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frogman_jake · 12-02-2006, 10:07

Since it was already brought up I thought I would weigh in on the relative efficiency of Marine Corps recruit training. I went through in 1994, and I was 27 years old. I am now considering joining the 20th NG SFG and this is how I found this board. I have not posted before. USMC boot camp has not changed much since I went through save the addition of "the crucible" at the end of the 13-14 week cycle. This is a team problem solving event, about 50 hours long, one meal per day and very little sleep. It marks the transition for recruit to Marine and during this short time the relationship between the drill instructor and recruit changes demonstrably. The DI is now a teacher and mentor, and the recruit is now a developing professional warrior. Boot is harder and longer now than when I went through but the Corps has fewer isssues meeting recruiting goals and a lower attrition rate. The reason for this is simple and obvious to anyone who was a Marine. Only the best Marines are offered a tour in recruiting. Only the best are given a spot in DI school. DI school is very demanding and the washout rate is very high. So here is where it becomes obvious. From the first experience with a recruiter, a motivated young man thinks - I want to be just like this guy. Not "I want to work with computers, or get money for tuition". This guy is hard, and tough and I want to be him. Then you get to boot camp, and you get off the bus and stand on some gold colored footprints in formation and the most physically imposing and completely squared away person you have ever seen is screaming at you from a distance of two inches away. He tells you that men who stood in those same painted footprints before you have died in battle serving their country. He explains that you may be asked to do the same. From the first moment 99% of the recruits on the bus want to be that Marine and will do anything asked of them to acheive that. They wake up daily to the bellowing of DIs who are already squared away and perfect. The recruits take a beating mentally and physically from reveille to taps. They develop the ability to process stress, and then more is given to them because they are being trained for combat. No interaction is allowed between male and female recruits. During two weeks of basic marksmanship training no DIs are allowed on the firing line of the known distance course. Honestly, the stress level has been so high for a month at this point that it is feared a recruit may shoot a DI in retaliation. Recruits are taught to shoot by Primary Marksmanship Instructors and watched over on the line by coaches, one per pair of recruits. There is no doubt in the mind of any recruit that any DI could punch holes in the ten ring at 500 meters at any time. I could go on and on, but my point is this - when a young man survives Parris Island it is only because he gave much more than he thought he could. Does not matter if he was rich, or spoiled, or raised by a crack addict mother. He wants it bad, he wants to be that Marine that is screaming at him every day because that DI is extracting a level of performance from him that he did not know existed. He learns to live by a warrior code, that the phrases "lead by example" and "always faithful" mean something within his new brotherhood. "Every Marine is a rifleman" is not a stretch. Yes, an admin guy might need a quick refresher on how to strip and clean the bolt carrier group, but you can stick him in the field and know what he knows because you came from the same horrible place. If the training on the Island was not this tough you could not possibly have that same confidence in the guy who is supposed to be watching your six. Bottom line, you want to wear my uniform, you better be willing to suffer for it or you have dishonored those who have died wearing it. I better know you were not given a free pass or an easy time earning it. I must have in you that "special trust and confidence" when things go bad. I don't care what was in your blood the day you got off the bus so long as you bleed green now. I think making boot easier and shorter to attract more recruits, and reducing stress while in training is not combat effective, and does not produce the esprit de corps necessary to develop a culture of excellence. You fail mentally long before you will fail physically. The objective should be to develop a culture that does not allow the individual to fail mentally because he is truly motivated to become the soldier who is training him.

12-02-2006, 10:07	#27
frogman_jake Asset Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Wrightsville Beach, NC Posts: 4	Since it was already brought up I thought I would weigh in on the relative efficiency of Marine Corps recruit training. I went through in 1994, and I was 27 years old. I am now considering joining the 20th NG SFG and this is how I found this board. I have not posted before. USMC boot camp has not changed much since I went through save the addition of "the crucible" at the end of the 13-14 week cycle. This is a team problem solving event, about 50 hours long, one meal per day and very little sleep. It marks the transition for recruit to Marine and during this short time the relationship between the drill instructor and recruit changes demonstrably. The DI is now a teacher and mentor, and the recruit is now a developing professional warrior. Boot is harder and longer now than when I went through but the Corps has fewer isssues meeting recruiting goals and a lower attrition rate. The reason for this is simple and obvious to anyone who was a Marine. Only the best Marines are offered a tour in recruiting. Only the best are given a spot in DI school. DI school is very demanding and the washout rate is very high. So here is where it becomes obvious. From the first experience with a recruiter, a motivated young man thinks - I want to be just like this guy. Not "I want to work with computers, or get money for tuition". This guy is hard, and tough and I want to be him. Then you get to boot camp, and you get off the bus and stand on some gold colored footprints in formation and the most physically imposing and completely squared away person you have ever seen is screaming at you from a distance of two inches away. He tells you that men who stood in those same painted footprints before you have died in battle serving their country. He explains that you may be asked to do the same. From the first moment 99% of the recruits on the bus want to be that Marine and will do anything asked of them to acheive that. They wake up daily to the bellowing of DIs who are already squared away and perfect. The recruits take a beating mentally and physically from reveille to taps. They develop the ability to process stress, and then more is given to them because they are being trained for combat. No interaction is allowed between male and female recruits. During two weeks of basic marksmanship training no DIs are allowed on the firing line of the known distance course. Honestly, the stress level has been so high for a month at this point that it is feared a recruit may shoot a DI in retaliation. Recruits are taught to shoot by Primary Marksmanship Instructors and watched over on the line by coaches, one per pair of recruits. There is no doubt in the mind of any recruit that any DI could punch holes in the ten ring at 500 meters at any time. I could go on and on, but my point is this - when a young man survives Parris Island it is only because he gave much more than he thought he could. Does not matter if he was rich, or spoiled, or raised by a crack addict mother. He wants it bad, he wants to be that Marine that is screaming at him every day because that DI is extracting a level of performance from him that he did not know existed. He learns to live by a warrior code, that the phrases "lead by example" and "always faithful" mean something within his new brotherhood. "Every Marine is a rifleman" is not a stretch. Yes, an admin guy might need a quick refresher on how to strip and clean the bolt carrier group, but you can stick him in the field and know what he knows because you came from the same horrible place. If the training on the Island was not this tough you could not possibly have that same confidence in the guy who is supposed to be watching your six. Bottom line, you want to wear my uniform, you better be willing to suffer for it or you have dishonored those who have died wearing it. I better know you were not given a free pass or an easy time earning it. I must have in you that "special trust and confidence" when things go bad. I don't care what was in your blood the day you got off the bus so long as you bleed green now. I think making boot easier and shorter to attract more recruits, and reducing stress while in training is not combat effective, and does not produce the esprit de corps necessary to develop a culture of excellence. You fail mentally long before you will fail physically. The objective should be to develop a culture that does not allow the individual to fail mentally because he is truly motivated to become the soldier who is training him.
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