|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Don't waste your time trying to find the recruiter near you. Let us do the work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Crucible
|
|
Story By Jim Garamone, Photography by Lance Cpl. Michael J. Supples
February 23, 2004
|
Thinking about Serving?
Get
the information you need to decide if a military
career is right for you. No obligation -- just free
information from the branches of service that interest
you.
|
|
|
|
"We have two missions in the
Marine
Corps -- to win battles and make Marines," said Col. Bob Hayes, assistant
deputy chief of staff for operations and training at the recruit depot
here. "The Crucible is one piece of that effort."
Teamwork
The Crucible emphasizes trainee teamwork under stress. "Recruits get eight
hours of sleep during the entire 54 hour exercise," said Sgt. Roger Summers,
a Delta Company drill instructor in the 1st Recruit Training Battalion
at Parris Island. "They get two-and-a-half MREs and they are responsible
for rationing out the food to themselves. Then we put them through tough
physical activities like road marches and night infiltration courses.
They march about 40 miles in those 54 hours."
It isn't long before the recruits are tired and hungry, Summers said,
but as they keep going they realize they can call on reserves they never
knew they had.
"Some of these recruits do things they never thought they could do," he
said. "Some of them come from middle-class homes where everything has
been handed to them. Others come from poorer homes where nothing was ever
expected of them. If they finish the Crucible, they have accomplished
something."
A recruit delivers a killing blow while running the bayonet course
at Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, S.C. The recruit was
in the middle of the Crucible, the 54-hour-long climax of Marine
basic training.
|
|
One recruit put it best. "I am going to finish
this," he said. "And when I do, it will be the most positive thing I have
done in my life."
Problem Solving
Delta Company begins the Crucible at 3 a.m. with a six-mile road march
from their barracks to Page Airfield, the Crucible site. Once there, recruits
-- and that's the only thing the drill instructors call the trainees --
place their gear in huts and prepare for the first of four four-hour events.
Each event has a number of "warrior stations" that the team of recruits
must work together to overcome or solve. Each station is named for a Marine
hero and the drill instructor has a recruit read a brief explanation of
how the hero's actions exemplify the Corps and its values.
"I choose a different leader for each station. That way, all the recruits
understand what it's like to be the leader and what they have to do to
be a follower," Summers said. "For some of them, they want to run everything.
They can't admit that a recruit who may not have been the sharpest in
previous training has a good idea. Sometimes it's the quiet one who has
the idea and no one will listen.
"You see the team learn as they go along," he continued. "At the beginning,
they just charge ahead without a plan and without asking if anyone has
an idea. By the end of the Crucible you see them working together better,
getting advice from all team members and solving more of the problems."
One warrior station, for example, is built around an enemy-mined rope
bridge that the recruits must cross with their gear and ammunition boxes.
They have only a couple of short ropes and their personal gear to solve
the problem. At another event, recruits run into firing positions and
engage pop-up targets with 10 rounds in two magazines. Recruit teams battle
each other with pugil sticks in yet another event.
No Rest for the Weary
The recruits grab food and water when they can. After the first two events
comes a five-mile night march. "The night march was the toughest thing
we've done here," said 18-year-old Pfc. Josh Lunceford of Charleston,
W.Va. "The whole company went on it and whoever led it set a real fast
pace. You couldn't see very well and people were tripping over stuff,
and everyone was tired."
Delta Company recruits rumble during pugil stick competitions at
Parris Island Marine Recruit Depot, S.C. The competitions are part
of the Crucible the 54-hour-long climax of Marine basic training.
|
|
The recruits hit the rack for four hours of sleep,
then begin another day and finish the final two events. "On the second
day they are tired and hungry and it really starts to show," said Capt.
John H. Rochford, Delta Company commander. "They start getting short with
one another, but they realize after the first day they have to work together
to finish. No one gets through the Crucible alone."
At the end of the second day, the recruits go through a night infiltration
course and then hit the rack for another four hours. When they get up,
they face a nine-mile march and the end of the Crucible.
Transformation
The march begins at 4 a.m. and, at first, is done quietly. Recruits limp
along, because no one wants to drop out this close to the end, Summers
said.
As the sun rises, the recruits cross DI Bridge. Once across, the drill
instructors start Jody calls and the recruits join in. As they get closer
to the main base, the Jody calls get louder until they reach the Parade
Deck. The recruits form up around a half-size replica of the Marine Corps
Memorial -- also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial. There, a significant
transformation takes place.
"We're not just giving them basic training, we're turning them into Marines,"
Rochford said. "There's more to being a Marine than knowing how to fire
a weapon. There's a whole tradition behind it, and we want these recruits
to measure up to the men and women who went before them."
A color guard raises the flag on the memorial. The chaplain reads a prayer
specifically written for the finish of the Crucible, and the company first
sergeant addresses the recruits. Then the drill instructors present each
of their recruits with the Marine Corps insignia -- the eagle, globe and
anchor. He shakes their hands and calls them "Marine" for the first time.
Many accept the honor with tears streaming down their faces.
© 2004 American Forces Press Service.
All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily
reflect those of Military.com.
Use
your GI Bill benefits to get ahead. Get free information from military-friendly
schools.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EDUCATION
CENTER
Further your career
with education! Use your GI Bill and Tuition
Assistance benefits. Find schools that want
you! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
USE
YOUR VA LOAN BENEFIT
Mortgage rates are
at 30-year lows–now's the time to consider
using your VA home loan. Get pre-approved!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
