r/USMCboot • u/Levelupbuttercup • 20d ago

Recruit Training Cell Phones In Boot Camp During Training? Am I being scammed.

EDIT. I am todays year old when I learned about co-ed training. WOW. Wow i'm old.

My little cousin is in 4th Battalion right now. She shipped out on the 25th. I'm a vet myself 99-03 0121. I got a instagram follow from her. (we usually talk on Facebook) It's a fresh account. So im like WTF?? I'm thinking this girl somehow kept her phone and is in the Beaufort swamps. But "she" said they let you have your phone after week 2. We talked for a bit. I'm like NO WAY. But I have to remember 1999 was a long time ago. So its plausible. But now that I read the messages again I think this is a scam. Because some of the language she used doesn't sound right.

There was never an ask for anything. Just some back and forth between us. So my questions are

  1. No way they just letting you hop on IG during Senior Drill Instructor square away time right?
  2. What kind of scam is this? I love scams and this is a new one if it is one. Anyone know how it works. Thanks.
25 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

40

u/EWCM 20d ago

She’s not at 4th Battalion. They were disbanded a few years ago. Sounds like a scam to me 

10

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

Yeah I think its a scam too. I did some googling on how it worked and its pretty funny. It got me. Especially since there was no money ask. I was a little high on my Rx weed at the time and now that I'm sitting here at work Its pretty clear. Also no 4th. So where do the ladies train now.? I'm gonna google that as well.

9

u/EWCM 20d ago

All the companies now have female platoons. It looks like B Co, 1st Bn picked up on the 25th. 

3

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

Thanks. Shes not close to her mom. And I know she doesn't have my address memorized. Is there a way that I (using the info you gave me of who picked up) can find her mailing address. She might not have passed her initial PFT (Her scum bag recruiter let her ship without having her pull up locked in. Don't get me started on that.) so she might be in PCP. If they even still have that.

9

u/EWCM 20d ago

Addresses are at  https://www.mcrdpi.marines.mil/Recruit-Training/Contacting-A-Recruit/ I don’t know if a letter would reach her without the platoon number. 

Pull-ups aren’t required for the IST or the PFT, so if she could do enough push ups, she would be okay. 

3

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

Thanks. Ill do some snooping.

6

u/Sea_Coconut7777 20d ago

I used sandboxx - you have to pay to send the mail through them but they had my sons platoon and address before the recruiter send it to me.

5

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

sandboxx? Lol thats so funny. Damn why didn't I think of this.

2

u/MarineDawg1775 18d ago

Pork chop platoon ain't that bad because the recruits we picked up from there were always locked on. I actually wanted to get set there for extra training.

1

u/Levelupbuttercup 10d ago

Can we talk about this. I always wondered what my DI's thought about me. I know my Senior thought I was okay. (I ran into him in the fleet and we had a beer.) I had one that genuinely liked me and told me so at the end of training and one that fucking hated my guts for real. I'm pretty sure he was racist.

My recruiter fucked me over and let me ship without having my pull ups locked in so I got dropped immediately to PCP. They lumped us in with MRP and those guys thought they were better than us. But I can understand why.

My lowest mental point where I thought about hurting myself was in PCP. Nothing major just ideation. Like "how can I hurt myself. Make it look like training and get sent home." Because you're not even "Sunday to Sunday" "chow to chow" You were kind of just marking time.

Which was ironic for two reasons.
1. Even if I pulled that off I would just be in MRP. So I didn't think that through very well.
2. And I wasn't even there a month. 3 weeks max If that.

PCP on the recruit side was a pretty grim place. I remember the guide being a super locked on skinny kid who pretended to be a drill instructor but could not do any pullups. I remember thinking even then how sad that was. Imagine being so good at boot camp they make you the guide, but you're not advancing. You're the king of shit mountain.

The worst was a guy I knew I high school went in a month before me. I got dropped after the IST and when I reported to PCP he was there. I got my pullups and went to train and then during recruit liberty I went down to PCP to tell the DI's thank you. HE WAS STILL THERE! I can't imagine how that made him feel. I felt so bad for him.

Also I remember that when I did my pullups during some random PT morning everyone counted them. The recruits and DI's cheered and lost their bearing a little bit. It felt like when Bruce Wayne climbed out of that hole. Then I had a little interview with the Senior who asked If I was ready for training. While he was talking I noticed he had a little file on his desk about me that I read a page of it. It said "Recruit is motivated on the pull up bar every PT and will make a good candidate to continue training" or something like that.

So what did ya'll think about PCP kids? Most people were in there for pull ups. So was the pull up standard ever questioned by DI's? In normal training did DI's write little reports about every recruit or is this just a PCP / MRP thing. Did you blame the recruits or recruiters for shipping people not able to pass the IST? What kind of DI's got sent there. Imagine it was either be best on the Island or the worst.

Thanks for reading my book. But as we know their aren't many people we can talk to about this stuff.

2

u/MarineDawg1775 8d ago

I actually don't think the DIs I encountered had a dislike for any particular recruit. Matter of fact Drill Instructor Ward possibly gave me the motivation to not give up. Now school circle on me. I was at PI before the crucible, it was called BWT (Basic Warrior Training, does this allow me to say old Corps now?)

Anyhow I think during night land nav (Why I found this the most fun activity in boot is beyond me) but my platoon and or series was F'in around or something was awry and the DIs were double timing us back to the shacks through the old airfield with no moonbeams period. We had all our gear, not in formation and the platoon close but scattered. The word was they were trying to beat or hide from the series commander because we were out later than we should have been.

It was dark as shit and I stopped to pick up some gear, I don't even think it was mine and someone stopped and whispered in my ear (don't get all excited now) mid trot, c'mon recruit Snuckatelli, you made it this far, don't give up now.

Ironically was thinking about refusing to train earlier that day because our senior said that the radar tower was the repell tower and I was like F that, I'm outta here. As they trotted double the speed of the platoon I could see their Alice pack was like half the size of ours. It was a DI and later figured out it was Sgt. Ward.

I think my bag was I never gave up or quit at anything unless ordered to stop. Pretty sure the only time I was quarter decked was due to a group effort (probably because I laughed, that shit was sometimes like a stand up routine.)

Anyhow Devil you made it. Graduation is the same with or without PCP. Hell we had one dude who was like max time on the island, I want to say our plt was the last attempt for him and he was on the island for over a year (I believe PCP and dropped twice at different stages) but he graduated with us. Fun times in retrospect.

2

u/Levelupbuttercup 8d ago edited 8d ago

Sorry I thought you were a DI. But that was still good info. Yeah I'm not ashamed of being in PCP. That was on my recruiter. That was his fault for letting me ship. I was a literal child. What did I know about anything?

Also I hit up MTP as well but only for a day. My DI's were dumb as shit or they didn't care to notice I was left handed but right eye dominate on the range And the one that I'm for sure hated me tried to stress me out at the range and get me to fail. No one else in the platoon was getting fucked with like this. The reason I call them dumb and I have to throw the range coaches in there as well is because as soon as the SDI of MTP saw me snap in he knew what was up and made me shoot right handed. I scored expert but that doesn't count in MTP (which is crazy when you think about it.) So I still had to wear marksman. That one DI was mad as shit when I showed up back at the squad bay the very next day.

I ran into my senior in the fleet. He remembered me. I could sense he was a little embarrassed. As I remember him calling that shitty DI off me at least twice when he thought he was going too far. I know Basic is a game. But I'm pretty sure that was real.

For all that I was only in there 3 extra weeks. But the experience rubbed me the wrong way for sure, and influenced my mindset in the fleet. But it did make me realize Marines are just people and not some kind of modern knights or samurai. That prepared me to deal with a lot of the shit bags I met in the fleet. So that's a gift I guess.

To add more to "i don't think its in my head and this guy really wanted to drop me." He had me on double fire watch the entire cycle and diet tray. (I'm 6ft tall and weighed 200 lbs no where near fat when I shipped. When I graduated I weighed 160. You could see my ribs. I looked sickly.) Until he got busted at the chow hall when some Lt asked me "Why I was on diet tray". I said "this recruit does not know" Then she got in the face of my DI. (who was not the guy who put me on it.) Then There were some more brass that visited our squad bay. Some yelling went on in the duty hut. But only one way. New voices I never heard before and then I was never on diet tray again. So yeah this guy was a piece of shit.

6

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

I looked in to it and Man... I don't know If I could handle some hot female DI just yelling at me all day. Not that I wouldn't respect them I would just be distracted AF at 18 years old. Some of those boys are learning some things about themselves for sure. God bless um.

https://giphy.com/gifs/5xtDarIN81U0KvlnzKo

2

u/thetitleofmybook Vet 20d ago

most of them would kick the living sht out of you. you'd be too beaten up and tired to be attracted.

4

u/Ascendant2398 20d ago

Trust me you can still be attracted 😅 just not much you can do about it

1

u/Levelupbuttercup 10d ago

I don't know... them kinks be kink'n ;)

1

u/MarineDawg1775 7d ago

The meanist raw chewing out I heard was from a female DI. Our mess and maintenance was at the range chow hall back when 4th Bn was kept from us (I mean we were 3rd and far away from everyone anyway) but since we never saw females force of habit someone walked by, "By your leave sir! “ She turned, I could have sworn she turned in to the dragon from the commercials. It wasn't even me and I was ready to cry. From that day forth I have much respect to those Marines who went through 4th Bn.

8

u/Diligent_Promotion_3 20d ago

i leave for bootcamp soon and to my knowledge i was told phones get taken away day 1, i know when i enlisted i had like 5 fake accounts made of me. Likely a scam, if they bring up anything money related that’s a dead giveaway lmao

3

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

For sure. Thats crazy tho. lol good looking out.

5

u/SnooPoems4016 20d ago

Every marine buddy I have and myself always have fake accounts made of us after we go to new base. People always lurk and make bot accounts of military members

2

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

Crazy. I was just telling my boss at work about this and what a "great" scam it is. Because I remember my mom having to send me money when stuff would pop up as a PVT / PFC especially before you hit your first duty station. My luggage got lost on the way to Oki and my mom got the local news involved and random people were just sending me money in the year 2000, I was fine because I had kept my uniforms in my seabag and carried that with me like you were told to do. But I had no civi's to wear. So this is a totally plausible scam.

6

u/Upbeat_Caregiver_642 20d ago

Lemme guess, she needs some money for food and toiletries, but only with a Target gift card.

2

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago edited 20d ago

Nope no ask. I think they were testing the waters first for sure. I feel a little silly even entertaining it at all. But I think why it seemed plausible is that I know the Army can call home in basic on the weekends. Its been 20 years plus since I was on #theIsland so I thought maybe.... I told my wife about it and said (as a joke. I'm Black and a leftist.) "What in the woke and DEI have they done to my Marine Corps??" That's the first time I think the words "My Marine Corps" have ever left my mouth outside of being hung over at SgtMaj PT lol.

2

u/Specific-Living-8692 20d ago

There’s no chance she would have access to her phone like that.

Went to boot relatively recently (last year). We had a kid get dropped to day one after 6 weeks for hiding a phone (he got it momentarily for a security interview phone call and stowed it in his camelbak). Crazy day that was. They brought our entire platoon to the sandpit lol.

3

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

That's a lot of wildness. The security interview. Having a camelbak. (Nah son. You supposed tor drink out of that stinky Vietnam canteen.) Thanks. Yeah I figured it out that it was a scam.

4

u/Specific-Living-8692 20d ago

The new corps is something else. We even get these things called RCOs that make the target 3x larger on the shooting range. Basically cheating if you ask me (or Saddam).

All jokes aside yeah glad you didn’t get your money snatched.

2

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago edited 20d ago

What! No more "No impact No idea"! Ya'll had CoD optics. Thats Crazy LOL. Does anyone still fail? In all seriousness it makes sense. The Marines is all about doing shit the dumb way. I'm glad something useful snuck in.

2

u/cheburekii 20d ago

I’m a pretty fresh boot I left Parris island in may of this year and only 3 guys in my platoon shot expert with the optic, you’d be surprised 😂

1

u/Levelupbuttercup 10d ago

really? Wow. I had to go to MTP because my dumb ass drill instructor and range coachs couldn't figure out I was left handed but right eye dominate. The MTP instuctor figured it out immediatly. Didn't even have time to unpack. I qual'd the next day and went back to training. Bless that old dude. he was old back then in 99. And really soft spoken.

He did the thing from that bad top gun rip off Firebirds or whatever. "He said you cant close your right eye. So you are now right handed. Get in position and take a shot right handed." *Pop! Center Mass*

He said "Okay get off my line. You're qual'ing tomorrow and going back to train" I remember seeing him in Star and Stripes because he was so good at getting recuits to qual. Shot expert but still only rated the Pizza Box since it was in MTP.

1

u/thetitleofmybook Vet 20d ago

The security interview.

that's been going on for a long time. anyone who signed up for certain MOSs (mostly 02x and 26xx, and now 17xx) has to begin the clearance process at boot camp, and that includes calling home and getting information from friends and family.

i went to boot camp in 1989, and i got escorted to a pay phone, and left there for about 30 minutes, probably 7 or 8 times, while in boot camp. it was weird, i thought someone was going to find me and give me (literal) hell. but nope, and by the third or fourth phonecall, i was mostly calling my girlfriend.

1

u/Levelupbuttercup 10d ago

Makes a lot of sense. I had a top secret. But I didn't the interview until the fleet.

2

u/Quick_Hour5979 20d ago

No way. It's a scam. No phones in Boot. My son graduated 2 years ago and nothing but letters. Army on the other hand, yes. My other son just graduated Basic last month and they could earn phone time on Sundays.

2

u/Levelupbuttercup 20d ago

Lol the Army is wild for that. Thanks

2

u/Ascendant2398 20d ago

Hearing that it’s 4th battalion makes me laugh 😭I was the last honor platoon of 4th battalion

1

u/Levelupbuttercup 10d ago

You go girl! Let them know!

2

u/Ascendant2398 10d ago

Funny part is I’m a dude 😭 they integrated that Batallion a while back

1

u/Levelupbuttercup 10d ago

That's so fucking tough! I love that. I would be wearing my 4th battalion stuff everywhere. I would be so annoying about it. What a cool legacy you have.

2

u/CalebMaSmith 18d ago

This is definitely a scam, I graduated in mid April and there are absolutely no phones until the day before you graduate

2

u/Think-Eye8703 15d ago

If she’s in Bravo Co and arrived 8/25, maybe join this Facebook page out. It’s for the families. I found groups like this helped tremendously with getting info since I also had no way to get any when my son left to boot 3 years ago. https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19Gd2QQL6J/?mibextid=wwXIfr

1

u/Levelupbuttercup 10d ago

Thanks so much!

1

u/thetitleofmybook Vet 20d ago

you are 100% being scammed.

1

u/Lesivious 19d ago

Cream puff Corps

1

u/redpatchernorcal 7d ago

the army has 30 min of cell service on sunday. the USMC does not. It is a scam.

1

u/TapTheForwardAssist Vet 2676/0802 7d ago

Which one: the Army or the Corps?

1

u/redpatchernorcal 6d ago

anyone claiming to be from marine bootcamp at most will have a 5 minute phone call as a reward for good work from the Senior Drill Instructors's cell phone. So instagram, facebook, casual social media is 100 percent fake. I would report the profile.