British Royal Marines

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The United States Marines are a highly specialized branch of the U.S. Military, known for their rapid deployment and amphibious warfare abilities. The mission of the Marines is triple-pronged; to defend or seize naval bases and other land operations as needed, to develop equipment and tactics that will advance the capabilities of amphibious landing forces, and to perform other duties as directed by the President.

Created on November 10, 1775 as the Continental Marines, this small force originally consisted of infantry soldiers who served aboard naval vessels, defending the ship, engaging in combat during landing and boarding actions, and manning any raiding parties.

Having been involved in every armed American military conflict since, the force quickly evolved. During the War of 1812, Marines participated in frequent frigate battles, which were some of the first American victories in this eventually lost conflict. Though they still fought, the Marine forces experienced decline and disorganization in the latter part of the 19th century.

It wasn’t until the Spanish-American War of 1898 that the Marines entered what is often considered their formative years. During the conflict, Marines were responsible for leading forces ashore and were able to demonstrate their invaluable ability to deploy quickly. This was when the Marines seized Guatanamo Bay, a base still used today by the United States Navy.

The Marines continued to play a crucial role in the first World War, and would capture America’s imagination and pride in the Pacific battles of World War II. Marines were absolutely essential to the success of difficult island battles such as Tarawa, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima, a seize made famous by the infamous flag-raising photograph that is so often used as a symbol of victory and military commitment.

Today, Marines are very focused on infantry development. Their philosophy emphasizes the importance of close combat, rather than depending solely on strategic bombing or more distance-oriented battle. Prized for their ability to deploy rapidly, their loyalty, and their proud traditions, the United States Marines are an integral part of the United States’ Department of Defense.

When the applicant arrives to the airport in San Diego, they are met by a Marine drill instructor, which by many, are considered some of the most fearful men on the planet. They take roll call and when complete, the applicants get on a bus that will take them to MCRD, San Diego, California. Once they arrive on MCRD, they are no longer considered applicants, they are considered recruits. At this point, the recruit is very scared and don’t know what to expect. For many of them, it is the first time they left home or been away from their parents. Little do they know, they will receive new parents for the next 13 weeks… the infamous Marine Corps drill instructors.

When the bus arrives to MCRD, it pulls up to Receiving Barracks, (were all the new recruits go and stay for a few days) they are met by another Marine drill instructor who is very intimidating and immediately makes them want to go home. While at receiving, the recruits are re-screened to see if they are still found qualified to be in Marine Corps Bootcamp. The recruits go through what is called The Moment of Truth. This is the time for the recruits to confess anything that they didn’t confess to their recruiter. Since many of them are scared, they start coming up with stories to get out of bootcamp. However, many true confessions consist of drug use, arrest, tickets, probation, etc… Depending on the severity of the situation determines if the recruit will be sent back home. When this is over, the recruits take another urinalysis to see if they will test positive for drugs.

The last day at Receiving Barracks, the recruits will take an Initial Strength Test (IST) to evaluate their fitness level, which goes on Fridays. The IST consists of doing 3 pull-ups, 45 crunches, and running 1.5 miles in 13:30. This will determine if the recruit has a strong enough fitness level to continue with Marine Corps Bootcamp. If a recruit doesn’t have what it takes to continue with training, he is sent to Physical Conditioning Platoon, where he will stay until he is able to meet the minimum physical fitness standards to continue with bootcamp. From October 1, 2005 – July 31, 2006, out of 14,917 shipped to bootcamp, 1,118 didn’t pass the IST, which is 7.4%.

For the recruits who passed the IST, they will be picked up by their training company, which is the company that they will spend the remaining 12 weeks of bootcamp. That first day with the new training company is very scary; a person will never experience another day like it. A recruit will never be placed under as much stress in his life, maybe with the exception of combat. Many of the recruits initially don’t know how to handle the stress. Many may cry, refuse to train, go UA (unauthorized absence/AWOL), and some will even go as far as claiming to be gay. It may sound a bit far fetched, but it’s true. At this point, recruits will try many things to go home. However, what the recruits don’t realize is that the drill instructors spend 120 plus hours a week making them Marines.

After the first week, the initial shock is over for many of them. They tend to get settled in the route of bootcamp and treat each day is it’s their last. During the second week of training, the results from their urinalysis come back. This is the moment when some recruits wonder if they will test positive on the urinalysis. For the fiscal year, 130 Marine Corps recruits in the Western Recruiting Region tested positive for drugs, which is .0874% of the recruits who make it to bootcamp.

During training, Marine Corps recruits go through some extensive training. With the extensive training, come many injuries. The injuries can range from a stress fracture to a broken femur. Recruits can also get sick from viruses in the air, or catch a bad case of pneumonia. When a recruit gets injured or sick, he is transferred to Medical Rehabilitation Platoon (MRP). MRP is where recruits go in order to get better. Depending on the severity of the injury, a recruit can stay at MRP for over a year. Some recruits injuries are so severe, they can’t continue on with training and when they get better, they are discharged from the Marine Corps.

The discharges don’t only come from medical conditions or positive urinalysis; they can come from fraud, mental conditions, and failure to adapt, just to name a few. Fraud is when a recruit lied about something that would’ve kept him from coming to bootcamp. When it comes to mental conditions, it could be that a recruit who was so stressed out in bootcamp that he claimed that he will kill himself on more than one occasion. It could mean that the recruit is mentally unstable or that the recruit needs anti depressants to get through the day. As for failure to adapt, the recruit just can’t adapt to bootcamp regardless of what method you use. They are very belligerent and disrespectful towards the drill instructors, and will do whatever it takes to go home. After all means have failed to train those types of recruits, he is processed out for failure to adapt, because he is not worth the stress to the drill instructors and the Marine Corps. Out of all the recruits shipped to bootcamp, 1,568 were processed and discharged. That is 10.51% of the total recruits that made it to bootcamp.

The making of a Marine definitely isn’t easy. Just as the recruiter works a lot of hours, drill instructors work 120 plus hours a week, seven days a week, for three straight months. The Marine Corps drill instructor’s family feels the same hardship as the family of a recruiter. The life of a drill instructor is physically and mentally demanding. A drill instructor that is on his first platoon usually loses 20 to 30 pounds in those three months and spends 16 of the 18 hours a day on their feet.

A drill instructor has to take care of his family and train his platoon (ranges from 40 – 110 recruits) to become Marines. The love is with the family, but the devotion usually lies with the recruits. By the 8th week of bootcamp, the recruits normally look at the senior drill instructor as a father figure. He is the one who spent the time, mentor them, take care of their personal needs, and treats them like his own.

During the last week of training is when the recruits earn the title of “United States Marine.” That is a title that is wanted by many, but only carried by few. By this point of training, the recruit is a completely different person. He walks and talks differently. He moves differently, acts differently, and feels a sense of accomplishment like no other. Many parents won’t even recognize their own son. Graduation day is the day that they all waited for. The boys are gone and men are unveiled. Out of 76,500 people that were contacted, only 6,043 became Marines, making them one of the “The Few, The Proud… The Marines!”

Career Exploration Program. (2004, July). The ASVAB Test. Jasper Weaver. Retrieved Aug 19, 2006, from Career Exploration Program

LCpl R. Drew Hendricks. (2005). Preparing for Divorce (Marine Forces Pacific). Quantico, VA.

The US Marines are the most hardcore fighting machine on the planet and they turn boys into men in 13 short weeks. Marines are tough and need plenty of upper body strength to carry around equipment and to climb heavy terrain. You can use pull ups in many variations for great muscle building workouts at home or in the gym. I started doing pull ups when I was 10 years old so by the time I graduated high school I could do 31 dead hang pull ups. This gave me quite the edge when I went to Marine Corps boot camp in Paris Island a couple years later.

Pull ups will build your upper back giving you the awesome sought after V taper that bodybuilders, mixed martial artists, and wrestlers have. The other great side effect from this exercise is that they will build your biceps. If you want wide lats or are about to go to boot camp to join the Marines you need to start doing this muscle building exercises at least every other day to start strengthening your back and biceps.

Marine pull ups are done a little differently though as they allow you to use a little bit of a swing called a “kip” to help pull yourself up. I really never knew why they allowed this though because it is cheating. If you want to really build your upper back do them with strict form and only use the swing at the end to help you get a couple of extra reps. If you can do 20 dead hangs you can easily do 40 to 50 pull ups with the kip. When I graduated from boot camp using this technique I did 58 and so can you if you put the effort in.

Get a chin up bar to put in your door at home if you don’t belong to a gym. Pull ups are the best muscle building exercise to get big arms and to widen your back. The Marines already knew this though and that is why they use it as a foundation along with push ups to build the upper bodies of new recruits. Another technique you can do to help strengthen your arms quicker is negatives. If you aren’t able to do anymore reps step up on a chair or jump up so your chin is at the bar and lower yourself down as slow as you can. Do this for a few reps to really burn out the biceps and back muscles. Typically the biceps are the weak link on this exercise and this will help you to push the back and biceps harder.