REMEMBERING!!!!!

RTC San Diego and RTC Orlando

What fond memories we all have..Training at RTC San Diego brings back so many memories. Lets never let the base boot camp memories fade away..

1....WORK WEEK ON WEEK 5

2....WHITE LEGGINS ON WEEK 6

3....MAIL CALL 21:45 EVERY WEEK BUT 1

4....WALKING CHITS

5....MASHING EVERY WEEK INCLUDING GRADUATION


I guess back in the days, both bases trained close to the same.

What memories does everyone have?

I remember going to TM 'A' School down in Orlando. We were outside field daying and we saw about 50-60 Sailors, male and female, marching past our barracks. Most all of us in our class went to boot camp in Great Lakes. There just happened to be a fellow A Schooler there with us who went to RTC Orlando, so we asked him what was going on. He told us "They must be in week 6, they are marching over to the lake to have a picnic." OMFG! A freaking picnic?!?! Off RTC?!?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

The 2 things I remember most about NTC San Diego:

1. Boats------with oars---rowing them---an object lesson in TEAMWORK

2. Marching across the bridge from the "Nimitz side" to "Mainside" and looking at the ships "parked" in San Diego bay. For some reason the old LSD's always impressed me most, maybe cause they looked so ungainly..

Three things I remember about boot camp in Great Lakes: Always being hungry, always being tired, and the snow. Nothing else was that important.

I had my bad memory from RTC Orlando the day they decided to let Sea Cadets wander around the base unescorted. They, of course, drifted right over to the RTC side where everybody was saluting them until we figured out they were high school kids and chased them off.

I go back a little farther so we had work week in week 6. There was also the one day trip to Cypress Gardens in week 10 and three guys got an off base pass for a Saturday day at the end of week 10.

I remember marching back to the division from DC class with the company. As we got closer to the baracks we noticed socks, t-shirts, skivvies strown about our route as we got closer there was a matress and other larger items thrown outside. We got into the bay and saw everything the 83 of us owned basically piled up around the bay. It turns out that we left it a mess and our CC's had had enough. We were the victims of a Hurricane. Took us many hours to get things straight. I never did find 3 pairs of socks. Good times man, good times.

RTC San Diego.

1. The aircraft flying in/out of Lindberg Field.

2. Having to tell a Company Commander his Sailors had to wait for chow as the Arabs had top priority (included allowing them to cut through the middle of a company in the chow line). Company Commander was mad, couldn't do/say anything about it.

3. Being told just before departure by one of our Company commanders that the majority of us would not survive a full enlistment, much less a full career.

RTC San Diego:

Being hoohawed when I got off the bus by "salts" who had been in the Navy 20 minutes longer than I.

Sea Bag inspection with all clothes stops aligned or else your layed out clothing was thrown to the floor or out a window.

Scrubbing your own clothing using buckets and wash racks.

Being yelled at for not shaving (the first time in my life).

Marching, marching, and more marching, not only on the Grinder but also to every point of training.

Having Field Days when the barracks was cleaner than any home that I had been in.

The leggins that made my calf hairs become ingrown.

Rifle Range because food was delivered and food was served picnic style with all the left overs you wanted, plus endless milk.

Graduation. God, how did I ever make it?

By the skin of our teeth we made it.

It is great see so many people going to the California side of the Navy.

Can anyone vouch why some of us did not train on the USS RECRUIT. Marched right past it everyday wondering why that ship was there.

Trust me, getting to my first command when the words GENERAL QUARTERS were yelled. I realized my Company Commander must of forgot to train us and wishing he had!!!

RTC San Diego Oct 1991

There once was a man who thought "Hey
I'll advertise the cheap way!"
He spammed lots of forums
And before he could be warned
He was sent packing away!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catherine0830,

quote:

Originally posted by TMC_SW_Ret:
I remember going to TM 'A' School down in Orlando. We were outside field daying and we saw about 50-60 Sailors, male and female, marching past our barracks. Most all of us in our class went to boot camp in Great Lakes. There just happened to be a fellow A Schooler there with us who went to RTC Orlando, so we asked him what was going on. He told us "They must be in week 6, they are marching over to the lake to have a picnic." OMFG! A freaking picnic?!?! Off RTC?!?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

No lie! But it was probably week 7/8. That's when they took us. You could rent boats with outboard motors. It was us and our "sister" company. Our CC's took up a few buck from us and bought soda's and meat for the grill. I know that we sank at least two of the boats. That pretty much ended the outing.

U.S.N.T.C. San Diego 1960. Nimitz Island for the first three weeks then Mainside. Marched every where except on the bridge. Four hours of P.T. & marching on the Grinder. Started wearing whites in fifth week Went to stumble & bungle,same week. Did six graduations plus my own. Went to Camp Edwards for Rifle & pistol Quals in sixth week. Gearlocker was the seventh week,Started wearing Blues the same time. I remember bainbridge court & prebble field all to well. All the tests in Eighth week.Boot camp was nine weeks. My Boot camp was ten week's One longer because of Stumble and Bungle. Damnd shame that the Navy shut the place down.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ordmate,

quote:

Originally posted by ordmate:
U.S.N.T.C. San Diego 1960. Nimitz Island for the first three weeks then Mainside. Marched every where except on the bridge. Four hours of P.T. & marching on the Grinder. Started wearing whites in fifth week Went to stumble & bungle,same week. Did six graduations plus my own. Went to Camp Edwards for Rifle & pistol Quals in sixth week. Gearlocker was the seventh week,Started wearing Blues the same time. I remember bainbridge court & prebble field all to well. All the tests in Eighth week.Boot camp was nine weeks. My Boot camp was ten week's One longer because of Stumble and Bungle. Damnd shame that the Navy shut the place down.

Damn, its a small, small world. You, WestpacWillie, and I all went through NTC San Diego the same year. I Started in July, and I think Willie said he started a month before or after me.
Do you remember rowing the "long boats?) Rifle range, rowing, and chow call were my 3 favorite memories of Boot Camp. I was in Co.312

How did I get so lucky? Ordmate had nine weeks of boot camp in 1960 and my brother had nine weeks of boot camp in 1976 but I was scheduled for 11 weeks in 1971. I actually spent 13 weeks there because I had to wait two weeks for the new brigade to form up.

The only time I wore white was for graduation. We wore blues to go to Cypress Gardens and dungarees for the rest of the time. The big change after service week at Orlando was changing from ball caps to white hats.

I/We only wore leggin’s for graduation. We got them a few days before hand and scrubbed them clean as a whistle.

BTW, For those of you that are new here and missed the older, “RTC SAN DIEGO..Lets Go Back A Bit!!” discussion thread, here is the link.
http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/297192721/m/6960018491001/p/1

I put it here so some of the newer folks can see some of the pictures I posted back in August of 2008.

I just went back and reviewed that thread. Those pictures were poignant. It is really sad to see the condition of some of the buildings. At least you can still see them. When I was living in the Orlando area, I went by RTC but there was nothing recognizable there. It's almost as if the base had never existed. I seem to have a track record of those. Three out of my first four bases no longer exist (NTC Orlando, NTC Bainbridge and NAVSTA Subic Bay). Hopefully they will never close that fourth base (Groton) although I know there has been some talk of it.

As a different remember of RTC orlando, anyone coming out of boot camp from mid-1971 on for several years and purchased the boot camp yearbook has a picture of me. I found that out when I looked at my brother's yearbook from San Diego in 1976 and I was in there. There is one section of the yearbook that shows recruits gong through the obstacle course. That skinny kid running through the tires is me. If anyone has one of those yearbooks and could scan that picture in, I would really appreciate it. My daughter would really get a kick out of that.

I went through basic in Great Lakes but do remember RTC San Diego quite well. I went to sick call one day while going to school on the ASW base with a pain in the bottom of my foot. I was sent to the RTC side to see a Podiatrist. The only time I had ever been saluted so much was when I went on a chAir Force base in dress blues

Are they really able to get all recruits through RTC Great Lakes? There were only 2 barracks empty when I went through in 1990 and most of those buildings had been there since my dad went through in 1959. They must have done a lot of building to accomodate everybody.

RTC Orlando 1980.........Training with our "Sister" Company

quote:

Originally posted by RiverRat139:

quote:

Originally posted by ordmate:
U.S.N.T.C. San Diego 1960. Nimitz Island for the first three weeks then Mainside. Marched every where except on the bridge. Four hours of P.T. & marching on the Grinder. Started wearing whites in fifth week Went to stumble & bungle,same week. Did six graduations plus my own. Went to Camp Edwards for Rifle & pistol Quals in sixth week. Gearlocker was the seventh week,Started wearing Blues the same time. I remember bainbridge court & prebble field all to well. All the tests in Eighth week.Boot camp was nine weeks. My Boot camp was ten week's One longer because of Stumble and Bungle. Damnd shame that the Navy shut the place down.

Damn, its a small, small world. You, WestpacWillie, and I all went through NTC San Diego the same year. I Started in July, and I think Willie said he started a month before or after me.
Do you remember rowing the "long boats?) Rifle range, rowing, and chow call were my 3 favorite memories of Boot Camp. I was in Co.312

I took the oath on 31 AUG 1960. We sat arond NTC for two weeks before getting on training schedule. I was in Co, 455. On nimitz we were in 58 south upper, I remember everything except what Barrac,s we were in on mainside. We were in the second row behind Head quarters right off of Bainbridge court. Yes I do recall whale boat's in the boat channel ,going to Camp Edwards for Rifle & pistol Quals. We ate at the chow halls just west of the R-4 Building. I also remember polishing everything that was brass on the U.S.S. Recruit. Our C.C. Was SF 1Cl. Hoarese O'Keefe. The one person I will never forget is FTC 1CL. Daniel Wilhite. A real S.O.B.. When we Graduated he tried to shake my hand and tell me how all he did was try to make better sailors out of us. I looked at him ,spit on the ground between us and said GO F---your self then walked off.I knew I was a real sailor then. Don't mean to be a a-- about it but there are some people you just can't say one good thing about and he's the one for me.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ordmate,

quote:

Originally posted by mturnb:
How did I get so lucky? Ordmate had nine weeks of boot camp in 1960 and my brother had nine weeks of boot camp in 1976 but I was scheduled for 11 weeks in 1971. I actually spent 13 weeks there because I had to wait two weeks for the new brigade to form up.

The only time I wore white was for graduation. We wore blues to go to Cypress Gardens and dungarees for the rest of the time. The big change after service week at Orlando was changing from ball caps to white hats.

Lets see if I can clarify my statement. I enlisted on 19 AUG 1960,MY `17th birthday. We got to NTC San Diego on the 24th. We sat around till thhe 31st, then were sworen in We were Isseued our new Uniforms the same day. On the 5th of Sept we started training, Navy boot camp Wsa 9 weeks. I went to Stumble & bungle in the fifth week. That set me back a week. My Boot camp was 10 weeks. Nw. I arrived in San Diego on the 25 AUG 1960, I left on 26 NOV 1960.

quote:

Originally posted by ordmate:

quote:

Originally posted by mturnb:
How did I get so lucky? Ordmate had nine weeks of boot camp in 1960 and my brother had nine weeks of boot camp in 1976 but I was scheduled for 11 weeks in 1971. I actually spent 13 weeks there because I had to wait two weeks for the new brigade to form up.

The only time I wore white was for graduation. We wore blues to go to Cypress Gardens and dungarees for the rest of the time. The big change after service week at Orlando was changing from ball caps to white hats.

Lets see if I can clarify my statement. I enlisted on 19 AUG 1960,MY `17th birthday. We got to NTC San Diego on the 25th. On the 27th we gave all our clothes except what we had on to the Navy Mothers. We sat around till the 31st, then were sworn in We were Isseued our new Uniforms the same day. On the 7th 0r 8th of Sept we started training, Navy boot camp Was 9 weeks. I went to Stumble & bungle in the fifth week. That set me back a week. My Boot camp was 10 weeks. I arrived in San Diego on the 25 AUG 1960, I left on 26 NOV 1960.

Hello to all in the Navy and family members. I have a photo of the 312 US NTC San Diego on the 13 of August 1959. Looks like a graduation photo. What I'm trying to do is see if there is any one out there that would like a copy of this photo. I found it in my grandpas house after he passed. But he was 93 when he passed, much to old for this photo. So if any one could tell me about how I could find out who graduated on that date it would be appreciated. Thank you and who ever wants a copy of this photo I would be glad to Email you one.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by mflyons83:
Hello to all in the Navy and family members. I have a photo of the 312 US NTC San Diego on the 13 of August 1959. Looks like a graduation photo. What I'm trying to do is see if there is any one out there that would like a copy of this photo. I found it in my grandpas house after he passed. But he was 93 when he passed, much to old for this photo. So if any one could tell me about how I could find out who graduated on that date it would be appreciated. Thank you and who ever wants a copy of this photo I would be glad to Email you one.

Mike

________________________________________________

Really close but still a miss.
I was in Co.312 at NTC San Diego but it was in 1960

Orlando Jan 76 Company 222... Remember training with our Sister Company and missing the fact that they graduated a week earlier than us....

Great Lakes as a A and C School Student.... Seeing a Yellow Taxi on the highway packed with 6 recruits and frozen BARF all down the side of the Taxi right front door and side of the cab.... Don't you just love that 3.2 beer....

San Diego Co 131 1968.
We went to the USS Recruite, but I as the only green stripe got pulled off to stand a watch for another Company.

Shockey

I was there 18 Nov 60 to 8 Feb 61 so I was there a few days while the departure of the 26 Nov 60 was there. We called ourselfs Bad Assed 629. Had one streamer won the tug of war in the athletic compition. Great memories though.

July-September 1994 Company I137

The strangest memory I have was seeing grown men cry the first night. I was 17 and wondering how bad was their life that they were crying.

The other great memory I had was the start of the first day...the CC came in with the trashcan, and I thought to myself, "So it begins". Looking back, it was the easiest time in the Navy.

AO1