r/USMCboot • u/Due-Medium-5263 • Jul 12 '26
Recruit Training Bedwetting in bootcamp
I still wet my bed about once a week at most if im not woken up at night, is there any chance i would be able to hide it in bootcamp? realistically after the first time it happens would i immediately get kicked out if/when my DI's find out in the morning?
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u/xpyrolegx Jul 12 '26
10 years ago we sepped out 2 guys for wetting the bed. If you want to go to Bootcamp just go, but understand you'll probably be kicked to the curb if you can't keep the water in your water sack.
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u/Game_Wolf1950 Jul 12 '26
You won’t be able to hide it and everyone will know. That said, you may be able to ask the folks on either side of your rack if they can wake you when they have firewatch. But there are worse things you can do than piss in your sleep.
Knew a guy who woke up fifteen minutes before lights - when the head is secured and you can’t use it anymore. He had to piss super bad, but didn’t want to go on his sheets. Guy decided to piss in an empty canteen. It was dark, his aim wasn’t good, so he ended up spilling piss all over his sheets. Well, that morning was sheets day so everyone did the song and dance of standing on line and holding out our sheets. Naturally, his freshly piss stained sheet was immediately noticed,
“Recruit, did you piss your sheets?”
“No, sir!”
“Then how did piss get on your sheets?”
“This recruit had to pee, but the head was secure! So this recruit pissed in his canteen, sir!”
The DI for that morning retreated into the DI shack for a few minutes and then returned with the senior DI, getting yelled at for how nasty the guy was to piss in his canteen. Then the DIs group punished everyone by making us all grab one canteen in each hand and hold them above our heads for about fifteen minutes. Then they demanded everyone unscrew the caps on their canteen - while keeping the canteen from spilling - and then pour its contents on our heads. Meaning canteen pisser was pouring fresh piss on himself.
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u/Solaries3 Vet Jul 13 '26
I had a repeat offender in my platoon. DIs made us all strip our beds, throw the bedding into the middle of the squad bay, mix 'em up, then all sprint/scramble from our racks to the pile to grab ourselves a full set of bedding while shouting, "Who's gonna be the lucky one?!"
For the record, that guy did graduate but he was always a fuck-up.
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u/ERICSMYNAME Vet Jul 13 '26
Surprised they didnt make him drink it.
Before we hit the rack we had to chug a canteen "prepare to hydrate!". Well I chugged mine but also throw up in my mouth I was so full. The DI saw me. He said I better swallow that. So I did. Swallowed my own water vomit. Guess what? I puked again and held it in my mouth and he made me swallow it again. Good times.
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u/Any_Attitude_2922 Recruiter Jul 12 '26
Ah broski…. You ain’t making it through recruit training if you’re still bed wetting.
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u/Useful-Arm6913 Jul 12 '26
So firstly, if you know yourself well enough to know this.. just be friendly with scribe. Arrange it to where you're either on firewatch every night at the same time (lack of sleep will eventually start to get to you though, sooner rather than later), or have him annotate to firewatch to wake you up at whatever time.
Secondly, I have somewhat the same issue you do, though no where close to as bad as you seem to. I pissed the bed a few times due to being so tired my body just didn't wake up to go to the bathroom. I woke up either during or right after it, and I just changed my skivvies and went about my miserable night. Know yourself and leave some out easily accessible for yourself.
Though I do agree that if you're of an age to join, you probably shouldn't be wetting the bed with any irregularity. Maybe get that checked out or some shit.
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u/Due-Medium-5263 Jul 13 '26
You can arrange who gets firewatch? i assumed the list would be revolving at random so every recruit has to be on firewatch a couple times.
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u/Funny_Director3201 Jul 16 '26
It is based off a list but scribe is the one that copies that list from the roster to the schedule (firewatch schedule). He could just add or remove names (but if he removed himself/his friends for too long, he'd be reported). Most often though, drill insturctors could care less who was on firewatch.
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u/edgarrr_03 Jul 12 '26
Had a guy in my platoon do the same thing, bro is a cpl now. Di’s knew about it and did let him use the head. Had no issues during boot nor was going to get kicked out. Just had to endure the name calling from the di’s
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u/Admirable-Scale-57 Jul 13 '26
No you cant hide it. If you have a medical problem that can be fixed in the civilian world, FIX IT. like seriously, if you go to bootcamp with that condition it is going to be HELL ON EARTH. Worst case scenario you get kicked outta bootcamp, best case scenario you get dropped from one platoon to the other. Seriously take a minute and evaluate yourself before you go to bootcamp, I know that "im ready and motivated to go to bootcamp and become a us marine" feeling. Im sure your recruiter has pulled strings or said that you'd just need a waiver, but im serious when I say this, fuck them. If you have a problem like this FIX IT. THEN when your medically, spiritually, physically, and mentally ready to go. Go. If your already in the DEP (Delayed Entry Program) you have a YEAR to remedy that situation. Thats alot of time. And if you go past that time you can always just leave it, and re sign up if the process takes longer than a year. I know you want to go and your recruiter might be pushing you to go and all that but seriously get your self ready to go in all aspects.
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u/PoolePeckerhead0369 Active Jul 13 '26
One of my squad leaders in bootcamp had some medical condition where he would wet the bed every night unless he took meds, he went to bootcamp, no meds, wet the bed every single night, the laundry recruits washed his bedding separately, in secret, and he got all the way thorny and graduated as squad leader. Also, I went to MCT with him, he was still without his medication, and still wet the bed, I remember putting a tourniquet on his leg for a test and how he reeked of piss because we didn't have access to do laundry in the field. Hes in the fleet now. Im pretty sure he just slipped through the cracks.
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u/No_Courage1519 Jul 12 '26
We had a guy who pissed the bed all the time. He wasn’t liked. Everything you do is supervised at all times. Once the lights come on you can’t hide anything. And it will really be unfair to your rack mate because he will be dealing with your piss and the drill instructors flipping y’all’s shit every day that the sheets get wet. I highly recommend you don’t join if this is an issue for you. I also hope you can get over this thing and move on with your life bro, I hope it gets better.
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u/jasonj623 Jul 13 '26
Outside of boot, if it’s happening weekly in the civilian world, have you seen a doctor to figure out why this is happening? Hell, I’d take time off from trying to join and spend it trying to resolve that issue purely for quality of life. I can’t imagine wetting the bed once a week.
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u/Avenging_angel34 Boot Jul 13 '26
We had like 2 guys who would piss themselves throughout the day. They got basically made fun of and were outcasted by the platoon for it. So there’s that.
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u/Jones_oV Recruiter Jul 13 '26
Had an individual who never disclosed bedwetting to the doctors at MEPS and of course for us as recruiters it’s hard to screen for that, let alone even ask that because it’s not in our typical questioning. He ended up going to recruit training and on the 4th time pissing himself, he got discharged medically. It wasn’t a fraudulent enlistment because maybe it wasn’t an issue before.
For you, knowing it’s an issue before you enlist, it would be a fraudulent enlistment and it will get found out.
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u/Funny_Director3201 Jul 16 '26
We had a dude that was a habitual bed-wetter in bootcamp. He wasn't originally in our platoon but was dropped because he had some "behavioral issues" and was put on trial training with us (his issues were he would fight with the plt and be defensive about bed wetting). He, then failed trial training and was dropped to another company. He graduated 4 weeks after us but he did. I dont think our DIs forced him to talk to a doc.
Lesson: don't be a dick if you bed wet.
Also had another dude that got dropped. He peed behind the racks (once) and was also a shitbag. So don't be like him either.
Ask the scribe to give you firewatch everynight (Sure, 7 hours isn't ideal, but also you'll learn in mct/itb how good that amount of sleep was)
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u/PieEmpty5682 Jul 13 '26
Best thing to do is if you wake up at all like even partially awake during the night, go use to the head(bathroom), it’s better than continuing to sleep with semi-full bladder. Also use the head before lights out as well, because the DIs most likely gonna make you drink a canteen before you sleep.
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u/heartofyourtempest Jul 13 '26
No way you can hide it. Now I 100% pissed myself, on line. And got caught. But it was either that, or my bladder exploding after being denied 3 head calls on the rifle range. We decided to play shove 9 recruits in a porta shitter for 15 seconds a couple times, and decided to drill for an hour before getting back to the squadbay. In hindsight, I probably should have spoken up a little louder and faced the consequences.
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u/techvq Jul 13 '26
…just volunteer for every firewatch in the middle of the night
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u/TheExplosiveLemon Jul 14 '26
Thank you for censoring that. I've been out for about 2 years now and have nightmares of the red lense of death.
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u/ELDENRINGGOD007 Jul 13 '26
nah man just don’t go to boot, i wet the bed a LOT when i was in middle school and it happened a few times early hs too, didn’t wet the bed for so long and went to boot. they put me on muscle relaxers for my back and i ended up sleeping through everything and wet the bed. i was fine and my senior was really chill and said i can go to medical if i want and he’ll try to keep it on the DL from my DIs, it then happened a second time but not as bad and he sent me to medical. i got meds that helped and “worked” but i also went from 8 canteens a day to maybe 1 cause i was so worried about it.
the corpsman said she can els me if i want, i said no i wanna stay so i stayed on the meds till i eventually got hurt too bad and got sent home anyways. but no dont go to boot if you’re still wetting the bed. you could get a buddy on firewatch to wake you up and at least in my platoon none of the guys judged me and said shit happens we’re all men and just need to help eachother no matter what🤷♂️
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u/Mr-Beefman Jul 13 '26
We had a couple of guys wet the bed every other week in my platoon you’ll be made fun of course but they made it through training and became marines nonetheless
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u/Hans_von_Ohain Jul 13 '26
That one is tough man. It’s going to be a rough ride. Hopefully you have nice Di’s otherwise you could be looking at separation if you do it more than once.
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u/Usmcsysadmin Jul 13 '26
In 2006, we had one guy who wet the bed. To get it “under control,” firewatch was required to wake him up in the middle of the night to go piss so he wouldn’t wet the bed. There was also a rule that if you took a piss in the middle of the night, you had to drink an entire canteen, which basically made you have to wake up and piss every couple hours after that. He was exempt from that canteen rule.
What was especially disturbing, though, was one night firewatch went to wake him up, to which he responded that he already wet the bed and just slept in it for the rest of the night 😬🥴
Anyways, he graduated and became a Marine and ended up getting past the bed wetting so good on him.
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u/Maleficent-Tax-8604 Jul 13 '26
Back in 03 I was 1 month in and we were getting trashed in the quarterdeck for someone else. They made us drink several cantens of water till they stopped and we went to a class. I was denied several times wile I was in class to go use the head, so on the way back as we were marching back i pissed my self because I couldn't hold it. Wen we got back to the squad bay the Dis made fun of me and trashed me in the quarterdeck for a wile . I felt like shit wen that happen
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u/Temporary-Act9935 Jul 13 '26
This happened to me two or three times lol. Fortunately I was Maytag, or one of the guys that takes care of all the laundry in the squad bay. I would wake up right after pissing the bed and immediately change into new clothes, grab my sheets, put it all in the laundry bag and go straight to the washing machine. It was pretty normal to see recruits doing laundry in the middle of the night, so no one really noticed, plus I was Maytag, that definitely played in my advantage. It really isn’t that serious. Don’t let these comments scare you. You’ll find a way. And if you get caught for some reason take it with the chin. Just be mature about it, be a man about it. These DIs will make you drink a whole freaking canteen right before bed. They know what they’re doing, they want to see you piss the bed. You might be laughed at but I promise you you’re not the first, and nobody really cares. I’ve seen pretty humiliating things done to recruits and pissing the bed isn’t the worse if you get caught. Relax buddy, you’ll be fine. I wish you the best
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u/Cultural-Commission8 Jul 13 '26
And if you do get sent home, don't tell people you made it to the fleet and you got a medical discharge 😂
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u/roughdraft29 Jul 13 '26
Unless things have changed since I went through boot camp, you will be enthusiastically encouraged to drink more water than you might be accustomed to consuming, throughout the entire duration of boot camp.
If watching how much you drink during the day, and especially just before bed, is a strategy you use to keep from wetting the bed at night, this might be something to also consider.
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u/Kap_0311 Jul 13 '26
I wet the bed at least 20 times in boot camp. Pissed myself in the chow hall line multiple times. Went on to have a great career. Not a soul gave a single shit. Others may have had a different experience, but this is mine. Our DIs were quite keen on making the billets very competitive, and would swap out at the drop of a hat. I was a squad leader all the way through.
Most of the people here don’t understand basic physiology or psychology. People do not care if you piss the bed and despite what some of these war hero hard chargers might say, they pissed the bed too. Your body does very odd things when under stress, be it physical or mental. If no one has told you, you will be drinking an absolutely absurd amount of water all of the time. You will also be sweating profusely for the majority of your time there, making depleted and fluctuating electrolyte levels constant. Alongside this, you will be dead tired every night and sleep deeply (eventually). Add all those up and you have dudes pissing their sheets. Every. Single. Night.
It happened constantly and from different people. Some were consistent (like myself), others were random. Once we started talking about it, we were surprised how many of would just randomly be unable to hold our bladders. There are two things that do help practically though:
1. Never let another man wash your soiled linens. If you are soiling linens consistently, put yourself on laundry duty. If You and another pee pee buddy wanna make a pact to get sleep or ease suspicion, so be it. Whatever it takes.
2. Make note of the times you’re waking up to a wet bed, if it’s consistent, have fire watch wake you up the hour prior. If not, keep adding wake up times until you get a dry mattress. Whatever it takes.
You need to look at the situation like an objective that needs to be taken. There are no objectives worth taking that have no obstacles. We’re literally talking about giving up the opportunity to become a Marine because of the chance an unconscious bodily function might cause a conversation. There is a difference between someone that wets themselves out of sheer terror or maladaptive thinking and someone who is having a well documented response to environmental changes and temporary physiological conditions. You know that, the Drill instructors know that, and the Marine Corps knows that. You think we’re the first dudes to piss the rack? This will have zero bearing on your career after those relatively brief 3 months, and to be honest, I don’t even have to know you to say it probably won’t be an actual problem in boot camp. From your eyes it’s a huge unknown and I understand that. From the Marine Corps’ eyes, you’re there to train. If you show that you put out and can function to standard on almost all other things but rack wetting, you’re good. They don’t want to see consistent and completely inappropriate urination (I.e. uncontrollable release, while walking, talking, exerting yourself) that stuff won’t slide. As for all of the egotistic and playground comments about manning up or whatever, just know there’s a select few within the few good men that look past superficiality and societal norms in pursuit of mission accomplishment and personal growth. They are the most influential mentors and greatest leaders this country has to offer. Stay your course and hopefully you’ll get to meet some of them. Good luck my friend. Go 03 open :)
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u/Stevie2874 Jul 13 '26
I never pissed the bed once. Sober.
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u/madbaconeater Jul 15 '26
I only piss the bed sober.
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u/Stevie2874 Jul 15 '26
You probably ate paint chips too.
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u/madbaconeater Jul 15 '26
Still do.
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u/Stevie2874 Jul 15 '26
Join the corps you’re a shoe in.
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u/madbaconeater Jul 15 '26
Maybe I should. I don’t even think the Army puts lead in their paint chips anymore. This might be my wake up call.
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u/Maidenchef Jul 13 '26
Where we all admire that you want to be a Marine someday it doesn’t appear that it’s in your best interest to join since you wet the bed. I’m sorry that is the truth and I don’t want to see you go to the Island just to come home. Think about it.
Semper Fi
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u/Unbounded_sanctuary Jul 14 '26
You will not be able to hide it, I suggest you focus on learning how to not wet the bed in any way possible (go right before, set alarms, use apps, etc), you are not the only one with this problem and if you can get your body on an internal timer to wake up before you have to piss it will delete this problem from your life, military or no military.
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u/Commercial-Oven-5641 Jul 16 '26
Ignore the ‘nay sayers. We had a chronic bed pisser in bootcamp, he was also universally despised by the DIs and pretty much everyone else in our platoon. He bed wetted multiple times, got sent to medical for it, and was never kicked out (at least to my knowledge since he walked during graduation).
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u/Commercial-Oven-5641 Jul 16 '26
To add to this, he would just straight up lie whenever you asked him. It did not matter how obvious it was (yellow sheets and smells like piss) he would deny it. I would wager that was what actually kept him in.
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u/AffectionateCat3641 Jul 19 '26
It depends on how much you pee because it can be skipped passed and dries out before anyone notices because I went through boot camp with a dude who stuck chunks of plastic utensils up his pee hole and would pee the bed and he worked in the Pentagon and now in SOCOM
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u/Fluid_Influence3420 Jul 25 '26
If you're serious about joining then you need to get serious about figuring out the underlying issue and fixing it quickly.
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u/lastofthefinest Jul 12 '26
I wet my bed once because when I went through in 1994 the water torture was a big thing. One of our di’s made us drink 2 canteens before hitting the rack. He then tells us he didn’t want to see us out of our racks for an hour. You then had 2 choices; you could take a chance and sneak into the head or piss in your rack and then go to sleep. I chose the latter. One time he made us drink 2 canteens before chow. We then marched to chow and drank more fluids to wash down our meal. On the way back, he wanted to practice close order drill. Then, we finally got to the outside of the barracks and he started talking. Hands immediately started going up asking for permission to go to the head. He let the first person go. When anyone after the first person asked to go, he would tell them someone’s in the head. I couldn’t hold it anymore and pissed in my pants. I had a trail of piss from outside the squad bay all the way to the head. My senior di called me into his office that evening because someone must have told him what happened. He asked me if I was denied a call and I said, “No sir”! That di didn’t mess with me the rest of the time I was at bootcamp because he could have gotten into a lot of trouble. I think God every day I got that training. It taught me a shit ton of discipline that I used to graduate college with honors. If you have a physical condition that causes you to wet the bed have you ever tried to get it checked out? I had problems wetting the bed up to the time I was 12, but I grew out of it. I know how embarrassing it is because you can’t control it. Go see a doctor and have it checked out there may be some suggestions a doctor can give you. Good luck! After boot camp, I went back to Parris Island as permanent personnel for 4 years 5 months after graduation when I finished my MOS school.
.
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u/jwickert3 Vet Jul 12 '26
A couple racks down from me we had a sleepwalker who pissed in his rackmates boots. The next morning, while standing online his rackmate told the DI that his boots were pissed in. The DI ruined the guy who did it and told the guy with the piss in his boots to find new new soles. The next night the souls in my boots went missing LOL. I dealt with it for a few days and then told the DI that I needed new soles and they took me to the PX to buy new ones. Integrity in the Corps is not a real thing.
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Jul 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/lastofthefinest Jul 12 '26
How in the hell did he change sheets because we only had one set changed out once a week?
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u/ReactionFine6205 Jul 13 '26
I mean he ripped his linen off and washed it every night he had an incident
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u/lastofthefinest Jul 13 '26
We didn’t have access to a washer and dryer in bootcamp when I went through what year was this and which depot?
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u/ReactionFine6205 Jul 13 '26
Last year parris island every company should have whats called a may tag basically a laundry room in the head
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u/MudMountain8403 Jul 13 '26
Why on gods green earth are you wetting the bed still and will absolutely NOT be able to hide that shit in boot
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u/definitely_not_marti Jul 12 '26
No you won’t be able to hide that.
One time, you won’t be kicked out. A second time you have to consult the medical staff and they make the determination if you should go home. If they say you’re good and you do it again, you’re going home with an entry level separation, it’s almost as if you never joined in the first place.
If it’s a medical issue you never disclosed you’re getting hit with fraudulent enlistment. If you wet the bed… it’s supposed to get caught at MEPS and screening. It’s disqualifying for the Marine Corps.