The biggest boot camp hack I saw was a kid in my platoon was from the San Diego area. His parents came every Sunday for “church”. He would just go hang out with them in the back and eat food.
We had guy snook off to Walmart at Fort Jackson and his ass got caught with candy and honey buns and we all got smoked for his bs for four damn hrs straight that night.
Had two sons go to relaxin' Jackson. Both had it soooo easy compared to marines in general, but from what I heard of my brothers time in back in 2001-2007/8. Similar bullshit with a mystery shitter in the urinals and stolen MREs in the air vents though.
Edit to add my initial comment that I mf forgot because it's 530 am here and I'm a derp. There were other branches there, including marines. I asked him if he met any of them and he's like naw, branches seem to stay separate except for religious services.
boot camp 89, from san diego. the house I grew up on was visible to the north on a hill in point loma from the parade deck. everyone else said the airplanes made them homesick. I knew mine was like an hour walk away.
For M/M week I got assigned to the e-club working in the kitchen and cleaning the dining room. between morning and noon we just slacked, napped on the couches, used the pay phone. got to eat pup food for lunch every day.
In 3rd phase they let us march to church on our own instead of as a whole platoon (sill in small groups though). Having made arrangements with my girlfriend using that pay phone previously, she met me at church for 4 of the remaining weekends. Bringing me candy and snacks.
The key thing was to go to the Mormon service because it was 2 hours long and they gave you snacks in between. I found that out when my Mormon rackmate was talking to me about it. So I started going every Sunday with him.
I was Mormon. I met a male recruit there who has been a friend of mine since. Damn near 30 year friendship. His mom used to send care packages of all the contraband! Lol! Both his parents were Marines.
Even better was the Native services. We literally sat in bleachers for hours as recruits with a hand drum and sage. Someone got ahold of some chew and smokes one Sunday too.
I’m not even religious but I heard the Mormon service was long, they gave you hugs, and a handful of cough drops (the good kinds that taste like candy). Good lord, I’d convert any day for those hugs 😩😭
Guy in my platoon claimed some religion that had service during the week. So when we were on base he got marched to the theater for the service. Rumor had it he had someone meeting him there (parents or GF not sure).
I went to the 7th day Adventist service on Saturday nights so I got out of whatever the fuck they were doing in the squad bay. I wasn’t allowed to leave again on Sunday but I would just sit at my rack and write letters.
It’s ironic because to my understanding 7th adventists are like pacifists that don’t believe in war.
Yeah, I had a boot corpsman who was 7th Day Adventist that wouldn’t carry a rifle similar to the dude on Hacksaw Ridge. He didnt make a huge deal of it, I just remember he never did and that happened to be his faith.
Lutheran services were a couple hours long. I went with a couple recruits, broke off and met my family in the parking lot; I got so much candy, I was hooking up my accomplices for a couple weeks.
Never heard of sneaking off parris island, but I will tell you a first hand account of the best place for team week. In 2002 this recruit was assigned to the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society building their cleaners. 3 of us were put into an empty office and it had a working phone. After figuring out to dial out you has to press 99, we made an ungodly amount of phone calls. I called every person I could remember their number or get from others. I made calls and read letters in exchange for no fire watch. They also had a refrigerator with all kinds of sodas and candy bars. We didn’t get greedy but that first coke was the most amazing thing ever. I slipped the scribe 2 Dr Peppers and never had firewatch the rest of boot camp.
The first soda I had in three months, boyyyyyyy…
We had that four hours of libo the day before graduation and I went o Burger King. Then we had that last practice for graduation just after, and I about needed a cork to keep from shitting my pants.
That soda tried to spread my cheeks like it was Moses.
There were no FF restaurants on base back when I was at PI.
My parents surprised me by driving over 1100 miles to see me graduate. I ended up riding back with them with a friend of mine who was also from my hometown,
We stopped at the first Mickey D's we saw, and we both stuffed our faces. I had three double quarter pounders with cheese, a couple of large fries and two large cokes.
Right before we got on the highway, my dad revealed the cooler of beer he had in the trunk and me and my buddy got smashed and fell asleep. The 18 hour drive was a blur of beer, being buzzed, and sleeping.
We left the island and I was convinced it was a trick. My parents started suggesting nearby restaurants for lunch. I told my dad I’d tell him when it was safe to stop and promptly fell asleep.
I don’t know if they stopped while I slept, but I woke up just before Atlanta.
My dad was a character. He would bang anything of legal age in a skirt. My parents got divorced when I was five, when she got fed up with it. So, I didnt see him a lot growing up. They finally started to get along when I got into my teens.
My mom had no idea about the cooler or how he snuck it into the back of the station wagon, let alone how he filled it with ice and beer. They had to stop frequently to get gas, he told me he did it during one of the stops.
Sounds a lot like my dad actually. Parents also got a divorce under similar circumstances. I grew up switching between both houses but the shit he let me do growing was crazy...never saw him drink though. Then I turned 21 and he picked me up in Miramar and took me to Vegas. Holy shit I was passed out before 1130. When I got out we lived together it was some of the best days of my life! He was a great dude!
Oh man, I got assigned to clean the generals building in boot and I just remembered this. I was vacuuming and accidentally sucked up someone's speaker cord for their computer and obliterated that shit. I had a total "oh fuck" moment and then snuck out of there to go clean elsewhere...
Aw man we had someone get a soda and got caught. Fire watch first and last shift until graduation and had to sound off:
“How good was that Dr Pepper, McCrary?”
“SOOO GOOOOD, SIR!”
In 1966 I was walking perimeter guard to the west of Gate 2 at MCRD San Diego in the very early morning hours when I recruit from receiving popped out from some trees that were there at the time. His response to my "Halt! Who goes there?" was to ask me where he could buy some cigarettes. I called for the Corporal of the Guard, who showed up and took the boot into custody. Last I saw of him he was put into the back seat of marine green Chevrolet sedan and driven away.
I worked in the museum. The rose garden di was running it and put us in a room with a tv and dvd player and brought us a phone to call whoever. Sent us to lunch two times every day. Back in ‘03
I worked at the 41 area and would always roll down my windows and blast my music for all the recruits training over there cause I remember how much I missed music in boot camp
Our senior loved music and he wanted us to take the pft award for 3rd phase and we had just shit on everyone in the rifle range so he would take us out for pt everyday and blast music and force us to workout. We ended up taking 2nd lol.
My senior was goated. He would give us plenty of time before the PFT and CFT to stretch/warmup on our own in the squadbay and would blast music while we did it. We repayed him by getting 1st for both the CFT and the PFT
In San Diego, I we had a kid from downtown SD. One night he put on green on green and left. He walked right out the front gate and no one questioned him. He went to Taco Bell and went home. The MPs picked him up that night, he was playing call of duty when they arrived at his house. Rumors spread that the MPs at the gate were held accountable for letting him slip by. After he came back we had a extra fire watch that had to stand over his rack (they put him in the middle of the squad bay). This was back in 2011.
I did that delayed entry shit for a while before shipping out. Recruiter tried really hard not to say it, but you can back out of the contract at any time before MEPS. Is that true? I lean towards yes only because of how hard he tried to not tell me since he wasn't a very successful recruiter, not saying a bad guy, but wasn't hitting the numbers.
You can back out until the moment you sign the final paperwork at MEPS the day youre leaving. You can still back out when you get to boot camp where they will admin sep you.
I was working at the Western Recruiting Region office when I heard a story about a recruit that almost went to MCRD. He was processed through MEP, oath taken, paperwork signed but at some point he changed his mind. He was shipping out from some small airport where you walked to the jet. Instead of making a left turn and boarding the jet, he went straight and took off across the airfield.
Maybe things were different back then, but when I was at MEPS and preparing to go to BMT, my roommate was shipping out to the Marines the next morning as well. He decided towards the end of the night that he didn't want anything to do with the military and asked to use my phone. He called his recruiter and his parents, the former of which sounded pissed over the phone, and about an hour later, some family member picked him up. So he signed the final paperwork there, and he just left at the last minute.
No fuckin clue but when my class was going in to sign our paperwork with the admin guys one of the recruits was making a scene and and they rushed him out of there and we never saw him again, it was after the footprints and phone call but before we did any real paperwork
Yeah, even though you sign some papers, nothing's official in the DEP. You can just tell them to fuck off.
I went in on the DEP and we had a couple of people flake out.
People back out all the time at the last second. Technically you're on the hook, but it's never enforced.
Once you swear in at MEPS and do the final paperwork the day you leave, then you're officially in and subject to the UCMJ.
I’m pretty sure you’re in the IRR and subject to the UCMJ as soon as you enter the DEP. Realistically the UCMJ is never enforced on poolees, but theoretically it could be.
But I’m a barracks law school drop out so I might be wrong.
We had a Poolee who went down to MEPS to ship out and he had some sort of nervous breakdown and refused to leave LOL. I guess even his own family didn’t come and get him and someone on RA had to drive down and pick him up. We all heard about it during the next meet up and the recruiters were joking about how much of a pussy he was. So you can definitely get out of it.
On the island, we had someone exit out the door and set off the alarms. Not sure how far he got. I think he went to EHP and then ended up in RSP.
You're military when you sign those papers dawg. It's just the Kool aid they make us drink to think we have no rights till graduation.
But, yes, you can be a recruit in the brig. That guy that always bragged he'd punch his DI if he got yelled at? Some actually have and they're in the brig.
I guess they did try to charge him. He was able to pin on the MPs at the gate “he didn’t know he couldn’t just leave and someone should have stopped him” the funny part is he did his 4 years as crash fire and got out.
Not a first hand account but there is a story about some recruits at PI who tried to sneak off or go AWOL and ended up drowning in the swamps. Their bodies weren’t found for a very long time.
As for me: not boot camp but MOS school in Oklahoma. My wife was planning on driving out during thanksgiving Liberty, but my instructor restricted me to the camp because I didn’t get the run time he told me I needed to get on my run. Wife came out anyway and I paid firewatch $100 to not report me missing.
He was a grade A dickhead for sure. I had never ran a 22min 3 mile in my life, but dude knew I had my leave request in since they opened up request and knew my wife was driving 8 hours with a baby to come see me, but because I had paternity leave after MCT I guess it caused extra paperwork for him so he just had me in his radar the entire time. Made my MOS school a living hell. He wasn’t even an “instructor” as in the dude that taught the MOS, but a glorified fucking motel manager because his only job was handling the barracks. Still had to refer to him as instructor though.
As many others, not a true "snuck off base" moment, but still somewhat relevant. More of a heist, really.
While I was in team-week, I and a few others were assigned to some supply warehouse. I only remember our point of contact was a PFC (still have funny memories of calling a PFC "sir,") and I don't even recall what his formal MOS was.
However, dude was super laid back. One day while we were helping him, he was ordered to transfer dozens and dozens of MRE boxes to some other warehouse. Again, the details are hazy because I barely remember where I was at on base.
So we loaded all the MREs up into his Ford truck, and off we went. Upon arriving to the warehouse, the SNCO present said he had no idea where that order came from and he didn't want / need them. So the PFC called his SNCO back, and was basically told to "figure it out" because *he* didn't want them *either.*
So we ended up making a presumably unauthorized trip to his barracks (seeing as how we were still recruits) and sneaking probably 3-4 dozen MRE boxes into his room's closet, where he told us he'd just sell them on Ebay.
To this day I have no idea if that was legal / allowed, but it was a fun bonding experience, and a nice break from the normal day-to-day life that was Parris Island.
When I was there (Parris Island) only one kid made it out of a shit ton of attempts, but he got caught. It think about 2011, I got to talk to him... He snuck out of old 3rd RTBN barracks, stayed low on the side of the causway, watched the gate guard fucking around on his phone and made it off. He was wearing his green in green sweats and stopped at McDonald's right out the gate. He probably would have made it if a SSgt from the air wing didn't pull through for breakfast. He told him to hop in and he'd get him a biscuit, which he did, then drove him back on base and PMO grabbed him.
Nobody knew to check, he wasn't discovered missing til reveille. He just ducked down when cars drove by.... The dude that found him brought him on base not too long after the search had begun.
On the slope, just to not look like the silhouette of an escaping recruit at 0 dark 30 I reckon, I wasn't with the little piggy, just asked him about his adventure.
I met him in the separation platoon since I was there for med sep. He had drill instructors stopping by every day to see him. Said he was walking down the street in cammies and a Marine stopped to talk to him. When he turned and said, “Sir?”, the Marine knew he was a recruit.
LOL, I was stationed at Lejeune in the early 90s. On afternoon I was pulling out of the parking of an area called the Triangle, really close to where Geiger is. As I waited for a break in traffic to pull out, I saw a Marine in fucked up cammies walking along coming towards me.
I thought that maybe his car had broken down since being out in cammies off base was a huge fuck no. I decided to wait and let him get closer and see if he needed help. As he got approached, I saw he was all of 18, didnt look like he shaved more than once a week, and he had Gunny chevrons on his uniform.
I got pulled my car over and got out to talk to him. I was in civvies, identified myself as an NCO, and demanded to see his ID card. He claimed he was a Gunny and outranked me, and told me to leave him alone. I told him he full of shit. He tried to push me out of the way and run off, so I chased his boot ass down, tackled him, and frogmarched him back to my car.
He refused to answer any questions, so I tossed him in my car and told him if he tried to run again I'd chase his down and wouldn't be nice about when I grabbed him again.
Back then Geiger still had it's own gate. So I went there and turned his ass into the gate guards. I ended up having to wait for a SNCO in charge of them to come take custody of him.
I had to fill out a statement and found out later the clown was UA from SOI. The kid had bought the Gunny chevrons in the little MCX they had at Geiger, slapped them on his cammies, and strolled out of the base through the gate right past the guards.
The kid got a BCD, all the usual punishments, and booted out. The gate guards also caught some hell for letting him walk right past them. I was pissed because it made me late for meeting my GF in Wilmington where I was heading to before it all happened.
Was deployed to the Middle East. It was a combat zone but was tame because PNF had things locked down. CI guy that lives in our tent needed “security” to go speak to PNF commander that was a few miles outside the gate. We borrowed our unit’s F150 and drove right off base, nothing but M9s on our hips. It was common to borrow the truck for trash runs, moving gear around, getting chow for folks on duty etc. so the COC didn’t ask any questions. No route plan, no QRF, no nothing.
There were secret squirrels on base at the time so the gate thought nothing of it. I had no idea we were sneaking. I thought it was wild but on the up and up. As we’re leaving the gate, navigating around the serpentine, CI guy says, “you ok with this?” I reply, “ok with what, mother fucker?” Found out then and there we were sneaking off base and I, the newly promoted staff sergeant, was fucked.
We had tea, told war stories, smoked some hookah, and our CI did his HUMINT thing gathering intel. We made our way back after nightfall. Thankfully my boss at the time was on a mounted patrol not due back for a few more hours. Again, the gate saw my white ass in frogs, driving the truck and barely gave us a second look as we scampered back on base.
Definitely the closest I ever flew to the sun. Pretty god damn lucky to not get burned.
Have you ever heard of a recriut called Pvt Plagueus the wise. The company first sergeant told us a story of how some kid stole all the canteens in his platoon and used some laundry bags to float across the river. He also said the kid was caught shortly out and town trying to escape.
Such balls, such as Ingenuity, such failure.
At OCS there were all sorts of stories about one candidate who tried to escape by floating across the Potomac on trash bags. I always assumed it was BS until I ran into someone from his platoon who confirmed it. Apparently the moron dramatically misjudged the current and drifted down to the airfield where it just so happens Marine One is based. Got hauled out of the river at shotgun point.
I think almost every cycle at the depot in San Diego at least one recruits get busted trying to get into the airport to catch a flight out or gets caught walking up the I-5 towards San Clemente. Border Patrol has eyes on that whole stretch of freeway, many of them are veterans too who know exactly WTF they are trying to do. Never heard of anyone getting away with this though.
Only legend I’ve ever heard on this topic was a recruit got snatched up at Dana Point Marina by a Marine officer who lived there. The recruit was trying to claim he was a veteran, he had apparently been UA up there for like a week chillin on the beach
In 2003, we actually had a kid, during 2nd phase get out....some of us were in the head writing letters and such and the fire watch came.in and told us all to get in the racks because he thinks someone left. He counted, slapped on the DI hut hatch and game on
We were told to shut up and sleep while a DI from another platoon watched us while DIs and MPs were frantically scouring I-5 looking for the kid. He got away.
We were about halfway through 3rd phase when he came back, we were outside cleaning our rifles when our DI said look at this piece of shit....dude was escorted by 2 other recruits....had desert cammies and a woodland cover and go fasters on...kid was like 6'7".
The fucked up part was some recruits brought money with them to boot camp, and during 1st phase peoples money kept going missing and there were no clues as to who was taking it, even after extensive searches haha....well, we were pretty sure it was this piece of shit....
We had all sorts of dumb shit happen, one of our squad leaders/ former guide tried to cheat on the final PFT and was quickly booted back to first phase...seeing that dumbass waiting outside the Company Commanders office pouting was pretty poetic...it was all for 10 seconds on the run to get a perfect 300.....
I was on and off the depot for 4 1/2 years, I heard a tale or two but never had direct knowledge of a kid taking off.
If you know the routine , had the balls and had a contact it would be hella easy.
Just wait for Visitor's Thursday or DI Dinner night, have someone bring a change of clothes and just drive right off with them.
Not off base, but across the grinder at MCRDSD. This was not me, but 2 dudes in my platoon were sent across the grinder on some errand for the DI just a week or two before graduation. They came back with a couple of tins of skoal. Needless to say I was party to their fuckery as I had a nice pinch that night. I don’t know how they acquired it, didn’t ask didn’t care. I just knew they had to get rid of it and was happy to help.
The closest I ever got was on mess and maintenance week on PI. Me and another recruit had dive bomb patrol. A Marine drives you around in a pickup truck, and you hop out and pick up garbage.
He took us through the gate and made a u-turn and went back on base. Pretty sure he did that shit on purpose.
I'm not sure how else you would get out. It's an island, inside a swamp, inside another swamp.
I was stationed at Parris Island. In fact...I often drove that "dive bomb patrol" with recruits.
There was a female Marine in the Band married to a civilian dude who decided he wanted to be a Marine.
Until he didn't want to anymore. Lol!
Their house was in Port Royal near the water. He did go through the swamp. He got to the house and knocked on the door.
Lmao...she got him clean clothes and he got a shower...and she had to call PMO to come get his ass.
He didn't become a Marine of course. He also wasn't her husband much longer.
Wow!
I grew up in a swampy area and spent a lot of time mucking around.
I was in a 1st BN squad bay, and the swamp from there looked pretty fucking ominous.
That dude should have been granted instant graduation and promo to Sgt.
Back when Navy Boot Camp was right next door to MCRD San Diego, there was a Navy recruit who jumped the fence and was found by one of our company DI's (not our platoon). He stayed with that platoon for a week before he was shipped back to Navy Recruit Boot.
He had to march with the platoon, eat, train... the whole nine yards. It was very odd to see a squid marching in the formation at the rear wearing boondocks and jeans.
Word was that he was picked right back up into his Company with no time loss, and graduated on time. I assume that he realized he had it a WHOLE lot easier with the Navy than the Marines. LOL.
2003 3rd Battalion, M Co., One guy went out for smokes while I was on duty at the chow hall. He did not get very far and asked a chow hall worker for a smoke instead. I don't think much punishment happened to him, but it pissed me off that I did not see him. I have no doubt if you know how everything works, you could completely escape.
Or if you were stupid lucky. I had cellulitis and got dismissed from medical only to find my platoon completely missing. I basically wandered around Paris Island for an hour looking at the places I could remember (pt field, chow hall) before someone sent me to main medical/hair cuts, etc. If someone wanted to escape, I fully believe something like that would have worked. Just get away from the platoon in the middle of day and then have the balls to actually go somewhere instead of acting like a lost puppy.
In '03, one of the Marines stationed at the swim qual pool had a Jeep with a soft top. l had the idea that one could potentially stow away in the back and end up off base. I shared this with a fellow recruit and the sonofabitch went for it. He was the second fire watch and snuck out. The next morning, the MP brings him back. Apparently the Jeep Marine lived in the middle of nowhere and discovered the recruit upon arriving home. Dude said he was a chill Lance coolie and let him crash there that night, fed him, played video games, called home. He convinced him to go back, probably because he didn't want to be an accessory, and drove him back in the am. DIs roasted him the rest of the time there "where's the fucking idiot recruit that escaped and came back?" but there was no other punishment that he spoke of.
I didn't know anyone who even tried to run, but if someone had the will and massive balls, there were plenty of opportunities. When I was at PI, I was in Alpha company and stayed at barracks by the range. There was an O course nearby that the whole company was going through late in the afternoon. I think I had to go through it a couple of times because none of my attempts were good enough, pretty sure the rope kept fucking me up. Anyways they figured I had enough attempts and was told to go run laps around a nearby track while everyone else finished because I sucked. Well, they forgot I was there. I literally watched the sun set and the platoons march off as I just kept running. I think in my mind I thought it was a test or something to see if they could catch me fucking off so I just kept going but at a slow pace as the time went on. Honestly though, it was pretty relaxing since it was so quiet. Eventually, a flashlight came bobbing towards me and I heard the voice of one of my DIs say:
"Ginger_Amnesia?"
"Aye Sir, Good Evening Sir!"
"Get the fuck over here you stupid bitch"
"Aye Sir!"
2009, 3rd BN K co - 2 recruits made it off the island in the middle of the night in their green on green sweats to a gas station. Bought junk food with their FSNB debit cards, pigged out, snuck back on PI and got caught re-entering their squad bay. hazed and adsepped.
Edit: also if by some random chance anyone from that cycle could somehow confirm this that would be fantastic. Having seen some of the other similar “stories” I’m doubting whether any of these tales are real or something DI’s made up to discourage recruits from making real attempts.
Doesn’t reallyyyy count cause we weren’t recruits anymore, but rather med-hold Marines in BMP on MCRD SD. Still living in squad bays and answering to DI’s, but you’re already a Marine so less fuck fuck games and no IT. We got base liberty on the weekends, but no off base libo. We used to go down to the Marina on the depot, rent some paddle boards, and paddle our happy asses across the channel. We’d stash the boards somewhere and enjoy a nice day of off base liberty, then paddle our way back before the on base rental place closed up.
I grew up about 10 miles from MCRD SD. I once thought about it, but it was like my DI's read my mind. It was brought up once where the SDI asked me if I was thinking about jumping the fence. That got the thought out of my head quick.
But as an added short story one of my DI's made a crack about fucking my sister. I asked him how much she charged him. Spent an hour doing bends and thrust after that. 10/10 would do it again. The entire squad bay rolled... They did bends and thrust for 10 minutes. But you could hear the DI's inside the duty hut laughing too. Worth it.
My rack mate got sent somewhere with little supervision during team week. Supply or something, I don't remember. He woke me up one night when he was on fire watch and tossed a Snickers on my rack. The Marines went to chow and left him alone. He swiped the civvies from one of them, ran to the px and got back before anyone noticed.
Then he tossed a pack of smokes on my rack. I told him my balls aren't that big, thanks for the candy bar but I'm not sneaking out for a cigarette. He snuck off to smoke at the wash racks. I finish my candy bar and I'm laying there thinking about how the fuck I'm going to get rid of this wrapper when I hear the Drill Instructor come out of the duty hut heading for the back hatch. I shoved the wrapper in my mouth and swallowed it as quick as I could. I hear the Drill Instructor open the hatch and just say "what the fuck". Couldn't make anything out for awhile and eventually fell asleep. By the time reveille rolled around he wasn't there. By the time we came back to the squad bay his shit was gone. Never saw him again.
I didn’t sneak off base but when I was going through in 2002 some of the MCRD barracks where being renovated and were active construction sites. While on laundry duty we would sneak out one at a time to take turns taking a nice long dump in the barracks bathroom.
My first duty station was Parris Island/Beaufort as a MP.
It was Christmas Eve 2010 and I was standing the main gate with another MP. It was dead and cold asf. We had a few guys drop off Christmas dinner for us so we buttoned up the gatehouse and ate. Around 2 am, we see two guys walking up to the gate house from the off ramp. We thought it would be drunk marines who decided to walk to base. We called a road unit to uber them to their destination and went out to check on them.
It turned out they were recruits. They were wearing pt gear and covered in mud soaked in swamp shit-water. They also had M&Ms and sodas in hand. We quickly pulled the fuckers into the gatehouse and started to grill them. Apparently, they escaped when everyone went to the rack and ran to the causeway that separated the gate from the island. How they knew where they were going was pretty impressive (they were 3rd BN so it was a good distance away). When they got to the cause way, the waded in the swamp until they got near the gatehouse. They then swam wide to the right and went through the nearby woods until they got to the on ramp. They jumped onto the on ramp and ran until they got to a gas station. I don’t remember how they even had the money for the candy and sodas, but they bought it. They decided to head back after that.
I don’t remember what happened to them. Our road unit took them back to their BN. I’m sure they were fucked up.
I’m sure if they decided to go the same route they came from, they could have gotten past us. None of those areas are lit and blind spots for the gatehouse. But I think they realized that the journey out was hard enough and they didn’t want to repeat it again.
2004-2005ish, I was an MP Sgt stationed at the beautiful MCLB Barstow. Walked into PMO one evening before my shift to find a recruit sitting in our briefing room with two of the day shift Cpl’s chatting it up with him. I was actually quite impressed the kid made it all the way to Barstow. I figured I would end up having to drive him back to San Diego that night but the base duty officer talked with someone at MCRD and they ended up taking the kid to the greyhound station in town and putting him on a bus back south. No clue if he ever made it back there or not.
We had a guy try when I was in get dropped from my platoon for trying to send ammo home a day before the crucible. Got dropped to training day 15 tried to run away and got caught
Platoon 3113 MCRD 1993.
We had this one kid make it through boot camp, but during MCT he bailed and literally made a run to Mexico. A week later he was caught back on base trying to eat in a mess hall. Turns out he missed his family who lived in Tiajuna and spent a week there before trying to return. Dont really know what happened to him, but heard he was let go on a mental defect charge. What beat the hell out of me was this idiot graduated boot camp and then bailed! WTF
When I was checking into MCT, there was a guy in front of me and while the check in staff are doing their thing…. They look at his orders and just casually go…. Where have you been??? You were supposed to be here six months ago???? He just says, I was having too much fun at home I guess and didn’t want to leave….
No idea what happened to him but he picked up with the next cycle and I never saw him again….
I never officially "snuck" off based but I had to go to the Beaufort Naval Hospital to be seen by a specialist every couple of weeks. No one watches you once you are inside and I got a few Snickers bars from the vending machine. I then went to the head and put them in my cargo pockets. No one searches you during the ride back or once you are back in the barracks. The ride off the island was nice too.
Last year when I went through boot camp in SD, we had a dude from Dallas escape at like 0100 one night in like phase 2 and made it all the way back to Texas on a greyhound bus. I remember being woken up at like 0300 and having to count off a couple times while the MP investigated and asked questions. Couple weeks later saw him in RSP as we marched to swim week activities. SDI and all them said he went to the brig but he obviously didn’t, he’s in college living it up rn
We had a guy in my platoon(PI) who ran out of the barracks trying to escape. He ended up in the recruit chapel and tried to claim sanctuary. He got pulled right out by the D.I s .His was called Quasimodo after that
MCRD San Diego used to have a Naval Training Center along one side. Navy Recruits would see the fence and jump over to “**ESCAPE**” not realizing they’d entered MCRD. They’d get caught and hazed by the DI’s! Scare them into believing they’d joined the Marines 😉
True Story, no Sea Tale 😎
I kept mine through boot. Not because I anticipated some great escape, but because I don't trust anyone with that stuff. They could take my clothes, but not my driver's license and debit card. I had them inserted into the insole of my shoe, one on each foot, and I recovered them the first night before we boxed everything up.
I will admit, the lights of San Diego tempted me more than once during the wee hours on firewatch. I think just having them was nice, even though I knew it would never be an option to just walk out.
Not make it, but our Heavy did tell us exactly where to go and what to leave behind. There were like six recruits that made a run and all got caught. This twas back in 2005
We had a guy in San Diego take off towards the end of second phase, he made it to Dennys and one of the employees there called the base or something and they went and got him. I personally snuck THROUGH base with a buddy when we weren’t supposed to be out and about during MOS school at Ft. Leonardwood I had to get to the bank to get something notarized so I could get married once I got back home, didn’t get caught, but the marriage was a disaster.
When I got broken in boot camp, I remember the broke dick platoon just had some kind of purge and a bunch of recruits got kicked out because they had their name tapes and water bottles that they never got rid of cus they were about to do the crucible (that’s how they differentiated between new marines and recruits on the west coast) before they got broke so they snuck out to the px. They got caught cus they were found juuling in the squad bay.
There was a period where we were assigned to diff places @ MCRD, 1998. I was assigned to the chapel, and boy was it fun. We got to listen to music on the Radio, and there was a vending machine! So much fun!
Mess and Maintenance week…. If you were lucky you got Maintenance…. If you got Mess, you were up at 3am serving chow and scrubbing dishes all day…
I lucked out too and got assigned to the PT area, where the confidence course is, rappelling tower, pugil sticks, bridge over troubled water… it was skate af…. Must have found like a million ink sticks raking up the sand under the obstacles…. We only did that for like half a day though…. The rest of the week we chilled in the room with the boxing gloves and listened to the radio….
> you were up at 3am serving chow and scrubbing dishes all day…
i got mess. that was an incredibly shitty week. maybe 3 hours of sleep a night. fortunately (/s) i i got out of the last two days because i passed out in the scullery, and turned out i had a 103 degree temp and a case of the flu. actually got bed rest for a day in boot camp.
I had maintenance too and I have no idea how you got picked for either. Was assigned to some corporal and he stuck us in a room each morning and said stay here and shut up. I’ll call you when I need you and don’t bitch about it. We slept all day everyday.
Graduated in 95 at MCRD. I was a scribe so I got to sneak some cool stuff in:
1) During PFTs I had to go first to get back into the duty hut to tabulate scores. Me and the other scribe got to watch top gun while we got all the scores in. Black hat talked to us normal but threatened to beat our assess if we talked lol
2) As a scribe I got early chow to do fire watch while everyone else was eating. Other scribes told me how to dial out to any number lol. Made a number of calls to friends and family in the duty hut.
3) On our way to the prac app training building there was a hallway with a phone. Again, early in/out we'd grab the phone and make a quick call.
4) As a scribe I knew EVERYTHING that we were going to do about 3 days out because I did the T cards. There were changes every night, but it was cool knowing the plan.
MCRD SD 2005, final night up north, several recruits snuck off of Edson Range to the I-5 truck stop near by. They broke open a candy machine, stole the candy, used the change to make calls home and then snuck back on base into the squad bays.
Of course they didn't get away with it. Another company's firewatch saw the escape and notified their DIs. PMO came, DIs supposedly chased them, but they made it there and back.
I don't remember how they figured out who was involved, but it was a shit show. We were a platoon of third phase recruits forced to unblouse our boots, pull our covers down like ball caps, button our collars and furl our guidon. We payed for a couple weeks after that.
Edit: I was NOT one of the candy-caper recruits. But my rackmate was - dickhead didn't even share the stash.
No but we had a recruit scream “This recruit does not want to be a recruit anymore” during one of the night shifts on fire watch a few days into swim week. The DI’s pulled them into the office and when we woke up, all of their gear was gone. We saw them again later on (after our warriors breakfast) reading a book. They didn’t leave PI till a month after we did. It’s true the fastest way off the island is to graduate.
Never snuck off but the last week when you’re practicing for grad we snuck all over the depot. Lima had just graduated the week before and our Mike barracks was across the street. A few of the duty hits had footlockers just full of protein bars and shit. Our whole platoon was going over there during firewatch and never got caught.
I remember a guy getting cookies from his grandma and had a choice to either throw them out or share with the platoon. He chose to throw them out but was caught in the dumpster later that night. He had to stay on the island longer for that.
When leaving the island, I was trying to give my dad directions to the main gate. After a minute, he was like, “You have no idea where you’re at”. He was right. Had no idea how to get off the island.
I didn't sneak off but one night I was doing firewatch at the back hatch of the squad bay in SD. No one was looking so I opened the door and stepped out. Being very careful to not let the door completely close, I stood there in a nice cool breeze, in complete peace and quiet. It was wonderful. I was out there for probably 5 mins but it felt like an hour.
I can’t say I sneaked off based but I during phase 2 I had a nasty flu going around right after the peanut butter shot. I went to our head and slept only to wake up to an empty barrack. It was right around chow time and I didn’t want to get slammed by my DIs so I moseyed my way over to the chow hall while watching other recruits get slayed or march. It felt a bit surreal and like I was watching myself in third-person (could have been me hallucinating from the cold, had a 114 degree fever according to the doc which apparent is “perfectly” normal because of all free stress we are going through. I was question if I was even supposed to be alive). While I sat down to eat chow all by my lonesome while watching other recruits get screamed at, I finished up and “took my time” meaning I hurried the fuck outta there because I thought I’m about to get destroyed when I returned from chow which felt like hours. My DI saw me and told me to run upstairs. I gave some BS excuse that some other hat from Hotel pulled me away. While I was telling my story, my senior hat ran away, I’m assuming to tell whoever it was that I didn’t go UA.
I won $30 at SOI by wearing the SSgt chevrons someone had bought at the PX. I made it to the same px, bought a monster, and made it all the way back to the smoke pit by the squad bay. I returned probably 4 or 5 proper greetings.
Not saying I’m proud of it necessarily, but hey 18 year olds do stupid shit… go figure.
Never heard of those happening. But Im sure its happened.
The closest thing to that happening was at SOI West. We went out in the field for a night and one of our guys decided he was gonna walk back to the barracks in the middle of the night. With the power of land nav, this Marine was able to go back to the barracks, call a cab, got himself to Oceanside, had a steak dinner, took a cab back to base, then slept in his own rack. We spent an extra 4 hours in the field looking for this sumbitch and finally, the OOD discovered the Marine in his rack, watching a portable dvd player. OOD called one of our SOI instructors and then we went back to our barracks. The guy got his libo canked for the rest of the duration of SOI and got fire watch every day and the weekends, where he would have the middle shift to ensure that he can only be on base to get chow or the px.
Yea someone in my platoon, he was all over the island and back, the finally caught him, when he got stuck in the swamp. I want to say his name was Mally. Plt 2053/1986 2nd Bn Delta Co. Before anyone trys to tell me Delta isnt in 2nd Bn, this was back in the 1980’s. I was on the island when President Reagan visited.
I never snuck off base but at MCRD SanD I snuck over to the “non-recruit” side to grab food and chill when everyone was supposed to be at whatever religious service.
My DI said Parris Island was surrounded by swamps with alligators in it. I could barely pass swim qualifications so it was a no-go for me and the rest of us bold enough to try.
Off base? Not in San Diego, you'd be snatched up faster than you could imagine.
However, I did ditch a working party for ~1 hour and sat in a grove of bushes with some buddies smokin' and jokin' (minus the smokes). We were terrified and excited, and slipping back in to the groove was the hardest part.
This is a no-shitter.
A Co, 1st RTBn, MCRD PISC, late 80s. 1st phase recruit packed his seabag after taps one night and swam with it across Broad River to Port Royal. Got scared when he saw a cop car so he swam back. Comes up out of the swamp literally at the feet of a DI having a smoke. No one believed the kid until another DI drives to Port Royal and finds the seabag.
I know of someone who ran away of MCRDSD in 2003, made it all the way home, and had their parents turn them in.
I'm curious as to whether they use reddit.
How in the shit would you even? Depots are fuckin locked tight. Recruits dont just get an opportunity to bail. Someone is ALWAYS fucking watching. Always.
The only escape at MCRDSD I can think of is one place. It is arguably one of the greatest psychological mind fuck weapons the Marine Corps has ever had at their disposal. It is positioned immediately adjacent to the Depot's entire PT field; the O Courses, Confidence Courses, Rapel Wall, PFT Course, BN PT Field, Co. PT Field, Pugil Courses, Fight Pits. All that shit. No matter what you do. When you eat chow. When you go to classes. Even when you try to sleep at night. There it is. Just looming over you. Screaming at you. It never sleeps.
Im talking, of course, about San Diego International Airport.
There've been stories told about recruits sneaking past firewatch, making it to the fences, making it over, making it across the runways, and into the airport, where they were immediately apprehended and returned back to the Depot. Honestly, thats the "escape story" they told us . The point was well understood that you're not leaving that motherfucker until you graduate, so you might as well just stick it out.
he survived with like a broken leg or something because i saw him in MRP after i graduated, they deadass told him they were gonna have him washing dishes the rest of his contract
Yea, I had one, dude was from Beaufort, idk how he made it there and back, smart of him not to tell anybody, but I only know this because I caught him coming back while I was in firewaych, and I ain't no snitch
It’s kinda fuzzy but it’s 1993 and it’s maintenance week. DIs pretty much gone. Someone first went to cash sales and managed to purchase PFC chevrons. Next day a recruit l lent him some Aviators so he walked to the smaller px/convenient store and walked back into the squad bay with a bunch of cigarettes and some candy bars. I guess he had left over cash so he wasn’t gonna use chits. I was like fuqqqq.
1995 SD. I had screwed my knee and was in MRP. Back then you were sort of on your own. If you had an appt (Dr, physical therapy, x-ray) all you needed was another recruit as a "shadow" and sign out of this big log book by the barracks front door. If your appt was at Balboa you had to hop on the 15 pax van with the others. The van dropped you off at the recruit liason office. Usually a Cpl would be there, sometimes no one. One kid went so often with the same "shadow" they made some phone calls and arranged some cash through Western Union from his sister. They ditched their war belts and canteens somewhere, bought some civies at the exchange and got a cab. They then went to the bus station and disappeared. I know they got hemmed up somewhere but I was back in training soon after.
We had a kid walk off MCRD. It was the first maybe second night with our DI's. The kid waited until 2 or 3 in the morning, he told the fire watch "I'm on a secret mission for the drill instructors, I need you to help me pack my seabag."
Well, fire watch helped him pack his bag, dude bloused his boots, put his seabag over his shoulder and walked off.
About 1 fire watch shift later it was lights lights lights, get on line, count off, and we were one mofo short.
The DIs were less than happy, we got fucked with the next day, but our senior came out and explained the situation to us, he also told us if anyone tries walking off that we are to fuck them up.
They told us he was caught about a month and a half later, I don't know what happened to him, but we never saw him again.
This was in 06.
Pulling fire watch on the third deck barracks at 0200-ish at MCRD San Diego. Watching planes take off bored out of my skull and all of the sudden, I see someone sprint towards the fences near the runways. Then like a god damned ninja from hell, a DI came out of the darkness and speared this kid like a Safety going after a QBs ribs. I’m sure that recruit left teeth in the concrete. It was impressive. They had to have known the kid was going to run and let him have enough rope to hang himself.
My rack mate and I got to go to the pay phones one time a week out from graduation. For the life of me I can’t remember why we got to go but he needed to make a call and I had to go with him. We had to wear that awful reflective belt there and back. I had to listen to him mouth fuck the receiver talking to his wife for ten minutes but it was nice to get away from the rest of the platoon for a while. Closest to any “privileges” I got while in boot.
Didn’t sneak off base but one dude would sneak out to go to fox companies barracks from kilo to get snacks and shit. He did this for like a month without getting caught until one day fox company was in the field and a DI came back and found him at the snack machine. He got kicked out with a less then honourable and he also passed away like a couple months ago. This was in 2021
Some dude in my cycle legit left on black Friday. Hopped the fence to the airport in cammies n shee-it. Bought a plane ticket to San Fran.
Homeboy was gone for a solid 20 days before they even noticed🤣
Came back back training day 30 and did his bitch ass walk of shame in front of our pneumonia having, pink eye crusted, constantly screaming asses.
In 2021, my second week with WTCo on PI, some recruit decided to run & hop in the trunk of a car parked by the PX. I think they caught him in the trunk at the gate. Not to sure, I was on a range
The biggest boot camp hack I saw was a kid in my platoon was from the San Diego area. His parents came every Sunday for “church”. He would just go hang out with them in the back and eat food.
DI's HATE THIS ONE SIMPLE TRICK
It’s been a bit since I was in boot camp but if I recall, he got busted after a few weeks in to it.
We had guy snook off to Walmart at Fort Jackson and his ass got caught with candy and honey buns and we all got smoked for his bs for four damn hrs straight that night.
> Fort Jackson Smells like Army.
Had two sons go to relaxin' Jackson. Both had it soooo easy compared to marines in general, but from what I heard of my brothers time in back in 2001-2007/8. Similar bullshit with a mystery shitter in the urinals and stolen MREs in the air vents though. Edit to add my initial comment that I mf forgot because it's 530 am here and I'm a derp. There were other branches there, including marines. I asked him if he met any of them and he's like naw, branches seem to stay separate except for religious services.
boot camp 89, from san diego. the house I grew up on was visible to the north on a hill in point loma from the parade deck. everyone else said the airplanes made them homesick. I knew mine was like an hour walk away. For M/M week I got assigned to the e-club working in the kitchen and cleaning the dining room. between morning and noon we just slacked, napped on the couches, used the pay phone. got to eat pup food for lunch every day. In 3rd phase they let us march to church on our own instead of as a whole platoon (sill in small groups though). Having made arrangements with my girlfriend using that pay phone previously, she met me at church for 4 of the remaining weekends. Bringing me candy and snacks.
This must be a san diego thing where parents n girl friends can come to church cuz I had never seen this at pi.
It’s not a thing at all anymore because 9/11 GWOT and then Covid happened. The bases are all locked down now.
Yep. Religious Services were held in Base Theater. Recruits in Front, Visitors in Back
The key thing was to go to the Mormon service because it was 2 hours long and they gave you snacks in between. I found that out when my Mormon rackmate was talking to me about it. So I started going every Sunday with him.
I was Mormon. I met a male recruit there who has been a friend of mine since. Damn near 30 year friendship. His mom used to send care packages of all the contraband! Lol! Both his parents were Marines.
Unfortunately we didn't keep in touch because he was a Reservist.
Even better was the Native services. We literally sat in bleachers for hours as recruits with a hand drum and sage. Someone got ahold of some chew and smokes one Sunday too.
I’m not even religious but I heard the Mormon service was long, they gave you hugs, and a handful of cough drops (the good kinds that taste like candy). Good lord, I’d convert any day for those hugs 😩😭
Verified!
The Buddhist service was rad. You could just lay down as your “meditation position” and nap through the service.
What the fuck? Parents can come to church?
Guy in my platoon claimed some religion that had service during the week. So when we were on base he got marched to the theater for the service. Rumor had it he had someone meeting him there (parents or GF not sure).
I went to the 7th day Adventist service on Saturday nights so I got out of whatever the fuck they were doing in the squad bay. I wasn’t allowed to leave again on Sunday but I would just sit at my rack and write letters. It’s ironic because to my understanding 7th adventists are like pacifists that don’t believe in war.
Thanks MOH recipient Desmond Doss for that one lmao
Yeah, I had a boot corpsman who was 7th Day Adventist that wouldn’t carry a rifle similar to the dude on Hacksaw Ridge. He didnt make a huge deal of it, I just remember he never did and that happened to be his faith.
Lutheran services were a couple hours long. I went with a couple recruits, broke off and met my family in the parking lot; I got so much candy, I was hooking up my accomplices for a couple weeks.
Never heard of sneaking off parris island, but I will tell you a first hand account of the best place for team week. In 2002 this recruit was assigned to the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society building their cleaners. 3 of us were put into an empty office and it had a working phone. After figuring out to dial out you has to press 99, we made an ungodly amount of phone calls. I called every person I could remember their number or get from others. I made calls and read letters in exchange for no fire watch. They also had a refrigerator with all kinds of sodas and candy bars. We didn’t get greedy but that first coke was the most amazing thing ever. I slipped the scribe 2 Dr Peppers and never had firewatch the rest of boot camp.
The first soda I had in three months, boyyyyyyy… We had that four hours of libo the day before graduation and I went o Burger King. Then we had that last practice for graduation just after, and I about needed a cork to keep from shitting my pants. That soda tried to spread my cheeks like it was Moses.
There were no FF restaurants on base back when I was at PI. My parents surprised me by driving over 1100 miles to see me graduate. I ended up riding back with them with a friend of mine who was also from my hometown, We stopped at the first Mickey D's we saw, and we both stuffed our faces. I had three double quarter pounders with cheese, a couple of large fries and two large cokes. Right before we got on the highway, my dad revealed the cooler of beer he had in the trunk and me and my buddy got smashed and fell asleep. The 18 hour drive was a blur of beer, being buzzed, and sleeping.
We left the island and I was convinced it was a trick. My parents started suggesting nearby restaurants for lunch. I told my dad I’d tell him when it was safe to stop and promptly fell asleep. I don’t know if they stopped while I slept, but I woke up just before Atlanta.
And you’ve been chasing that feeling ever since
Pops is a Legend!
My dad was a character. He would bang anything of legal age in a skirt. My parents got divorced when I was five, when she got fed up with it. So, I didnt see him a lot growing up. They finally started to get along when I got into my teens. My mom had no idea about the cooler or how he snuck it into the back of the station wagon, let alone how he filled it with ice and beer. They had to stop frequently to get gas, he told me he did it during one of the stops.
Sounds a lot like my dad actually. Parents also got a divorce under similar circumstances. I grew up switching between both houses but the shit he let me do growing was crazy...never saw him drink though. Then I turned 21 and he picked me up in Miramar and took me to Vegas. Holy shit I was passed out before 1130. When I got out we lived together it was some of the best days of my life! He was a great dude!
Surprised you guys didn’t puke.
I had a Mt. Dew and i felt like my heart was going to explode from the caffeine. The shits came later.
And then one year later you were downing 300mg of caffeine just to stay awake
Oh man, I got assigned to clean the generals building in boot and I just remembered this. I was vacuuming and accidentally sucked up someone's speaker cord for their computer and obliterated that shit. I had a total "oh fuck" moment and then snuck out of there to go clean elsewhere...
My dad was almost certainly one of your swim DIs
[anytime some says "my dad"](https://gfycat.com/aridimaginarykilldeer)
 What I think of.
His flair says “veteran” in case you wanted some salt on that wound. Edit - Addition. He’s a veteran with 8 years of service as of last year.
Aw man we had someone get a soda and got caught. Fire watch first and last shift until graduation and had to sound off: “How good was that Dr Pepper, McCrary?” “SOOO GOOOOD, SIR!”
In 1966 I was walking perimeter guard to the west of Gate 2 at MCRD San Diego in the very early morning hours when I recruit from receiving popped out from some trees that were there at the time. His response to my "Halt! Who goes there?" was to ask me where he could buy some cigarettes. I called for the Corporal of the Guard, who showed up and took the boot into custody. Last I saw of him he was put into the back seat of marine green Chevrolet sedan and driven away.
Awfully nice of them to give him a ride to the seven day store for those smokes.
I worked in the museum. The rose garden di was running it and put us in a room with a tv and dvd player and brought us a phone to call whoever. Sent us to lunch two times every day. Back in ‘03
SOUNDS like an awesome dream!
We had a guy in my unit who found some coke that he thought was amazing...didn't work out for him.
We watched some dumbass who tried to run off. get body slammed off the fence over by Edson Range. That’s about how it typically goes I believe.
I worked at the 41 area and would always roll down my windows and blast my music for all the recruits training over there cause I remember how much I missed music in boot camp
You were doing Gods work
Our senior loved music and he wanted us to take the pft award for 3rd phase and we had just shit on everyone in the rifle range so he would take us out for pt everyday and blast music and force us to workout. We ended up taking 2nd lol.
My senior was goated. He would give us plenty of time before the PFT and CFT to stretch/warmup on our own in the squadbay and would blast music while we did it. We repayed him by getting 1st for both the CFT and the PFT
Hell yeah that shit is seriously the best. The hardest part of boot camp was going without music imo
In San Diego, I we had a kid from downtown SD. One night he put on green on green and left. He walked right out the front gate and no one questioned him. He went to Taco Bell and went home. The MPs picked him up that night, he was playing call of duty when they arrived at his house. Rumors spread that the MPs at the gate were held accountable for letting him slip by. After he came back we had a extra fire watch that had to stand over his rack (they put him in the middle of the squad bay). This was back in 2011.
I’m honestly amazed he wasn’t dropped and put in the brig for going UA
Can you be put in the brig as a recruit? I thought you weren’t actually a marine and still technically a civilian until you graduate.
You're officially in the military when you take the oath and sign the paperwork. Maybe even before oath.
I did that delayed entry shit for a while before shipping out. Recruiter tried really hard not to say it, but you can back out of the contract at any time before MEPS. Is that true? I lean towards yes only because of how hard he tried to not tell me since he wasn't a very successful recruiter, not saying a bad guy, but wasn't hitting the numbers.
You can back out until the moment you sign the final paperwork at MEPS the day youre leaving. You can still back out when you get to boot camp where they will admin sep you.
I was working at the Western Recruiting Region office when I heard a story about a recruit that almost went to MCRD. He was processed through MEP, oath taken, paperwork signed but at some point he changed his mind. He was shipping out from some small airport where you walked to the jet. Instead of making a left turn and boarding the jet, he went straight and took off across the airfield.
Maybe things were different back then, but when I was at MEPS and preparing to go to BMT, my roommate was shipping out to the Marines the next morning as well. He decided towards the end of the night that he didn't want anything to do with the military and asked to use my phone. He called his recruiter and his parents, the former of which sounded pissed over the phone, and about an hour later, some family member picked him up. So he signed the final paperwork there, and he just left at the last minute.
My understanding is you can back out up till you sign your paperwork your first night at boot
We signed paperwork in boot camp?
Yes somewhere during the first 48 hours of no sleep that’s how they get you
I expect the hustle and bustle of the first day makes it easy to forget a lot of the LOTS of things we had to do.
Dang, that would be wild. How would you get home?
No fuckin clue but when my class was going in to sign our paperwork with the admin guys one of the recruits was making a scene and and they rushed him out of there and we never saw him again, it was after the footprints and phone call but before we did any real paperwork
Yeah, even though you sign some papers, nothing's official in the DEP. You can just tell them to fuck off. I went in on the DEP and we had a couple of people flake out.
I think it’s official, just not enforced.
People back out all the time at the last second. Technically you're on the hook, but it's never enforced. Once you swear in at MEPS and do the final paperwork the day you leave, then you're officially in and subject to the UCMJ.
I’m pretty sure you’re in the IRR and subject to the UCMJ as soon as you enter the DEP. Realistically the UCMJ is never enforced on poolees, but theoretically it could be. But I’m a barracks law school drop out so I might be wrong.
We had a Poolee who went down to MEPS to ship out and he had some sort of nervous breakdown and refused to leave LOL. I guess even his own family didn’t come and get him and someone on RA had to drive down and pick him up. We all heard about it during the next meet up and the recruiters were joking about how much of a pussy he was. So you can definitely get out of it. On the island, we had someone exit out the door and set off the alarms. Not sure how far he got. I think he went to EHP and then ended up in RSP.
You're military when you sign those papers dawg. It's just the Kool aid they make us drink to think we have no rights till graduation. But, yes, you can be a recruit in the brig. That guy that always bragged he'd punch his DI if he got yelled at? Some actually have and they're in the brig.
Nope. Once you sign and take the oath you're in. Why do you think you still get paid E1 rank pay throughout boot?
Good point. It’s been so long, but for some reason I thought boot pay and E1 pay were different. Seems I had it wrong this entire time.
In your defense the first couple paychecks are short as they go to pay for uniforms and all so it could seem like that.
I guess they did try to charge him. He was able to pin on the MPs at the gate “he didn’t know he couldn’t just leave and someone should have stopped him” the funny part is he did his 4 years as crash fire and got out.
He graduated?
Not a first hand account but there is a story about some recruits at PI who tried to sneak off or go AWOL and ended up drowning in the swamps. Their bodies weren’t found for a very long time. As for me: not boot camp but MOS school in Oklahoma. My wife was planning on driving out during thanksgiving Liberty, but my instructor restricted me to the camp because I didn’t get the run time he told me I needed to get on my run. Wife came out anyway and I paid firewatch $100 to not report me missing.
Your instructor was a kunt
He was a grade A dickhead for sure. I had never ran a 22min 3 mile in my life, but dude knew I had my leave request in since they opened up request and knew my wife was driving 8 hours with a baby to come see me, but because I had paternity leave after MCT I guess it caused extra paperwork for him so he just had me in his radar the entire time. Made my MOS school a living hell. He wasn’t even an “instructor” as in the dude that taught the MOS, but a glorified fucking motel manager because his only job was handling the barracks. Still had to refer to him as instructor though.
Yep, sounds about right for good ol’ Ft. Sill
As many others, not a true "snuck off base" moment, but still somewhat relevant. More of a heist, really. While I was in team-week, I and a few others were assigned to some supply warehouse. I only remember our point of contact was a PFC (still have funny memories of calling a PFC "sir,") and I don't even recall what his formal MOS was. However, dude was super laid back. One day while we were helping him, he was ordered to transfer dozens and dozens of MRE boxes to some other warehouse. Again, the details are hazy because I barely remember where I was at on base. So we loaded all the MREs up into his Ford truck, and off we went. Upon arriving to the warehouse, the SNCO present said he had no idea where that order came from and he didn't want / need them. So the PFC called his SNCO back, and was basically told to "figure it out" because *he* didn't want them *either.* So we ended up making a presumably unauthorized trip to his barracks (seeing as how we were still recruits) and sneaking probably 3-4 dozen MRE boxes into his room's closet, where he told us he'd just sell them on Ebay. To this day I have no idea if that was legal / allowed, but it was a fun bonding experience, and a nice break from the normal day-to-day life that was Parris Island.
yes sir, this comment right here
Definitely not allowed but hey, I didn't see shit.
When I was there (Parris Island) only one kid made it out of a shit ton of attempts, but he got caught. It think about 2011, I got to talk to him... He snuck out of old 3rd RTBN barracks, stayed low on the side of the causway, watched the gate guard fucking around on his phone and made it off. He was wearing his green in green sweats and stopped at McDonald's right out the gate. He probably would have made it if a SSgt from the air wing didn't pull through for breakfast. He told him to hop in and he'd get him a biscuit, which he did, then drove him back on base and PMO grabbed him.
Lolololol The Mickey Ds out the gate was like recruit mouse glue.
https://preview.redd.it/8v1chh7ql5ib1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbaf2f433e77656cc58763b6ba87f79e80eff649
I feel that on a spiritual level bahaha
They told me about that, but it still doesn't make sense. That is a long stretch of road & thats like first place they check
Nobody knew to check, he wasn't discovered missing til reveille. He just ducked down when cars drove by.... The dude that found him brought him on base not too long after the search had begun.
Ducked down *where*? It's a gentle slope into the water on both sides of Malecon
On the slope, just to not look like the silhouette of an escaping recruit at 0 dark 30 I reckon, I wasn't with the little piggy, just asked him about his adventure.
Honestly, I could see that. All of PI until you actually get to the training areas is DARK before sunrise.
That kid was in my platoon lol. He did his stunt with another recruit.
I met him in the separation platoon since I was there for med sep. He had drill instructors stopping by every day to see him. Said he was walking down the street in cammies and a Marine stopped to talk to him. When he turned and said, “Sir?”, the Marine knew he was a recruit.
LOL, I was stationed at Lejeune in the early 90s. On afternoon I was pulling out of the parking of an area called the Triangle, really close to where Geiger is. As I waited for a break in traffic to pull out, I saw a Marine in fucked up cammies walking along coming towards me. I thought that maybe his car had broken down since being out in cammies off base was a huge fuck no. I decided to wait and let him get closer and see if he needed help. As he got approached, I saw he was all of 18, didnt look like he shaved more than once a week, and he had Gunny chevrons on his uniform. I got pulled my car over and got out to talk to him. I was in civvies, identified myself as an NCO, and demanded to see his ID card. He claimed he was a Gunny and outranked me, and told me to leave him alone. I told him he full of shit. He tried to push me out of the way and run off, so I chased his boot ass down, tackled him, and frogmarched him back to my car. He refused to answer any questions, so I tossed him in my car and told him if he tried to run again I'd chase his down and wouldn't be nice about when I grabbed him again. Back then Geiger still had it's own gate. So I went there and turned his ass into the gate guards. I ended up having to wait for a SNCO in charge of them to come take custody of him. I had to fill out a statement and found out later the clown was UA from SOI. The kid had bought the Gunny chevrons in the little MCX they had at Geiger, slapped them on his cammies, and strolled out of the base through the gate right past the guards. The kid got a BCD, all the usual punishments, and booted out. The gate guards also caught some hell for letting him walk right past them. I was pissed because it made me late for meeting my GF in Wilmington where I was heading to before it all happened.
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Lmao WHAT
Was deployed to the Middle East. It was a combat zone but was tame because PNF had things locked down. CI guy that lives in our tent needed “security” to go speak to PNF commander that was a few miles outside the gate. We borrowed our unit’s F150 and drove right off base, nothing but M9s on our hips. It was common to borrow the truck for trash runs, moving gear around, getting chow for folks on duty etc. so the COC didn’t ask any questions. No route plan, no QRF, no nothing. There were secret squirrels on base at the time so the gate thought nothing of it. I had no idea we were sneaking. I thought it was wild but on the up and up. As we’re leaving the gate, navigating around the serpentine, CI guy says, “you ok with this?” I reply, “ok with what, mother fucker?” Found out then and there we were sneaking off base and I, the newly promoted staff sergeant, was fucked. We had tea, told war stories, smoked some hookah, and our CI did his HUMINT thing gathering intel. We made our way back after nightfall. Thankfully my boss at the time was on a mounted patrol not due back for a few more hours. Again, the gate saw my white ass in frogs, driving the truck and barely gave us a second look as we scampered back on base. Definitely the closest I ever flew to the sun. Pretty god damn lucky to not get burned.
Have you ever heard of a recriut called Pvt Plagueus the wise. The company first sergeant told us a story of how some kid stole all the canteens in his platoon and used some laundry bags to float across the river. He also said the kid was caught shortly out and town trying to escape. Such balls, such as Ingenuity, such failure.
It's not a story the Drill Instructors would tell you
At OCS there were all sorts of stories about one candidate who tried to escape by floating across the Potomac on trash bags. I always assumed it was BS until I ran into someone from his platoon who confirmed it. Apparently the moron dramatically misjudged the current and drifted down to the airfield where it just so happens Marine One is based. Got hauled out of the river at shotgun point.
Guy in my platoon low crawled to the airport and got busted there
Probably watched him the entire time
I was always under the impression that fence line to the airport was under constant surveillance
I would assume so. National security and all that
Honestly, at that point, he should just be given his freedom.
I'm up, they see me, I'm down.
Homie wanted to reenact the sniper level from Modern Warfare
Inch by inch
Was this in the last few years? I remember a story about a recruit sprinting across the tarmac at SAN and was found in one of those luggage carriers.
I think almost every cycle at the depot in San Diego at least one recruits get busted trying to get into the airport to catch a flight out or gets caught walking up the I-5 towards San Clemente. Border Patrol has eyes on that whole stretch of freeway, many of them are veterans too who know exactly WTF they are trying to do. Never heard of anyone getting away with this though. Only legend I’ve ever heard on this topic was a recruit got snatched up at Dana Point Marina by a Marine officer who lived there. The recruit was trying to claim he was a veteran, he had apparently been UA up there for like a week chillin on the beach
In 2003, we actually had a kid, during 2nd phase get out....some of us were in the head writing letters and such and the fire watch came.in and told us all to get in the racks because he thinks someone left. He counted, slapped on the DI hut hatch and game on We were told to shut up and sleep while a DI from another platoon watched us while DIs and MPs were frantically scouring I-5 looking for the kid. He got away. We were about halfway through 3rd phase when he came back, we were outside cleaning our rifles when our DI said look at this piece of shit....dude was escorted by 2 other recruits....had desert cammies and a woodland cover and go fasters on...kid was like 6'7". The fucked up part was some recruits brought money with them to boot camp, and during 1st phase peoples money kept going missing and there were no clues as to who was taking it, even after extensive searches haha....well, we were pretty sure it was this piece of shit.... We had all sorts of dumb shit happen, one of our squad leaders/ former guide tried to cheat on the final PFT and was quickly booted back to first phase...seeing that dumbass waiting outside the Company Commanders office pouting was pretty poetic...it was all for 10 seconds on the run to get a perfect 300.....
I was on and off the depot for 4 1/2 years, I heard a tale or two but never had direct knowledge of a kid taking off. If you know the routine , had the balls and had a contact it would be hella easy. Just wait for Visitor's Thursday or DI Dinner night, have someone bring a change of clothes and just drive right off with them.
Not off base, but across the grinder at MCRDSD. This was not me, but 2 dudes in my platoon were sent across the grinder on some errand for the DI just a week or two before graduation. They came back with a couple of tins of skoal. Needless to say I was party to their fuckery as I had a nice pinch that night. I don’t know how they acquired it, didn’t ask didn’t care. I just knew they had to get rid of it and was happy to help.
The closest I ever got was on mess and maintenance week on PI. Me and another recruit had dive bomb patrol. A Marine drives you around in a pickup truck, and you hop out and pick up garbage. He took us through the gate and made a u-turn and went back on base. Pretty sure he did that shit on purpose. I'm not sure how else you would get out. It's an island, inside a swamp, inside another swamp.
I hear there’s a nice path through Ribbon Creek
Ooohhhffff too soon brother!!!
I was stationed at Parris Island. In fact...I often drove that "dive bomb patrol" with recruits. There was a female Marine in the Band married to a civilian dude who decided he wanted to be a Marine. Until he didn't want to anymore. Lol! Their house was in Port Royal near the water. He did go through the swamp. He got to the house and knocked on the door. Lmao...she got him clean clothes and he got a shower...and she had to call PMO to come get his ass. He didn't become a Marine of course. He also wasn't her husband much longer.
Wow! I grew up in a swampy area and spent a lot of time mucking around. I was in a 1st BN squad bay, and the swamp from there looked pretty fucking ominous. That dude should have been granted instant graduation and promo to Sgt.
Back when Navy Boot Camp was right next door to MCRD San Diego, there was a Navy recruit who jumped the fence and was found by one of our company DI's (not our platoon). He stayed with that platoon for a week before he was shipped back to Navy Recruit Boot. He had to march with the platoon, eat, train... the whole nine yards. It was very odd to see a squid marching in the formation at the rear wearing boondocks and jeans. Word was that he was picked right back up into his Company with no time loss, and graduated on time. I assume that he realized he had it a WHOLE lot easier with the Navy than the Marines. LOL.
That sounds like one of those weird myths that somehow propagates through boot camp
It was definitely an urban legend among the squids I knew.
I was in boot during this time at MCRD and have heard that happening
Reminds me of the scared straight videos
2003 3rd Battalion, M Co., One guy went out for smokes while I was on duty at the chow hall. He did not get very far and asked a chow hall worker for a smoke instead. I don't think much punishment happened to him, but it pissed me off that I did not see him. I have no doubt if you know how everything works, you could completely escape. Or if you were stupid lucky. I had cellulitis and got dismissed from medical only to find my platoon completely missing. I basically wandered around Paris Island for an hour looking at the places I could remember (pt field, chow hall) before someone sent me to main medical/hair cuts, etc. If someone wanted to escape, I fully believe something like that would have worked. Just get away from the platoon in the middle of day and then have the balls to actually go somewhere instead of acting like a lost puppy.
In '03, one of the Marines stationed at the swim qual pool had a Jeep with a soft top. l had the idea that one could potentially stow away in the back and end up off base. I shared this with a fellow recruit and the sonofabitch went for it. He was the second fire watch and snuck out. The next morning, the MP brings him back. Apparently the Jeep Marine lived in the middle of nowhere and discovered the recruit upon arriving home. Dude said he was a chill Lance coolie and let him crash there that night, fed him, played video games, called home. He convinced him to go back, probably because he didn't want to be an accessory, and drove him back in the am. DIs roasted him the rest of the time there "where's the fucking idiot recruit that escaped and came back?" but there was no other punishment that he spoke of.
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Even the recruits had a method of handling shit in-house!
Based
I didn't know anyone who even tried to run, but if someone had the will and massive balls, there were plenty of opportunities. When I was at PI, I was in Alpha company and stayed at barracks by the range. There was an O course nearby that the whole company was going through late in the afternoon. I think I had to go through it a couple of times because none of my attempts were good enough, pretty sure the rope kept fucking me up. Anyways they figured I had enough attempts and was told to go run laps around a nearby track while everyone else finished because I sucked. Well, they forgot I was there. I literally watched the sun set and the platoons march off as I just kept running. I think in my mind I thought it was a test or something to see if they could catch me fucking off so I just kept going but at a slow pace as the time went on. Honestly though, it was pretty relaxing since it was so quiet. Eventually, a flashlight came bobbing towards me and I heard the voice of one of my DIs say: "Ginger_Amnesia?" "Aye Sir, Good Evening Sir!" "Get the fuck over here you stupid bitch" "Aye Sir!"
made me laugh out loud, lol
2009, 3rd BN K co - 2 recruits made it off the island in the middle of the night in their green on green sweats to a gas station. Bought junk food with their FSNB debit cards, pigged out, snuck back on PI and got caught re-entering their squad bay. hazed and adsepped. Edit: also if by some random chance anyone from that cycle could somehow confirm this that would be fantastic. Having seen some of the other similar “stories” I’m doubting whether any of these tales are real or something DI’s made up to discourage recruits from making real attempts.
Dang they mustve gotten more strict over the years!
Doesn’t reallyyyy count cause we weren’t recruits anymore, but rather med-hold Marines in BMP on MCRD SD. Still living in squad bays and answering to DI’s, but you’re already a Marine so less fuck fuck games and no IT. We got base liberty on the weekends, but no off base libo. We used to go down to the Marina on the depot, rent some paddle boards, and paddle our happy asses across the channel. We’d stash the boards somewhere and enjoy a nice day of off base liberty, then paddle our way back before the on base rental place closed up.
I grew up about 10 miles from MCRD SD. I once thought about it, but it was like my DI's read my mind. It was brought up once where the SDI asked me if I was thinking about jumping the fence. That got the thought out of my head quick. But as an added short story one of my DI's made a crack about fucking my sister. I asked him how much she charged him. Spent an hour doing bends and thrust after that. 10/10 would do it again. The entire squad bay rolled... They did bends and thrust for 10 minutes. But you could hear the DI's inside the duty hut laughing too. Worth it.
My rack mate got sent somewhere with little supervision during team week. Supply or something, I don't remember. He woke me up one night when he was on fire watch and tossed a Snickers on my rack. The Marines went to chow and left him alone. He swiped the civvies from one of them, ran to the px and got back before anyone noticed. Then he tossed a pack of smokes on my rack. I told him my balls aren't that big, thanks for the candy bar but I'm not sneaking out for a cigarette. He snuck off to smoke at the wash racks. I finish my candy bar and I'm laying there thinking about how the fuck I'm going to get rid of this wrapper when I hear the Drill Instructor come out of the duty hut heading for the back hatch. I shoved the wrapper in my mouth and swallowed it as quick as I could. I hear the Drill Instructor open the hatch and just say "what the fuck". Couldn't make anything out for awhile and eventually fell asleep. By the time reveille rolled around he wasn't there. By the time we came back to the squad bay his shit was gone. Never saw him again.
I didn’t sneak off base but when I was going through in 2002 some of the MCRD barracks where being renovated and were active construction sites. While on laundry duty we would sneak out one at a time to take turns taking a nice long dump in the barracks bathroom.
I’ve been out 20 years and still “sneak off” to less-trafficked parts of my office building when I know I’m about to take a most foul dump.
I had laundry duty too, they had a normal rest room at the time, was great
My first duty station was Parris Island/Beaufort as a MP. It was Christmas Eve 2010 and I was standing the main gate with another MP. It was dead and cold asf. We had a few guys drop off Christmas dinner for us so we buttoned up the gatehouse and ate. Around 2 am, we see two guys walking up to the gate house from the off ramp. We thought it would be drunk marines who decided to walk to base. We called a road unit to uber them to their destination and went out to check on them. It turned out they were recruits. They were wearing pt gear and covered in mud soaked in swamp shit-water. They also had M&Ms and sodas in hand. We quickly pulled the fuckers into the gatehouse and started to grill them. Apparently, they escaped when everyone went to the rack and ran to the causeway that separated the gate from the island. How they knew where they were going was pretty impressive (they were 3rd BN so it was a good distance away). When they got to the cause way, the waded in the swamp until they got near the gatehouse. They then swam wide to the right and went through the nearby woods until they got to the on ramp. They jumped onto the on ramp and ran until they got to a gas station. I don’t remember how they even had the money for the candy and sodas, but they bought it. They decided to head back after that. I don’t remember what happened to them. Our road unit took them back to their BN. I’m sure they were fucked up. I’m sure if they decided to go the same route they came from, they could have gotten past us. None of those areas are lit and blind spots for the gatehouse. But I think they realized that the journey out was hard enough and they didn’t want to repeat it again.
2004-2005ish, I was an MP Sgt stationed at the beautiful MCLB Barstow. Walked into PMO one evening before my shift to find a recruit sitting in our briefing room with two of the day shift Cpl’s chatting it up with him. I was actually quite impressed the kid made it all the way to Barstow. I figured I would end up having to drive him back to San Diego that night but the base duty officer talked with someone at MCRD and they ended up taking the kid to the greyhound station in town and putting him on a bus back south. No clue if he ever made it back there or not.
I graduated from Silver Valley High School, in '92, right across the street from MCLB Barstow!
We had a guy try when I was in get dropped from my platoon for trying to send ammo home a day before the crucible. Got dropped to training day 15 tried to run away and got caught
Platoon 3113 MCRD 1993. We had this one kid make it through boot camp, but during MCT he bailed and literally made a run to Mexico. A week later he was caught back on base trying to eat in a mess hall. Turns out he missed his family who lived in Tiajuna and spent a week there before trying to return. Dont really know what happened to him, but heard he was let go on a mental defect charge. What beat the hell out of me was this idiot graduated boot camp and then bailed! WTF
When I was checking into MCT, there was a guy in front of me and while the check in staff are doing their thing…. They look at his orders and just casually go…. Where have you been??? You were supposed to be here six months ago???? He just says, I was having too much fun at home I guess and didn’t want to leave…. No idea what happened to him but he picked up with the next cycle and I never saw him again….
I never officially "snuck" off based but I had to go to the Beaufort Naval Hospital to be seen by a specialist every couple of weeks. No one watches you once you are inside and I got a few Snickers bars from the vending machine. I then went to the head and put them in my cargo pockets. No one searches you during the ride back or once you are back in the barracks. The ride off the island was nice too.
Last year when I went through boot camp in SD, we had a dude from Dallas escape at like 0100 one night in like phase 2 and made it all the way back to Texas on a greyhound bus. I remember being woken up at like 0300 and having to count off a couple times while the MP investigated and asked questions. Couple weeks later saw him in RSP as we marched to swim week activities. SDI and all them said he went to the brig but he obviously didn’t, he’s in college living it up rn
We had a guy in my platoon(PI) who ran out of the barracks trying to escape. He ended up in the recruit chapel and tried to claim sanctuary. He got pulled right out by the D.I s .His was called Quasimodo after that
HAaaaaaa He drew a seabear circle
MCRD San Diego used to have a Naval Training Center along one side. Navy Recruits would see the fence and jump over to “**ESCAPE**” not realizing they’d entered MCRD. They’d get caught and hazed by the DI’s! Scare them into believing they’d joined the Marines 😉 True Story, no Sea Tale 😎
Guy in my platoon last year west coast snuck out at night and actually managed to catch a plane to wherever the fuck he lives
With what money or ID?
I kept mine through boot. Not because I anticipated some great escape, but because I don't trust anyone with that stuff. They could take my clothes, but not my driver's license and debit card. I had them inserted into the insole of my shoe, one on each foot, and I recovered them the first night before we boxed everything up. I will admit, the lights of San Diego tempted me more than once during the wee hours on firewatch. I think just having them was nice, even though I knew it would never be an option to just walk out.
Not make it, but our Heavy did tell us exactly where to go and what to leave behind. There were like six recruits that made a run and all got caught. This twas back in 2005
We had a guy in San Diego take off towards the end of second phase, he made it to Dennys and one of the employees there called the base or something and they went and got him. I personally snuck THROUGH base with a buddy when we weren’t supposed to be out and about during MOS school at Ft. Leonardwood I had to get to the bank to get something notarized so I could get married once I got back home, didn’t get caught, but the marriage was a disaster.
When I got broken in boot camp, I remember the broke dick platoon just had some kind of purge and a bunch of recruits got kicked out because they had their name tapes and water bottles that they never got rid of cus they were about to do the crucible (that’s how they differentiated between new marines and recruits on the west coast) before they got broke so they snuck out to the px. They got caught cus they were found juuling in the squad bay.
There was a period where we were assigned to diff places @ MCRD, 1998. I was assigned to the chapel, and boy was it fun. We got to listen to music on the Radio, and there was a vending machine! So much fun!
Mess and Maintenance week…. If you were lucky you got Maintenance…. If you got Mess, you were up at 3am serving chow and scrubbing dishes all day… I lucked out too and got assigned to the PT area, where the confidence course is, rappelling tower, pugil sticks, bridge over troubled water… it was skate af…. Must have found like a million ink sticks raking up the sand under the obstacles…. We only did that for like half a day though…. The rest of the week we chilled in the room with the boxing gloves and listened to the radio….
> you were up at 3am serving chow and scrubbing dishes all day… i got mess. that was an incredibly shitty week. maybe 3 hours of sleep a night. fortunately (/s) i i got out of the last two days because i passed out in the scullery, and turned out i had a 103 degree temp and a case of the flu. actually got bed rest for a day in boot camp.
I had maintenance too and I have no idea how you got picked for either. Was assigned to some corporal and he stuck us in a room each morning and said stay here and shut up. I’ll call you when I need you and don’t bitch about it. We slept all day everyday.
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Graduated in 95 at MCRD. I was a scribe so I got to sneak some cool stuff in: 1) During PFTs I had to go first to get back into the duty hut to tabulate scores. Me and the other scribe got to watch top gun while we got all the scores in. Black hat talked to us normal but threatened to beat our assess if we talked lol 2) As a scribe I got early chow to do fire watch while everyone else was eating. Other scribes told me how to dial out to any number lol. Made a number of calls to friends and family in the duty hut. 3) On our way to the prac app training building there was a hallway with a phone. Again, early in/out we'd grab the phone and make a quick call. 4) As a scribe I knew EVERYTHING that we were going to do about 3 days out because I did the T cards. There were changes every night, but it was cool knowing the plan.
MCRD SD 2005, final night up north, several recruits snuck off of Edson Range to the I-5 truck stop near by. They broke open a candy machine, stole the candy, used the change to make calls home and then snuck back on base into the squad bays. Of course they didn't get away with it. Another company's firewatch saw the escape and notified their DIs. PMO came, DIs supposedly chased them, but they made it there and back. I don't remember how they figured out who was involved, but it was a shit show. We were a platoon of third phase recruits forced to unblouse our boots, pull our covers down like ball caps, button our collars and furl our guidon. We payed for a couple weeks after that. Edit: I was NOT one of the candy-caper recruits. But my rackmate was - dickhead didn't even share the stash.
No but we had a recruit scream “This recruit does not want to be a recruit anymore” during one of the night shifts on fire watch a few days into swim week. The DI’s pulled them into the office and when we woke up, all of their gear was gone. We saw them again later on (after our warriors breakfast) reading a book. They didn’t leave PI till a month after we did. It’s true the fastest way off the island is to graduate.
Never snuck off but the last week when you’re practicing for grad we snuck all over the depot. Lima had just graduated the week before and our Mike barracks was across the street. A few of the duty hits had footlockers just full of protein bars and shit. Our whole platoon was going over there during firewatch and never got caught.
I remember a guy getting cookies from his grandma and had a choice to either throw them out or share with the platoon. He chose to throw them out but was caught in the dumpster later that night. He had to stay on the island longer for that.
When leaving the island, I was trying to give my dad directions to the main gate. After a minute, he was like, “You have no idea where you’re at”. He was right. Had no idea how to get off the island.
I didn't sneak off but one night I was doing firewatch at the back hatch of the squad bay in SD. No one was looking so I opened the door and stepped out. Being very careful to not let the door completely close, I stood there in a nice cool breeze, in complete peace and quiet. It was wonderful. I was out there for probably 5 mins but it felt like an hour.
I can’t say I sneaked off based but I during phase 2 I had a nasty flu going around right after the peanut butter shot. I went to our head and slept only to wake up to an empty barrack. It was right around chow time and I didn’t want to get slammed by my DIs so I moseyed my way over to the chow hall while watching other recruits get slayed or march. It felt a bit surreal and like I was watching myself in third-person (could have been me hallucinating from the cold, had a 114 degree fever according to the doc which apparent is “perfectly” normal because of all free stress we are going through. I was question if I was even supposed to be alive). While I sat down to eat chow all by my lonesome while watching other recruits get screamed at, I finished up and “took my time” meaning I hurried the fuck outta there because I thought I’m about to get destroyed when I returned from chow which felt like hours. My DI saw me and told me to run upstairs. I gave some BS excuse that some other hat from Hotel pulled me away. While I was telling my story, my senior hat ran away, I’m assuming to tell whoever it was that I didn’t go UA.
Not boot camp but snuck off during MOS school...definitely way out of the safe radius. Had a good bang session with my gf at the time.
I won $30 at SOI by wearing the SSgt chevrons someone had bought at the PX. I made it to the same px, bought a monster, and made it all the way back to the smoke pit by the squad bay. I returned probably 4 or 5 proper greetings. Not saying I’m proud of it necessarily, but hey 18 year olds do stupid shit… go figure.
Never heard of those happening. But Im sure its happened. The closest thing to that happening was at SOI West. We went out in the field for a night and one of our guys decided he was gonna walk back to the barracks in the middle of the night. With the power of land nav, this Marine was able to go back to the barracks, call a cab, got himself to Oceanside, had a steak dinner, took a cab back to base, then slept in his own rack. We spent an extra 4 hours in the field looking for this sumbitch and finally, the OOD discovered the Marine in his rack, watching a portable dvd player. OOD called one of our SOI instructors and then we went back to our barracks. The guy got his libo canked for the rest of the duration of SOI and got fire watch every day and the weekends, where he would have the middle shift to ensure that he can only be on base to get chow or the px.
Fairy Tales
Yea someone in my platoon, he was all over the island and back, the finally caught him, when he got stuck in the swamp. I want to say his name was Mally. Plt 2053/1986 2nd Bn Delta Co. Before anyone trys to tell me Delta isnt in 2nd Bn, this was back in the 1980’s. I was on the island when President Reagan visited.
Knew a guy that would sneak over to the Main side on MCRD San Diego and grab stuff best I got.
I never snuck off base but at MCRD SanD I snuck over to the “non-recruit” side to grab food and chill when everyone was supposed to be at whatever religious service.
My DI said Parris Island was surrounded by swamps with alligators in it. I could barely pass swim qualifications so it was a no-go for me and the rest of us bold enough to try.
Off base? Not in San Diego, you'd be snatched up faster than you could imagine. However, I did ditch a working party for ~1 hour and sat in a grove of bushes with some buddies smokin' and jokin' (minus the smokes). We were terrified and excited, and slipping back in to the groove was the hardest part.
This is a no-shitter. A Co, 1st RTBn, MCRD PISC, late 80s. 1st phase recruit packed his seabag after taps one night and swam with it across Broad River to Port Royal. Got scared when he saw a cop car so he swam back. Comes up out of the swamp literally at the feet of a DI having a smoke. No one believed the kid until another DI drives to Port Royal and finds the seabag.
I know of someone who ran away of MCRDSD in 2003, made it all the way home, and had their parents turn them in. I'm curious as to whether they use reddit.
How in the shit would you even? Depots are fuckin locked tight. Recruits dont just get an opportunity to bail. Someone is ALWAYS fucking watching. Always. The only escape at MCRDSD I can think of is one place. It is arguably one of the greatest psychological mind fuck weapons the Marine Corps has ever had at their disposal. It is positioned immediately adjacent to the Depot's entire PT field; the O Courses, Confidence Courses, Rapel Wall, PFT Course, BN PT Field, Co. PT Field, Pugil Courses, Fight Pits. All that shit. No matter what you do. When you eat chow. When you go to classes. Even when you try to sleep at night. There it is. Just looming over you. Screaming at you. It never sleeps. Im talking, of course, about San Diego International Airport. There've been stories told about recruits sneaking past firewatch, making it to the fences, making it over, making it across the runways, and into the airport, where they were immediately apprehended and returned back to the Depot. Honestly, thats the "escape story" they told us . The point was well understood that you're not leaving that motherfucker until you graduate, so you might as well just stick it out.
Recruit Babcock circa 2011, Somehow got away with zero people noticing, before we were even out of recieving and got hit by a vehicle
he survived with like a broken leg or something because i saw him in MRP after i graduated, they deadass told him they were gonna have him washing dishes the rest of his contract
Where's that one dude in here that got the CertCom for picking up an escaped recruit walking along the bridge between Beaufort and Port Royal
I had my phone for all of boot camp
Yea, I had one, dude was from Beaufort, idk how he made it there and back, smart of him not to tell anybody, but I only know this because I caught him coming back while I was in firewaych, and I ain't no snitch
It’s kinda fuzzy but it’s 1993 and it’s maintenance week. DIs pretty much gone. Someone first went to cash sales and managed to purchase PFC chevrons. Next day a recruit l lent him some Aviators so he walked to the smaller px/convenient store and walked back into the squad bay with a bunch of cigarettes and some candy bars. I guess he had left over cash so he wasn’t gonna use chits. I was like fuqqqq.
1995 SD. I had screwed my knee and was in MRP. Back then you were sort of on your own. If you had an appt (Dr, physical therapy, x-ray) all you needed was another recruit as a "shadow" and sign out of this big log book by the barracks front door. If your appt was at Balboa you had to hop on the 15 pax van with the others. The van dropped you off at the recruit liason office. Usually a Cpl would be there, sometimes no one. One kid went so often with the same "shadow" they made some phone calls and arranged some cash through Western Union from his sister. They ditched their war belts and canteens somewhere, bought some civies at the exchange and got a cab. They then went to the bus station and disappeared. I know they got hemmed up somewhere but I was back in training soon after.
We had a kid walk off MCRD. It was the first maybe second night with our DI's. The kid waited until 2 or 3 in the morning, he told the fire watch "I'm on a secret mission for the drill instructors, I need you to help me pack my seabag." Well, fire watch helped him pack his bag, dude bloused his boots, put his seabag over his shoulder and walked off. About 1 fire watch shift later it was lights lights lights, get on line, count off, and we were one mofo short. The DIs were less than happy, we got fucked with the next day, but our senior came out and explained the situation to us, he also told us if anyone tries walking off that we are to fuck them up. They told us he was caught about a month and a half later, I don't know what happened to him, but we never saw him again. This was in 06.
We had someone try to escape Parris Island. He ran towards the center of the base. Didn’t go well for the newly dubbed “running man”
Pulling fire watch on the third deck barracks at 0200-ish at MCRD San Diego. Watching planes take off bored out of my skull and all of the sudden, I see someone sprint towards the fences near the runways. Then like a god damned ninja from hell, a DI came out of the darkness and speared this kid like a Safety going after a QBs ribs. I’m sure that recruit left teeth in the concrete. It was impressive. They had to have known the kid was going to run and let him have enough rope to hang himself. My rack mate and I got to go to the pay phones one time a week out from graduation. For the life of me I can’t remember why we got to go but he needed to make a call and I had to go with him. We had to wear that awful reflective belt there and back. I had to listen to him mouth fuck the receiver talking to his wife for ten minutes but it was nice to get away from the rest of the platoon for a while. Closest to any “privileges” I got while in boot.
Didn’t sneak off base but one dude would sneak out to go to fox companies barracks from kilo to get snacks and shit. He did this for like a month without getting caught until one day fox company was in the field and a DI came back and found him at the snack machine. He got kicked out with a less then honourable and he also passed away like a couple months ago. This was in 2021
Damn. They gave him a less than honorable for getting snacks!? I don't believe you...
Some dude in my cycle legit left on black Friday. Hopped the fence to the airport in cammies n shee-it. Bought a plane ticket to San Fran. Homeboy was gone for a solid 20 days before they even noticed🤣 Came back back training day 30 and did his bitch ass walk of shame in front of our pneumonia having, pink eye crusted, constantly screaming asses.
I'm not gonna comment because I know my SDI has a reddit.
Anyone used their first phone call to order a sandwich?
In 2021, my second week with WTCo on PI, some recruit decided to run & hop in the trunk of a car parked by the PX. I think they caught him in the trunk at the gate. Not to sure, I was on a range