Comments

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  Michael J Sanchez October 12, 2009 at 5:21pm

  I heard rumors about guys who hopped the fence by mistake and ended up on the MCRD side, and even more horrific tales about what happened to those guys...
  When I was in boot there was scuttlebutt about a guy who jumped the fence in his skivvies and tshirt, trying to look like a jogger on the street...got picked up and was 4050 for a while...
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  Thomas E. Waden October 12, 2009 at 3:34pm

  Boot camp did not change much from 1969. I was there from September 29, 1969 to the end of December. I was in the Blue Jacket Choir. I think that I graduated at least 10 different times (the last one being mine). We practiced all day long either on the grinder or in the rehersal hall. 4050 was the name of the Screw-Up Company then also. The thing about guys going AWOL from RTC was that they were always caught on the MCRD side. They would spend a couple of weeks there and then return to RTC and start all over.....
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  Michael J Sanchez October 12, 2009 at 3:25pm

  Those pix are from "The Anchor" memory book, featuring members of Special Company 71-917 (50 State Flag Team, Drum and Bugle Corps, and Choir). We got into RTC in November '71 and graduated at the end of January '72. Lucky us, we even got two weeks leave over Christmas and New Years! 'Did a few weeks of boot camp, ate Christmas dinner at home, and finished up on the Advanced Side. We mostly just practiced for and performed at graduations of companies that were ahead of us. Finally we got to perform in our OWN graduation on Preble Field.
  Does anyone remember Company 4050? If you screwed up bad enough to warrant it, they would send you to 4050 for a few weeks. Those poor guys...
  One time when we were still on Worm Island, we were standing in line for chow and these sailors wearing helmet liners painted white showed up (they had "4050" stenciled on white helmet liners). They had some poor recruit with them who looked like he'd slept in his uniform for a week or more. They made us all stand aside with our backs to them as they entered. Someone turned their head around to look and the helmeted 4050 sailor yelled at him.
  "If you don't want to join him you better turn your @** around!"
  Another time we were still on Worm Island and we were drilling across the bridge to the NTC side and there were two 4050 guys yelling at some poor recruit, the three of them standing next to a big pile of sand. The recruit had two buckets on either end of a four foot pole across his shoulders, like the yoke on a water buffalo. Our Company Commander, ABHC Donley, told us that the 4050 recruit had to move that pile of sand from the NTC side to Worm Island, two buckets at a time, all day, then move the sand pile back to the NTC side again the next day. That was 4050.
  I stayed out of trouble as much as possible after that, although you guys heard the phrase, "Pushups till I get tired, ready, BEGIN!"
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  H. Buning October 12, 2009 at 2:28pm

  Those pics look SO much like the pics in my book, LoL......
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  Michael J Sanchez October 11, 2009 at 2:19pm

  
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  Michael J Sanchez October 11, 2009 at 2:18pm

  
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  Michael J Sanchez October 11, 2009 at 2:17pm

  
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  Dan Brown October 8, 2009 at 12:59am

  In August of 52, we had some jerkoff dive off a 2nd deck balcony at Camp Elliott.. Found out later that the poor little darlin' was homesick.Now , THAT is some kinda homesick !
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  Michael Hammer October 7, 2009 at 6:51pm

  Company 146, summer of 1984
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  Roy D Colon September 24, 2009 at 9:09pm

  Company 246 in 1975. company yoeman. MM1 R.P. Rodriquez was the CC. Then to OS "A" school, and on to the Tarawa. Went back to San Diego in December of '08 for Tarawa De-com, stopped at RTC or what is left of it. Almost cried.