This interview was done on an Ex Marine by the name of Frank Ramirez who served in 1969 to 1971 Mr. Ramirez began this interview by telling me where he was stationed although he is fro Texas he was sent and stationed in California in Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Being the biggest and most important base in California and one of the largest actually so large that it is the size of it’s own town. After Mr. Ramirez began explaining the feeling he had when he was notified where he would be going he told me that he was afraid but yet excited at the same time, scared because he was on his own for the first time as an 18 year old who wouldn’t be afraid and also excited because it was a new experience for him. He spoke to me about how at first when he tried registering for the Marines he was not approved due to some medical issues he had which prevented him after a few months and taking care of the problems he then went and volunteered and was approved to be a volunteer, when asked why he chose to volunteer and especially the Marines which are known for being the toughest branch of the military Mr. Ramirez took a moment to think and told me that he was a bad kid when he was young he did a lot of bad things and needed discipline and what better way to do that than to join the Marines, He also told me that back in that time America was fighting in the Vietnam war and the town he lived in didn’t really have any jobs for an inexperienced barley graduated high school student and he thought it would be a good chance for him to get to travel and see new people and new things he figured it would make him grow mentally and make him mature and smarter. He then told me about his first days in service he said for about three
Days it seemed like a really bad dream he just remembers new people swearing at him and pushing him around his exact words were “I remember going in and noticing that I had just gave up all my rights as a civilian” He just remembered people trying to break him make him feel like he’s a nobody. He also told me that what made this process harder on him is that he thought he was in shape in the normal “civilian world” but he was highly mistaken as he had to find out the hard way but after telling me that he also said that The Marines got him in the “Absolute best shape of his life!” although he didn’t get to see any action but he sure as hell was prepared physically and mentally. The specific duties he was assigned to during boot camp were artillery unit 0311 then he was assigned 0811 and his specialty was round cannon shooter, He was also awarded for being an expert in long range Pistol and Rifle sharp shooting. When asked what was the wildest things him and his buddies did was he answered “We were too hammered to remember that’s just what everyone did back then when they had free time” he finished ranking as a corporal at the end of his service which was pretty good for someone who had only been serving for only two years. How different life is now and it also got me wondering how different is the military now from how it was back then when Mr. Ramirez served so to have some of my questions answered I asked a friend that is currently serving in the Military named John Looney he has been in the marines for a year and left in the same conditions and age as Mr. Ramirez and for almost the same exact reasons so I asked him the same series of questions but his answers were no where near what I thought they would be. You see some things did not change like the fact that boot camp broke him and that he was afraid to be away from home
