to run an iron over my pants to take out what I thought were a few wrinkles.

The Squad Bay was a hive of activity as everybody was trying to make sure that their uniforms were perfect. I assembled my Barracks cover, taking a minute or two to get it right, but I finally did. Everything was hanging from my rack as we went to get lunch.

When we got back, it was a mad dash to get changed. We were then marshaled out into the parking lot. DI Faamate decided to give us some last-minute instruction.

“You recruits better pay attention to what’s going on. The key is to remember not to lock out your knees. If anyone falls out, you all will live to regret it as once this inspection is over, I’ll IT the living hell out of all of you.”

With that SDI Brooks came out and gave us a one sentence pep talk and warning.

“Lock it up and don’t embarrass me.” I knew there shouldn’t be any issues with my uniform.

We were in three rows of ten with four or five recruits in the fourth row. I was standing next to the first row. We had our rifles standing at “At Ease” and the Platoon Guidon was in a stand, off to my side.

SDI Brooks took his position in front of us. It was a minute or two before I could see the inspection team march up. SDI Brooks called out, and we assumed the position of Attention. Lt Col Vargas stopped right in front of SDI brooks. I could hear the exchange as SDI Brooks saluted the Lt Col.

“Good morning, Sir. Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Brooks reporting. Platoon 1075 all formed for the Battalion Commanders Inspection. Count on the deck is thirty-four and the count on hand is thirty-four.”

“Very well, carry on Staff Sergeant.”

“Aye, Sir.”

They shook hands, and SDI Brooks walked off to the side. Lt Col Vargas and Sgt Maj Concalves then marched right up to me. We had already been told what the first question was going to be and how to answer. This inspection was the only time we were to refer to ourselves as anything other than a recruit until we were presented with our Eagle, Globe and Anchor.

“What is your name, where are you from and what did you enlist in the Marine Corps to do?”

“Good morning, sir. Private First Class Badzinski, Georgia and I enlisted to be an 0351.”

“Future Infantry. Good for you son.”

I then went to Present Arms. The Sergeant Major took my rifle and inspected it. When it was returned, I went back to Attention Arms, and he began inspecting my uniform. While all this was going on the Lieutenant Colonel was asking me questions.

“So Badzinski, you’re a long way from home. How did you make it here from Georgia? That’s out of the normal area we get recruits from.”

“I remembered the Navy recruiting slogan, “Join the Navy, see the world”. I figured the Marine Corps was a better bet but guessed I could still see the world. I wanted to start that trip with boot camp, so I asked to be sent here to MCRD San Diego.”

“Well, that’s a nice thought. Though a little birdie informed me it there might have been a bit more to it than that.”

I took that in, guess me having a so-called Rabbi watching out for me had already made its way out. I needed to watch myself even more now.

“So, when did you become the Platoon Guide Badzinski?”

“I’ve been the guide since we made the move to Camp Pendleton, before that I was the Platoon Scribe.” It seemed that caught him by surprise.

The Sergeant Major removed my cover and was inspecting it.

“So, who is the commandant of the Marine Corps?”

“General Carl E. Mundy is the current Commandant of the Marine Corps.”

My cover was placed back on my head, and I lost track of the Sergeant Major as he walked behind me.

“So Badzinski are you going to have any family come to graduation?”

“I believe that my grandparents and sister will be attending.”

“That’s nice. So how are you doing in rifle training?”

“It’s going well. The lessons are easy to understand, so I believe that I’ll do well in rifle qualification.”

He stopped for a second, then began again with the questioning.

“So, what is the proper way to report in?”

“Stand at Attention and knock just once. When instructed, march smartly to three paces in front of the desk. Report in “Private Badzinski reports”. If given the order to relax, at ease or something like that, assume the position of Parade Rest. When dismissed, snap to Attention and march in a smart military manner out the door.”

“Very good. If you would please stack your rifle with the other two recruits and then take the clipboard from Sgt Maj Concalves. You will record any notations that the Sergeant Major or I give you on the paper next to the recruit’s name.”

ìAye, sir.”

Turned out that all three rows were going to be inspected at the same time. It took a long time to finish and there were a couple of times I thought somebody was going to fall out. Though the recruits took care of each other and voiced a helping hand which kept each other from falling out.

We were done in about two hours, nobody failed, though there were a few that came close. They had gotten two, and from what I saw, were given the benefit of the doubt after the second one. You would fail if three deficiencies were found

We formed back up and the Battalion Commander gave a speech before dismissing us.

“Looking at all you fine young men, I think you all will make fine Marines. Now the most important thing right now is to make sure that you qualify on Friday. As you know, every Marine is a Rifleman. It’s what sets us apart from the other branches. I’ll be looking forward to seeing all of you on graduation day.”

There was a pause.

“PLATOON! ATTENTION!”

He then went over and stood in front of SDI Brooks.

“Carry out the orders of the day.”

“AYE, AYE SIR.”

They saluted, Lt Col Vargas did an about face and they marched off. SDI Brooks did one as well to face us.

“When the command is given, you will head into the barracks and stow your uniforms. Then change into PT gear and form up outside of the barracks.”

There was another pause.

“PLATOON! DISMISSED!”

It was pretty much organized chaos as everyone went about getting changed. I took a little extra time to make sure that my uniform was hung properly in my garment bag then made sure that everyone was out before making my way out.

We headed out for a light PT session and a three-mile platoon run. Afterwards, we went straight to the Mess Hall for dinner. DI Pugh was waiting for us when we came out of the Mess Hall.

ìOh, look at you fucking maggots. Bet you all think youíre hot shit after inspection today. Weíll see how happy you morons are after a bunch of you fail rifle qualification. Iíll watch you take the walk of shame, laughing the whole time. Now we’re going to beat some humility into you all.î

After chow, we went on another ìIsland Hoppingî campaign. This started at the sand pit near the rifle range. Then we visited every IT pit outside the barracks.

We had started out by getting ITíd as a platoon. When we went to the pits outside the barracks, it was three at a time. The rest of us were running in place waiting our turn.

It seemed I was back as the place holder in DI Pughís cross hairs. Every other time there was a changing of recruits in the pit, I was included. It was about 15 minutes of getting ITíd followed by about 5 minutes of running in place.

When we finally made it back to the Squad Bay, I was sore as hell. It was time for a hot shower and a lot of Tiger Balm.

The first part of the day was PT then another class on land navigation. Once we got done with morning chow, we went straight over to the range.

Today was practicing at the 300yd line. Like before, there were 4 evolutions of rifle qualification practice at 300yds but there were only two segments to each evolution. Again, just like the 100yd distance, there were 5 rounds of slow fire in the sitting position and then 10 rounds of rapid-fire from the sitting position, again changing the magazine after the first 5 rounds.

I remembered to keep calm during the rapid firing evolution. My magazine changes though not perfect, were good enough not to cause any problems with my score. After the 300yd practice qualifying evolutions, I wound up with 75 points, the max possible.

Reflecting on my practice scores so far, I had a feeling that if the 500yd evolutions went in a similar fashion, there wouldn’t be an issue with me qualifying Expert. That was my hope anyway. Our time at the rifle range lasted until evening chow.

When we got back to the barracks, we were then instructed on what and how to pack our ALICE pack for the road march tomorrow. By the time we were done our rucksack and LBE (Load Bearing Equipment) had to be in the neighborhood of about 50lbs. I made sure that all the straps were snug but not overly tight. We then emptied everything out.

Free time was pretty normal. As I lay there falling asleep, I had a thought. Tomorrow was going to be a rough day.

We were getting into a routine again.

We had a PT session and then went to morning chow. It was then back to the barracks to prepare for our 10k road march. We had to get everything that was to go into our rucksacks and lay it out in front of our racks. There was a gear check to make sure that everything was there.

Once everyone’s gear was checked, we packed everything up and were instructed to fill both of our canteens then form up outside the barracks.

Once we formed up, it was time to step off. A standard pace was settled into and at some point, I knew it would be necessary to fall back in line to help some of the others.

It was a nice day weather wise, somewhere around 70F. There was little cloud cover, so it felt a little warmer than that. I knew that there were going to be a good number of guys falling back. This was another opportunity to show not only leadership but also being a team player. I had enlisted the four musketeers to help me out.

We were going about what I figured was 2 1/2 mph. The landscape was completely different from that of MCRD San Diego. The area was pretty hilly, which was going to add a new layer of difficulty to our march and the 50 or so pounds of equipment weren’t going to help matters out any. The going would be hard on a lot of guys.

We’d made most of the outbound leg before I started to let myself slide back on the right-hand side of the dirt road we were on. I could feel eyes were watching me. Looking up it was DI Oyono shaking his head in a “Fucking again” look.

When I made it to the back, DI Pugh was haranguing the last four recruits who were struggling. The four musketeers took the front three, and with encouragement, got them moving forward back into the marching line.

I remembered who the last recruit in the back was as I made it back to him. Leon Kalunga was only about 5’6” which made the march a bit harder on him. I remembered 1st Sgt Gibbs had mentioned that the basic road march step was about 30 inches. This made it harder on the short recruits to keep up.

DI Pugh was just being a complete asshole. It was sad seeing it as the two of them were about the same size. Personally, I thought that DI Pugh was taking his insecurities out on Kalunga. Then again, what the hell did I know.

I put a hand on his shoulder urging him forward. Leaning down I whispered in his ear. “The bastard is the same size as you. If he can do it, then so can you. Don’t give that sadistic little Papa Smurf wannabe the satisfaction of being right. Now let’s go.”