MCRD San Diego. Platoon 1052 #2310994. Summer of 1966, 30 days after graduating high school. I couldn't wait to get off that John Deere tractor and do something fun and exciting. Imagine my surprise when the first person to greet me on arrival at MCRD was someone I had never met, but who seemed to know so many negative things about my heritage and my alleged relationships with farm animals!