Boot Camp – richwrapper

“The Fahrenheits Are Back”

First taste ‘o ‘Forties”

on slate to see us real soon:

should I switch to my long johns*?

*(at approximately 45 F I switch from shorts – and short teeshirts – to long jeans and long-sleved cotton tee shirts of varying weights and if the wind will be cutting mayhap long johns which survived my Parris Island Marine Corps boot camp issue in 1967. The wind-whipped waves of Lake Monroe despite the cutting breeze and moistly frigid air is almost as sure a magnet to me as a fulsome moon seen first at dusk and later just past sunrise. We had clouds overhead for the so-called Super Moon, but any season full moon sits (or lays) me down with glee and wonder.)

November 15, 2016November 16, 2016 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, Cloudwatcher, Cold-Front, Haiku, J Richards, November, Poem, Poetry, weather

“Forty-Nine Years Past”

A scared near-week passed

at Parris Island and still

not really begun!*

*(Sitting by my garden in shade and sipping an adult beverage with foam on top, the image of my squad leader whom I did not then know and did not know was from Sanford, Florida, USA, too, came jolting upwards forebrainishly, and I grinned: How you like this shit, Jimmy Clements?)

September 22, 2016September 23, 2016 by richwrapper Categories: 1967, Boot Camp, Commentary, Haiku, J Richards, Parris Island, Poem, Poetry, USMCTags: Jimmy Clements, The thouths that come up

“Day 50(?) PISC – 1967 – Tanka 78

They’re pugil sticks

up against rival platoon

I go one-and-one:

ran right over my first foe.

Next monster whacked me!

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, J Richards, Parris Island, PISC, Poem, Poetry, USMCTags: bayonetted rifles, Pugil sticks

Early Days PISC – 1967 – Tanka 79

Test for fake language

and Morse code welcome relief

from ‘Shock and Awe-ful!’

Recognized Esperanto,

Latin and lots of nonsense.

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, J Richards, PISC, Poem, Poetry, USMCTags: Esperanto, language, Latin, morse code, nonsense, Test

“Early Days at PISC – Other Tests – 1967”

Tests for fake language

and morse code welcome relief

from ‘shock and awe-full!’

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, Haiku, J Richards, PISC, Poem, Poetry, USMCTags: language test, morse code

“Day 67 (ITR Day 2) Camp Geiger – 1967”

Two full days of shit

from our DI wannabes

prove Boot Camp ‘Ain’t Done!

Run us in and out of our

barracks just to set the tone.

November 25, 2015November 25, 2015 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, Infantry Training Regiment, ITR, J Richards, Poem, Poetry, USMCTags: DI Wannabes, Troop Handlers

“Day 65 PISC – 1967 – Another Place” Tanka 68

To another place –

surely it’s not on this Earth:

Camp Geiger, NC,

where non-grunts will toil three months

while former ‘mates will ‘Make Tet!’

November 25, 2015 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, Camp Geiger, J Richards, Parris Island, PISC, Poem, Poetry, Tet, USMCTags: Camp Geiger, Tet

“Day 65 PISC – 1967 – Another Place”

To another place –

surely it’s not on this Earth:

Camp Geiger, NC!

November 25, 2015November 25, 2015 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, Camp Geiger, Haiku, J Richards, Parris Island, PISC, Poem, Poetry, Uncategorized, USMCTags: Camp Geiger, North Carolina

“Day 60 PISC – 1967 – Saving My Life” Tanka

“Not Old Enough”

Called in to classroom

to hear an ‘OCS’ pitch

but I’m nineteen

(besides, in the two more years

I’ll have learned some sharp lessons).

November 25, 2015 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, J Richards, Parris Island, PISC, Poem, Poetry, USMC

“Day 64 PISC – 1967” Tanka 67

The whole regiment

of new Marines

nearly one-thousand of them

march ‘Pass In Review!’

Our nearly last formation.

We will leave in the morning.

November 25, 2015November 25, 2015 by richwrapper Categories: Boot Camp, J Richards, Parris Island, PISC, Poetry, USMCTags: Pass In Review