USMC Boot Camp

[Duke]

Many have PMed or asked me some sort of question pertaining to boot camp. So here's the skinny.
The function of the USMC boot camp is to transform civilians to Marines; most recruits earn the title, but typically 25% wash out. This transformation takes place over thirteen weeks at either two locations. Enlistees west of the Mississippi attend boot at Marine Corps Recruit Depot-San Diego (where semperfi2003 will go) and east of the MI, MCRD-Parris Island, SC.
Boot can be broken down into five steps over the thirteen weeks-recieving, forming, training, advanced training, and the rites.
The first phase, recieving, spans over four days from the time the recruiter picks up the enlistee until the time the recruit meets his DIs. During this time the recruit is sworn in, issued gear, head shaved, assigned a platoon and paper work, paperwork ,paperwork. During recieving two important things happen, the first occurs on the bus inbound for the depot.
As a Marine DI enters the bus, he will scream "NOW, GET OFF MY BUS..." The word "now" is used purposefully; its used to stress to the enlistees that from here on out recruits must only be concerned with the task at hand--dont worry about chow, the girlfriend at home or boyfriend if youre woodland, or any other distraction, the here and now or the task at hand. The "now" is a recurring theme throughout boot used to instill discipline. The other important part of receiving is the subtraction of the first person such as I or we.
Often people talk of Gung Ho, and the word conjures up feelings of intensity, grit, and meaness, the word actually is mandarin for teamwork. So as an integral part of teamwork, the Corps subjugates the self, and places an emphasis on team, "no I in team". Also, the concept of gung ho is a recurring theme in boot because many of the timed tasks at hand can only be successfully completed through gung ho. These two concepts of gung ho and "now" are so important Ill restate them. All assigned tasks are utterly completed in a rapid and efficient manner through teamwork and discipline.
The next phase of boot is the forming. This is where the recruits meet their DIs and form their platoon/DI bond. The Drill Instructors until now have been just shepherds moving the bunnies along the boot pipline. At boot for every platoon there are three DIs, the senior drill instructor, a staff sergeant and two sergeants. Each DI has a set role in instruction, the SDI is more like a cool uncle or dad, someone to confide in and trust; the least senior is called the heavy--heavy because he brings down the hammer or doles out discipline. The Marine in the middle behaves somewhere between the other DIs. During this time, what the DIs are doing is instilling the fear of God or to show whos boss, which lasts for a couple of days.
Training, advanced training and rites are phases that we all have seen in films and books, nothing really to write about, except for the "Crucible". A new concept in all of the service's basic training; the Crucible is meant to challenge the recruit mentally with real world type brain teasers, as well as physically-intense FTX in one climatic event. Thats about it for boot.
To answer several questions on why Marines are sooo gung ho or fanatics about being Marines. Marine boot camp is unlike the other services where they emphasize military drill over ethos in a 85:15 ratio, whereas the USMC is at about 60/40. Why??? When you boil down the Marine Corps thats all we have, our Mariness, its what sets us apart. I cant explain I just live it.

[kaninen]

So what you are saying is that to become a marine you have 13 weeks of training? Are you sent back home and is called in if war is declared (not that simple but you get the point)

In Sweden vi have 12-15 months of training after a 3months basic training.

[Duke]

No **** nut, I dont like your tone, junior. Boot camp is BASIC TRAINING, graduates are basic Marines, barely able to do anything in the Marine Corps, its a ****-ing start, its where you begin asshole. after basic Marines attend whatever school they are assigned. and junior its not about how long one's initial training is, in the Marines its about workups--training for six to nine months before a float or deployment.

[96B]

To add to Dukes much appreciated information, former Marines (no ex Marines) and those still in can associate with each other as part of a proud family. You wont see another service member walk up to another retired or active and have so much in common or a bond than that of a Marine. Hopefully in a few months time, after blood sweat and tears, I will understand its meaning and be able to talk to Duke and others as a fellow Marine. Until then, Im a cake eating civilian :roll:

Duke - :hug:

[Duke]

Okay keep your distance--I dont like men hugging me.
Some Marines dont even like former, use retired.

[96B]

You think my DI will mind if I hug him? rofl

[Duke]

If you do, you will be FTA'd; Failure To Adapt. A category used to put all the idiots, openly gay, and malcontents on a bus ride home.

[Duke]

How's that weight. What was it 6'0 205? Ideally, for your height 180 is tops. The running will be hell on your knees and dont forget to stretch.

[96B]

Im down to 194 now and it feels alot better when running, but still hurts a little. I just gotta deal with it until Im down to what I need to be.

[a. enders]

Thank you Duke.That's a lot of info I couldn't find anywhere else.

[Ichhabe]

Duke, Duke Duke! Relax, take a chill pill or whatever lingo you use now in the States. Kaninen is Swedish, meaning that he does not know how the American military system works. He asked a honest question, and you started to abuse him in a very harsh language. You ain't a gift from God to either the Marines or the world, so be polite. OK?

[FallenAngel]

Duke, I am planning on becoming a Marine eventually as well (NROTC in college, then OCS after graduation...) and I too am thankful for the information you gave. However, I read this piece and found it awe-inspiring. I was wondering if you could tell me- being a Marine- what you think of this...Thanks.


_----------------------------------------------------------

Esprit de Corps
Ask a Marine what's so special about the Marines and the answer would be esprit de corps, an unhelpful French phrase that means exactly what it looks like - the spirit of the Corps. But what is that spirit, and where does it come from?
The Marine Corps is the only branch of the U.S. armed forces that recruits people specifically to fight. The Army emphasizes personal development (an army of one), the Navy promises fun (let the journey begin), and the Air Force offers security (it's a great way of life). Missing from all of these advertisements is the hard fact that it is a soldier's lot to suffer and perhaps to die for his people, and to take lives at the risk of his own. Even the thematic music of the services reflects this evasion. The Army's Caisson Song describes a pleasant country outing over hill and dale, lacking only a picnic basket. Anchors Aweigh, the Navy's celebration of the joys of sailing, could have been penned by Jimmy Buffet. The Air Force song is a lyric poem of blue skies and engine thrust. All is joyful and invigorating, and safe. There are no landmines in the dales nor snipers behind the hills, no submarines or cruise missiles threaten the ocean jaunt, no bandits are lurking in the wild blue yonder.
The Marines' Hymn, by contrast, is all combat. We fight our country's battles, first to fight for right and freedom, we have fought in every clime and place where we could take a gun, in many a strife we've fought for life.
The choice is made clear. You may join the Army to go to adventure training, or join the Navy to go to Bangkok, or join the Air Force to go to computer school. You join the Marines to go to war.
But the mere act of signing the enlistment contract confers no status in the Corps. The Army recruit is told from his first minute in uniform that "you're in the Army now, soldier". Navy and Air Force enlistees are sailors or airmen as soon as they get off the bus at the training center. The new arrival at Marine Corps boot camp is called recruit, or private, or worse (much worse), but not Marine. Not yet; maybe not ever. He or she must earn the right to claim the title, and failure returns you to civilian life without hesitation or ceremony.
My recruit platoon, Platoon 2210 at San Diego, California, trained from October through December of 1968. In Vietnam the Marines were taking two hundred casualties a week, and the major rainy season operation, Meade River, had not even begun. Yet our drill instructors had no qualms about winnowing out almost a quarter of their 112 recruits, graduating eighty-one... Note that this was post- enlistment attrition; every one of those who were dropped had been passed by the recruiters as fit for service. But they failed the test of boot camp, not necessarily for physical reasons (at least two were outstanding high-school athletes for whom the calesthenics and running were child's play). The cause of their failure was not in the biceps nor the legs, but in the spirit. They had lacked the will to endure the mental and emotional strain, so they would not be Marines. Heavy commitments and high casulties notwithstanding, the Corps reserves the right to pick and choose.
But the war had touched boot camp in one way. The normal twelve-week course of training was shortened to eight weeks. Deprived of a third of their training time, our drill instructors hurried over, or dropped completely, those classes without direct relevance to Vietnam. Chemical warfare training was abandoned. Swimming classes shrank to a single familiarization session. Even hand-to-hand combat was skimped. Three things only remained inviolate: close order drill, the ultimate discipline builder; marksmanship training, the heart of combat effectiveness; and classes on the history, customs and traditions of the Corps.
History classes in boot camp? Stop a soldier on the street and ask him to name a battle of World War One. Pick a sailor at random to describe the epic fight of the Bon Homme Richard. Everyone has heard of McGuire Air Force Base, so ask any airman who Major Thomas B. McGuire was, and why he is so commemorated. I am not carping, and there is no sneer in this criticism. All of the services have glorious traditions, but no one teaches the young soldier, sailor or airman what his uniform means and why he should be proud to wear it.
But ask a Marine about World War One, and you will hear of the wheatfield at Belleau Wood and the courage of the Fourth Marine Brigade. Faced with an enemy of superior numbers entrenched in tangled forest undergrowth, the Marines received an order to attack that even the charitable cannot call ill-advised. It was insane. Artillery support was absent and air support hadn't been invented yet, so the Brigade charged German machine guns with only bayonets, grenades and indomitable fighting spirit. A bandy-legged little barrel of a gunnery sergeant, Daniel J. Daly, rallied his company with a shout. "Come on, you sons a bitches! Do you want to live forever?" He took out three of those machine guns himself, and they would have given him the Medal of Honor except for a technicality. He already had two of them. French liaison officers, hardened though they were by four years of Frenchbound slaughter, were shocked as the Marines charged across the open wheatfield under a blazing sun and directly into enemy fire. Their action was so anachronistic on a twentieth-century battlefield that they might as well have been swinging cutlasses. But the enemy was only human; they couldn't stand up to this. So the Marines took Belleau Wood.
Every Marine knows this story, and dozens more. We are taught them in boot camp as a regular part of the curriculum. Every Marine will always be taught them. You can learn to don a gas mask anytime, even on the plane en route to the war zone, but before you can wear the emblem and claim the title you must know of the Marines who made that emblem and title meaningful. So long as you can march and shoot and revere the legacy of the Corps, you can take your place in the line.
And that line is unified in spirit as in purpose. A soldier wears branch of service insignia on his collar, and metal shoulder pins and cloth sleeve patches to identify his unit. Sailors wear a rating badge that identifies what they do for the Navy. Marines wear only the eagle, globe and anchor, together with personal ribbons and their cherished marksmanship badges. There is nothing on a Marine's uniform to indicate what he or she does, nor (except for the 5th and 6th Regiments who wear a French fourragere for Belleau Wood) what unit the Marine belongs to. You cannot tell by looking at a Marine whether you are seeing a truck driver, a computer programmer, or a machine gunner. The Corps explains this as a security measure to conceal the identity and location of units, but the Marines penchant for publicity makes that the least likely of explanations. No, the Marine is amorphous, even anonymous (we finally agreed to wear nametags only in 1992), by conscious design. Every Marine is a rifleman first and foremost, a Marine first, last and always. You may serve a four-year enlistment or even a twenty-year career without seeing action, but if the word is given you'll charge across that wheatfield. Whether a Marine has been schooled in automated supply, or automotive mechanics, or aviation electronics, is immaterial. Those things are secondary - the Corps does them because it must. The modern battle requires the technical appliances, and since the enemy has them, so do we. But no Marine boasts mastery of them. Our pride is in our marksmanship, our discipline, and our membership in a fraternity of courage and sacrifice.
"For the honor of the fallen, for the glory of the dead", Edgar Guest wrote of Belleau Wood, "the living line of courage kept the faith and moved ahead." They are all gone now, those Marines who made a French farmer's little wheatfield into one of the most enduring of Marine Corps legends. Many of them did not survive the day, and eight long decades have claimed the rest. But their action has made them immortal. The Corps remembers them and honors what they did, and so they live forever. Dan Daly's shouted challenge takes on its true meaning - if you hide in the trenches you may survive for now, but someday you will die and no one will care. If you charge the guns you may die in the next two minutes, but you will be one of the immortals. All Marines die, in the red flash of battle or the white cold of the nursing home. In the vigor of youth or the infirmity of age all will eventually die, but the Marine Corps lives on. Every Marine who ever lived is living still, in the Marines who claim the title today. It is that sense of belonging to something that will outlive your own mortality that gives people a light to live by and a flame to mark their passing.
Marines call it esprit de corps!
Daniel E. Sims
GySgt, USMC (Ret.)

[kaninen]

Ok Duke on what side of bed did you wake up? why are you beeing such a ****up? i wasnt rude to you.

[fng]

He can't help it. :cantbeli: He's a marine.

[RealUltimatePower]

I think he was just pissed at your ignorance. AS was I. Marines are the best example of a strong and adaptable fighting force. And the three months of Boot camp is tougher (I imagine) than other militaries' 12 to 15 month courses.

Plus Marines are constantly training to a higher standard. Correct me if I'm wrong but they go through another three months of training for their occupation such as f*ckin 0311 infantry!! And then the MEU SOC buildups and deployments. So not only do they have superior training but the real combat experience.

I can't wait till next year when I join though. Still in High School now and the Army reserves (Canadian so it's ****ty and nothing compared to the corps).

[fng]

Typical highschoolers! Somebody give these kids some passifiers.

Kaninen is from Sweden where they have a militia system of self-defense. It would be like every male in the US being required to be in the National Guard. He was asking if the Marines were anything like the Swedish system, i.e., a reserve force. A simple question but you guys are too full of adolecent hormons to listen.

[fng]

Oops. If I'm not mistaken, Sweden has a draft system.

Kaninen, can you give us some details?

[...]

Fallen Angel boot is alot different than OCS. If you have any specifics I can try to answer them.

[Dmitri]

no ****!... :backhand: leave the poor guy alone, no one gives a **** about yours wannabe marine feelings. There is more ignorance in your postings than anything else.
There is plenty of history lessons in the Army Basic... they just dont make propoganda out of it....and why would you just really want to be part of "something"?.. I would rather be "someone" woot

[a. enders]

Everyone needs to chill out.It would be easy to assume Kainen had a pissy tone to the post and that's how Duke interpreted it.(First time I read it,it seemed he was trying to get into a pissing contest,then I reread it)

Chalk it up to someone reading more than is there and someone who doesn't speak English as a first language.MIsunderstandings and miscommunications happen.

As for the "wannabe marine feelings",ditto.Jesus,don't go wavin the Marine Corps flag and acting as a Marine when you haven't even put the time in yet.It just ain't right.

(PS-is it me or is the blue guy nervous of the green guy? :petting: Look at that sidelong glance....)

[kaninen]

In sweden all men have to go through military service, its called "lumpen".

You first go through a series of tests, condition, intelligence, psychology a.s.o.
Then they evaluate the test and se if you are fit to do service (the only way you dont do it, is if you have som ilness, astma or things like that. Or if you have a psycic dissorder wich often leads to institution).
If you are fit you are assigned fot a career, like (som is directly transfered from swedish some are not...) closeprotection, royal guard, ranger (you migh have haerd about our famous coastal ranger) or a basic "grunt". Then they assign you to a unit and give some a rank, like troopleader (translation :/) Then they start their traing, it varies from 12-15 months. 12 Is for ordinary soldiers like if they were US it would be Riflemen squads (not sure what they are called). and 15 is the highest for rangers and CO:s.

After you been assigned to a group your three months basic training starts its to get to know your weapons and squad members.
And so you train and you train and you train.

The Swedish army training program i built up with many many excersices (spelling) against an enemy force or to complete a mission. For example a unit of Rangers is to move from point 1 to point 2, and there thay are to set up a telt camp to collect wounded from "the front", or they have to blow up a tank, leave a message and so on and so fourth.

When the soldiers have almost completed their whole training they are to have a final test. Its where you get to use all your knowlege, its very very tough. Its a 2week long excersice, non-stop. You have to ski over mountains, swim over icy lakes, built camps, fight enemy, treat wounded and marsch a hole lot. This is were the men are seperated from the boys (ooo dramatic end there)

anything Ive forgotten? please ask

[Duke]

kan... Hey bud, if your intentions were honest, then I'm truly sorry. The post came off a little condescending, again sorry. The last point I would try to make is that Marines are ****heads.
Actually, I read a bio on a DI at Quantico who attended one of the Scandinavian Amphibious units, whether its Denmark, Sweden or Finland I have no idea, but my point is that we cross train and have much respect for those countries military.
For Fallen NROTC and OCS are two totally different paths to a commission. NROTC, which can take 2-4 years, is designed for college students, while OCS or more correctly OCC (Officer Candidate's Course) is designed for college graduates. Common to most commissioning sources, OCC, NROTC and PLC (Ill explain later) is that all officer candidates or midshipmen must attend either the six or ten week bulldog course.
OCC is a ten week course at Quantico, Va (near the Scout/Sniper School) used to transform Americans into Officers in the Marine Corps. OCC is the officer's version of boot camp. For the NROTC and the Naval Academy midshipmen an alternate six week bulldog course must be taken the summer before their senior year.
PLC or Platoon Leader's Course is designed also for college students, but NROTC and PLC are very different. First, to enter PLC the student must be enlisted. Two, the student need not either perform reserve training or enroll in NROTC classes at his/her institution. Also, the Marine must either attend a 2-six week course taken in consecutive summers starting after their first year in college. For juniors/rising seniors they must attend the 10 week OCS course before their senior year. Finally at graduation the officer candidate can be commissioned. The funny thing about PLC is that if a student graduates from college the student can opt out of commissioning, its voluntary.

[Scrim]

Just stumbled across the following link, pretty good overview of boot camp,even though its in San Diego for the Hollywood Marines.mcrdsd.usmc.mil/RTR/trainingDS.htm . I see no one has mentioned MCT(Marine Combat Training), A month of Infantry training that all Marines go to after bootcamp, before going to MOS(job) school. Its not as long as bootcamp, but still rough as hell(personally I found it tougher physically than boot camp.)Good training though, lots of field time and blowing sh*t up. To all you future Marines, good luck, and when you get to P.I. be sure to request placement in 4th Bn.

[...]

You do not need to be enlisted to be in PLC, that was my commisioning program. You go to Quantico after you freshmen and sophmore year or after your sophmore and junior year and you get your commision pending you earning your degree. It is two 6 week programs. OCC is for college grads and that is the 10 week program. I do not believe that midshipmen have to go to OCS at all they just go straight to TBS, they are after all commisioned at graduation, aren't they?

[96B]

I'd love to be in 4th Training Battalion! Then I'd have extra curricular activities in the day and at night woot

[Apogee]

Where does Leatherneck (the thing that Midi's go through during the summer) fit into the whole scheme?

[Duke]

Marines have this thing with the "Frosin Chosin", where Marine units were literally ground into a bloody pulp. The Chinese targeted the rear units, but to the suprise of the Chinese the rear fought fiercely, yet the Marines had to retreat. We still gave them hell. These pogues, the cooks, admins, drivers and etc were actually trained in infantry tactics. They recieved infantry type training. Today, that infantry type training is called MCT for Marine Combat Training. All noninfantry Marines must attend this 17 day course before attending their MOS school.
Scrim MCT is quite different than ITB. ITB trains 03XX Marines for Rifleman, Machinegunner, Mortarman, Assaultman, Antitank Guided Missleman, and LAV Crewman or the "Backbone" of the Corps. ITB lasts for 36 days for Rifleman and an extra 30 days for the LAVs and 18 days for the rest.

[FallenAngel]

Thanks Duke. The recruiter told me that he suggested I do the NROTC in college, then I would go to OCS the summer before senior year. However, he didn't even go into too much detail about the other paths.

What would it take to be a reserve officer? I have a lot of plans for my future (specifically medical school) but I also want to do some duty with the Marines. I live in LA California so there's units around here that I am interested in reserve wise (namely the 2/23rd Inf., 4th Armored Bn., and the 5/14th Artillery). Could I join up and do two years (or four, whatever...) in the reserves and then request OCC/OCS during a summer or something?

Thanks again for all the info. :)

[Scrim]

Duke, MCT was 30 (or so) days when I went through(92). We all went, even infantry MOS types. I remember all the 03's bitching because while we got to leave Lejuene after a month of MCT, and go to our respective MOS schools, they had to move just down the road and begin SOI!! Or I guess its called ITB (Infantry Training Bn.??)now. But thanks for the update, hell theyre probly changing the training cycle as we speak.
Semper Fi.

[Duke]

The School of the Infantry, West or East, and including MCT and ITB as it is today started in 1987. No change in the nomenclature, course length or designation has occurred since 1987. I could be wrong though.

[RealUltimatePower]

Well for one I never 'waved the flag' I was just saying I respect the corps and was repeating what I have been told about Marine training from my friend who is a former marine.

I do plan to put the time in. But I'll have to wait till I'm ready next year to do that.

[Scrim]

FallenAngel-Duke seems a bit more up to date than I am,but heres what I remember.
Min. reserve contract is 4 years.You could join the reserves, but not as an officer. You could join as enlisted,go to bootcamp and MOS school and check in with your reserve unit. Then attend two six week PLC courses over two summers while you are in college. Upon graduation of college you are commisioned and then attend TBS. There is no straight into the reserves as an officer.You must serve probably 4 years active as an officer before transfering to the reserves.

[Duke]

... False, PLC is for enlisted www.expage.com/page/bmdwebpage
The fact you dont know the prerequisites of PLC, makes it hard for me to believe I'm writing to a fellow Officer in the Marine Corps. Furthermore, you should know that Bulldog is required for all Marines, other than battlefield commissions. You see, back in the late eighties a study came out sponsored by SecNav Webb on the lack of advancement by Annapolis Marines when compared to non-Academy Marines. The report concluded that Bulldog was the difference between Annapolis Marines and non-Annapolis Marines, since Bulldog is very comparable to boot camp in its intensity and indoctrination to Corps values. Now, all Naval Academy Marine Option midshipmen must attend before their 1st year, which is their "senior" year. You should know that.

Scuba, Leatherneck is after the first year for the Marine Option midis

[Apogee]

Thanks Duke

[...]

I know for a fact that you do not need to be enlisted to be in PLC most of my class, like me, were not prior enlisted. That link did not work for me but I do not know why you did not just go to the source. http://www.marines.com/officer_programs/platoonleadersclass.asp?benefit=Leadership+and+Management+Skills
As for the Naval Acadamy I do not know much about it I was just guessing. So by the way how were you commisioned? If it was OCC you should know that most of those candidates were not priors eithier.

[fng]

Good info, kaninen and a great finish. :)
I was wondering if the Swedish system of national service was anything like the Isrealis where you serve an initial stint (period of time) on active duty (12-15months) and then you serve in a reserve unit for 20 to 30 years? If so, how do the reserve units rate as far as quality?

[Duke]

...,
When at PLC, if you went, you would of met fellow officer candidates at OCC, since both increments of PLC and OCC run currently. Therefore, you should of know that. Answer me these questions, since you attended PLC you should easily answer the questions. After recieving a salute you enter the the south entrance and proceed to the second building on the left, you enter the main door, go straight and follow the the hall. Where are you?? That's an easy one. Another one, where the road overlooks the main range next to the rally point(The green ones), there's an official sign and its unintentionally funny. What kind of sign is it and why is it so damn funny?? Last one, at the bombing range, what sits off not too far off the rusty relic?? What's the rusty relic???

In the OCS post I made huge mistake, but you didnt catch it. Im suprised.

[Cpl Stumps]

Scrim,

When I went to MCT at the beginning of '94 Gen. Krulak I believe, changed it so that 03XXs didn't have to go through MCT anymore they went straight to their schools. Also towards the end of my enlistment they decided to send WMs to MCT at Camp Geiger.

Semper Fi

Cpl Stumps

[...]

So how did you get commisioned? And when? I did not receive any salutes except by other Candidates. I held no company billets and was candidate platoon sergeant once. As for ranges on Brown Field I don't have a clue. Are you talking about Engineer Road?

[...]

Come to think about it you do not strike me as an Officer of Marines either. I guess since I "failed" your test you can take mine.
Who runs the Tarzan course?
What is the most likely kind of pizza a candidate will eat on libo?
Where's the head you use after you leave Bobo Hall?

[Duke]

... NOTED. Vampire PM