Preventing stress fractures

[LokiPA]

Over the past 2-3 weeks I've made a big improvement in terms of crunches and pull-ups and I'm going to keep going with that but as I look at the MCRDPI training matrix, I see a lot of 3-10 mile marches throughout the schedule. I also heard that the Crucible is something like 50 miles total of marching.

Stress fractures look like a real nightmare for boot camp, the kind that would require you to stay for anywhere from 4-8 weeks to 3 months to recover from depending on the severity. I don't know a lot about them, I have done searches on this forum but the questions I have are these:

1. Can one feel "safe" about the chances of recovery from a stress fracture? As in, if a recruit gets one, should they be instantly worried that "that's it" and they might get sent home against their will or can they stick it out for as long as they want for that kind of condition?

2. How many lbs. of gear are you carrying during these marches?

3. Besides drinking milk, running, walking, etc, what kind of exercises can improve leg strength to prevent this from happening?

I don't have my ship date yet, but since I'm going Reserves I was told by my recruiter I will get a much earlier ship date, possibly only 1-2 months from now...yeah I couldn't believe it either but that's what I was told.

Thanks

[Supersquishy]

I wouldn't stress too much about it, they don't have you hump 15 miles right when you get off the bus...lol They start off with "baby steps" to get your body used to it. You will wear sneaker(go fasters) first then combat boots later. It would behoove of you to memorize your 11 General Orders and Marines Hymn.

[MLMonk]

I got a stress fracture at the crucible, they held me back for 2 months as a Marine in PI. Instead of MRP, you go to BMP.

[LokiPA]

This might sound stupid, but how exactly do you know when you have a 'stress fracture' versus the normal pain you would have humping it out? Or is it one of those 'trust me, you'll know' type things?

[MLMonk]

The normal pain would be blisters, wear another pair of socks during those days and you should help prevent those.. A stress fracture would be a pain inside your foot, or right ontop of my foot in my case, since it was the bone of my toes opposed to the ankle. A fracture is the same pain as a break, but broken bones are bruised around the injury.