Where and when did you attend Basic/boot camp, and have you ever been back there?

Ft Jackson, SC back in 1987.  C Co 1/63rd Inf Bn.  I was on OLD tank hill with the WW2, 2 story stick barracks.  I have heard that those are all gone now.  I remember PT running from base of hill to the top of the hill and back....a few times!  Never been back since.  Really...have no desire either.  Basic training: really, did not get to see the post, so other then the fantastic time I had on the Bayonet course, Victory Tower, and a couple other things.....would not recognize anything there in the first place.

1975, Ft. McClellan, Alabama.

Ft. Dix, NJ (2/1966) when it was an active Army post. Old WW2 barracks across the runway from McGuire AFB (Co G, 3rd BCT Brigade) . Coal heat that required cheesecloth over the vents to catch the coal dust. After Basic I got to go over to the New Cinder Block barracks on main post for AIT (Co. I, 1st AIT Brigade). Then back to the WW2 guys when I was assigned as Cadre to the Infantry Leadership School. Needless to say, I was happy to get my orders to OCS........ Of course I still ran into the WW2 types on occasion ........LOL

Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego June 1979 PLT 3064 Lima CO 3rd BN. And yes a true Hollywood Marine. Did a commercial for the Corps while I was home on leave from boot.

How could anyone miss the colorful names we where called by the DI's or those yellow footprints.

Once A Marine, Always A Marine

Author Unknown

_________________________

I was that which others did not want to be.

I went where others failed to go.

And did what others failed to do.

I asked nothing from those who gave nothing

And reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal loneliness, should I fail.

I have seen the Face of Terror,

Felt the stinging Cold of Fear,

And enjoyed the sweet taste of a moments love.

I have cried, pained and hoped ... but most of all,

I have lived times others would say were best forgotten.

At least today I am able to say that I was proud of what I was.....

A UNITED STATES MARINE

A 1/19th FA, Ft Sill, Oklahoma 1996.  I have not been back there but have considered a road trip sometime.

SFC James Baber, I reported to the reception station at Fort Jackson, SC on 28OCT69. BCT began 11NOV69 and ended 16JAN70. I was in the 3rd squad of 1st platoon of Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Training Brigade on infamous Tank Hill. Here's a postcard photo from that time. The barracks of 1st platoon appears at the base of the black ink line on Tank Hill. The long one story buildings to the left of and parallel to the barracks were company sized mess halls. I also attended AIT (Infantry) at Fort Jackson. I was in B-12-3, and it began on 17JAN70 and ended on 20MAR70. I have never returned.

This is an old discussion thread, I know, Maj Chris Nelson, but here's a photo of Tank Hill in 1970!

PO3 Phyllis Maynard SGT Mark Anderson CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025

Basic training at Ft. Dix, NJ in 1985. Didn't go back until last year when one of my companies demobed through there from OEF. Hadn't changed a bit!

Fort Benning, GA 1990. Echo Co. "Gladiators" 2/54 INF. I never got a chance to go back. As a grunt, it is like our Graceland.

I attended USAF BMT squadron 3711 Lackland AFB Tx, October 1986 - December 1986. Tech school was at Sheppard AFB, Tx for 8 weeks for Air Cargo/Passenger School  from December 1986 - January 1987 then off to my first base of Dover AFB De, 436 APS/AMC (old MAC). Been back to Lackland a couple times for graduations, but nothing else. 

I started in Ft Leonard wood Mo November 2010 and left February 15 2011 for AIT in for Ft Gordon Ga then came right back to the woods in June for my first PDS. Finally left on September 2013 for Korea and heading to Ft Polk Louisiana by September this year. I'll probably be back in Georgia for ALC.