MCRD vs Parris Island
by Dan King
Among Marines, there is always a rivalry between Marines who went through boot camp at Parris Island and those that went to MCRD San Diego. Each group is thoroughly convinced that their boot camp was the best. This is as it should be.
If you read my bio, you will note that I was with Bravo, 5th Recon, for a few months before going to Viet Nam. By coincidence, the total company consisting of 15-20 Viet Nam veterans were San Diego trained. A few more San Diego Marines trickled in after me bringing total company strength to around 35-40. After we go over the initial shock of being in recon and promoted to PFC because the CO didn't like privates. We started playing the role. We ran everywhere in formation, chanting, and generally scaring the bejesus out of anyone we ran into. 5th Recon was located at Camp Horno area of Camp Pendleton, where the ITR and BITS training companies were (like I image Camp Geiger was for you time-zone challenged folks from the east). Camp Horno has some hills. There were little hills that convinced you that route-stepping was not a very efficient way to move a company. There were big hills that would tear you lungs out. In Recon, these same hills became casual because we ran them every day and were highly motivated.
About 3-4 weeks after I got there, another 15-20 Marines were assigned to the company. These weren't Marines like we knew. They came from Parris Island. They were assigned there for the same reason that I was, some big backup of personnel in Okinawa. Aside from the usual kidding, they were welcomed by the old guys and new guys like me.
There was just one problem. They weren't as good as we were. When we ran the hills, they couldn't hack it. They would drop out wheezing and hacking. This was an item of concern because as a unit we were pretty damn sharp before they got here. For a while they were treated as shitbirds, drew all the crappy details and were not well treated by the old guys or the new guys like me.
I don't know if it was by brilliant officer design or just a dumb luck accident, but the problem was solved the day we went to the beach. It was to be a 15-mile force march with full packs. Somewhere in the third or fourth mile, everything started to hurt on the San Diego guys. Blisters were coming up and the company had to slow down so no one would drop out. There was no dropping out because walking was the only way we were getting home. The P.I. guys were not phased by the sand. They just kept cruising. Towards the end of the 15 miles there was a perceptible change in attitude. The San Diego guys grew to respect the P. I. guys and a peace was formed within the company.
One of the P.I. guys was James Gonano from Pittsburgh. He was 18 years old. We were sitting in a hole up in the hills behind Camp Horno on some training exercise. We were talking and suddenly he says, "Do you know who THEY are"? I asked what he was talking about. He continued with, "people are always saying 'they say...' or 'you know what they say'". He furthered explained that many people did not know that THEY were actually Ricky Nelson and Gabby Hayes, and that they lived in the Rocky Mountains and their life's work was to make up stuff for people to say. I told him that I was unaware of this fact, but thanked him for telling me. We became good friends.
Eventually the paradise of 5th Recon ended. All the new guys from both San Diego and Parris Island went to Staging Battalion, Okinawa then Viet Nam. We all wanted to go to 1st Recon, because we were motivated, trained recon Marines. Hell, we'd probably clean up the whole Viet Nam mess once WE got there.
Some of the 5th Recon guys did go to 1st Recon. I saw them in Danang when we got assigned and some of them again in Danang a year later on return to CONUS. Jim Gonano and I went to 1/1. I stayed in the S-1 and he went to a rifle company. I didn't see him for about two weeks. He came by the S-1 to tell me that he was going out with his company for the first time. He was scared and excited, mostly excited, glad to go. As he left, he said laughingly, "You f**king pogues stay here while I go fight the war". Two hours later I was writing a Casualty Report on my friend who was WIA and no longer had his legs. Two hours after that I had to amend the report to KIA. A 1/1 rifle company lost a FNG that nobody knew, I lost a friend.
Whenever I hear Marines arguing about whether San Diego or Parris Island is better, I think about Jim Gonano and what THEY say.
