ASK and TELL

The first week of Recruit Training was pure hell for each of the newly arrived civilians as they underwent the breaking down of the person through purging of habits, attitude, personal bias and the ultimate reduction to a basic Mark 1, Mod 0 human being.  Compare the recruit's first week with an old, used or wrecked automobile being taken to a salvage company, crushed into a bale of metal and materials, being put through the smelter where the car is reduced to molten metal and then becoming a fresh piece of steel ready for shaping, molding and manufacturing into a new automobile.  The shock of the above transformation is sometimes overwhelming and causes aberrant and unexpected behavior in some recruits.

Major League Baseball Teams would sign outstanding high school graduates and then require that they enter the Military Reserves, serve the required six months active duty, and then return to the Ball Club as an inactive Reserve until their military obligation was completed.  Some of the young bonus boys came into the Marines.  The rigors of Marine Boot Camp were usually more than they had anticipated.  K Company received one such young bonus player with great potential who was hardly prepared for the first week of recruit training.

Top Henry and I checked the background records of each recruit and were keenly aware of recruits with political pull due to parents in the military or in political office.  We checked for Bonus Boys and followed their progress.  During the first week of training the Marine Corps required the entire series of four platoons to receive a lecture on homosexuality.  A series officer or a Recruit Battalion S-3 officer would give the lecture.  The final moments of the presentation required the lecturer to emphasize that homosexuals were not allowed in the military service.  And, if any new recruits had homosexual tendencies or had participated in homosexual acts that they should notify their Senior Drill Instructor as soon as possible so they could be separated from the Corps with an administrative discharge.  Occasionally, a recruit would come forward and volunteer that he was homosexual or had participated in homosexual acts.  Normally the recruit was not hassled about his claim.  We figured that even if he was not queer, we still did not want anyone as a Marine who would sink so low as to lie in admitting to performing oral or anal sex on another male.

The door to my office rattled with a "BANG!  BANG!  BANG!"  A voice shouted, "The Private requests to speak to the Company Commander, Sir!"

Top Henry looked at me and I nodded.  "Enter!" Henry called.  A recruit darted into the room and jumped in front of my desk snapping to attention.  His Senior Drill Instructor followed him into the room.  The recruit was one of the Bonus Boys.

The Senior Drill Instructor volunteered.  "This Hawg says he is a homosexual and wants out of the Marine Corps!"

"Thank you Staff Sergeant.  You may return to your platoon.  We will handle your Private." I replied.

The private was six feet tall, strongly built and a normal looking recruit even with the apprehension in his eyes and the quivering of his jaws.

I said, "Private, are you admitting to performing oral and anal sex with another male?"

"Sir!  Yes Sir!"  He answered.

"How many times have you performed oral sex on another male?"  I asked.

"Sir!  Dozens of times Sir!"  He replied.  Top Henry rolled his eyes at me.

"I do not believe you.  You must show me just how you perform oral sex with a man."  I held up the index and middle finger of my right hand.  "Now I want you to demonstrate with your two fingers exactly how you orally copulate a penis."

The Bonus Boy stuck his two fingers into his mouth and began moving his fingers in and out of his mouth.  He stopped momentarily.  I said, "Continue your oral copulation until we tell you to stop.  I don't think Top Henry saw how you did that.  Turn toward the Chief Drill Instructor and show him."  The private continued to move his two fingers in and out of his mouth as he faced toward Top Henry. 

"Henry, do you notice how this homosexual has his head, neck and back perfectly straight and stiff.  He is only moving his fingers in and out of his mouth.  Do you believe a real homosexual would orally copulate a man the way this private is doing it?"  I queried my CDI.

Henry spoke his mind. "Hell no, Captain!  He has it all wrong!  He is no more queer than you or me.  This guy is a phony trying to shirk his military obligation.  I believe we should throw his ass in the Brig!"

"Look at me Private!"  The recruit turned back towards me while his fingers still moved in and out of his mouth.  "Stop pushing your fingers into your mouth.  Now, listen carefully.  You are not a queer!  You are a liar!  You will return to your squadbay and train with your platoon.  I will decide what to do with you.  How you conduct yourself until then may determine the final outcome of this sordid situation.  Get out of my office!"

Top Henry thundered, "Move it!  Move it!  Get out Hawg! Move it!  Move it!"  The bonus boy was a blur scurrying out the hatch and down the passageway.

I decided that the recruit had learned a valuable life lesson and let him continue to train with his platoon after counseling as though the incident had not occurred.  He was a good recruit and performed training among the top members of his platoon.  The eight weeks passed without hitch and the young bonus boy became a man and a Marine. 

The recruit's Father came down from up north to attend his son's graduation from boot camp.  He was over six feet tall and built like an Pro Football linebacker.  After the graduation ceremony the new Marines mixed with their families, drill instructors, and friends.  I usually stayed well clear of the new Marines because of all the saluting that would detract from their accomplishment.  The Father went out of his way to find me.  He approached me with his hand out and said, "I want to thank you for doing such a great job in making my son a Marine!"

I responded by saying, "Your son was an excellent recruit and he will be a fine Marine."  I wondered why he had looked me up.  I also wondered what that Father would have done had he seen his son as the lying recruit standing in front of my desk, claiming to be queer, thrusting his fingers in and out of his mouth.

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Mofak