MCT (Marine Combat Training)

[LoveOfCountry]

Does anyone know what MCT is like compared to boot camp, or can you send me a link to a previous posts regarding MCT?

I leave for MCT in 9 days and I'm just trying to get prepared. What is the training schedule like and will we still be treated like crap and counted down when making head calls and getting dressed?

[rufio14]

What company did you gradtuate from?

[LoveOfCountry]

1st BN, Alpha Co, PLT. 1000

[rufio14]

Mcrdpi?

[LoveOfCountry]

Yes.

[buick233]

MCT, lovingly referred to as "4th phase." It sucked because it was cold. And you get a lot less sleep. But the first nine days or so are in "garrison," meaning you sleep in a squadbay, eat at the chow hall, go to classes, etc. Lots of prac app after each class, learning how to handle each of the weapons, etc. When you first check in, you separate all of your gear into what you'll need for training, and what you can put in storage, like your civilian clothes, any electronics you brought with you, etc. Put as much as you can in here, because you'll be carrying everything else with you on the hikes.

Next is the ranges, you hike out there with all of your gear, and sleep in hangars. You're sleeping in your sleeping systems on the ground. It's cold as heck outside and that's where the porta****ters are. Each morning you hike out to whichever range, a few miles or more depending, and sit around waiting for the sun to come up. Then hike home and clean weapons. It's all MREs, and you get enough to have three a day. Chow is constant, so you eat whenever you have time.

After a week or so of ranges, you hike out to Camp Devil Dog. You spend about another week there learning more about patrolling, setting up security checkpoints, and MOUT training. Camp Devil Dog is a simulated combat environment, and at the end you have a two-day (I think) mock war scenario. It's pretty cool, more classes, prac app, then the mock-war.

Then the hike back to Camp Geiger (where you started) to waste time and wait for graduation. Chow hall, squadbays, getting your civilian stuff back, cleaning. Fun stuff. The entire time at MCT you're carrying your flak and kevlar, M16, and assault pack. Everywhere. Sappy plates go in I think at the ranges. Stuff gets heavy. But it's good training. Like I said before, the worst part was the cold. I imagine in the summer MCT might actually be kinda fun.

Semper Fi,
Cpl Lawrence

[LoveOfCountry]

Thanks for the good knowledge and info. Much appreciated. Are there still Drill Instructors around that screw with you, or is that crap over with?

[buick233]

No more Drill Instructors. Just Combat Instructors. It's pretty chill. They are cool, welcome lots of questions, and tell lots of stories. They might mess with you, but it's a lot different from a Drill Instructor messing with you. They'll give you a certain amount of time to have stuff done, and tell you what time everyone's gotta be on line to get accountability, but it's not like getting on line at POA or anything. It's a lot more laid back. No more super recruit mode, standing at attention and yelling all the time. But you're still a bunch of privates and PFCs, and your combat instructors are Sgts and SSgts. So you're all on the same team, but the rank hierarchy comes into play. Just like boot camp, MCT will eventually end and you'll be onto the next step in your journey. So enjoy it.

-Cpl Lawrence

[Fubar5812]

since your east coast you'll spend about 8-10 days at camp geiger drawing gear and checking in...eating at the chow hall and sweating in squad bays. After that you'll hike out to Camp Devildog and spend about 25 days in the field out there. you'll sleep in little "hooches" with rubber mattresses, i went in july so it was HOT AS HELL and you literally STUCK to these things. you'll eat nothing BUT MRE's 3x a day and sometimes you'll have 30 mins to eat and others you'll have 5. you'll do classroom instruction and field prac ap on everything from weapons and combat formations to how to prepare a fighting position and MOUT (military operations in urban terrain) with NVG's and SIM rounds( which hurt 100x worse than a paintball) you'll hump out to the ranges and spend 3 days there firing the m249 SAW, the M203 grenade launcher and the m240G medium machine gun, you'll do alot of hiking..you'll hate the females (sorry ladies but it's the truth, you guys fall out of those humps like its cool) then you'll go back to geiger for like a week then on to MOS school.

[BR34]

Wow, it's crazy how fast things change. I went to MCT almost 3 years ago and much of what has been said here is different than it was then.

[polizei]

That's pretty accurate...I hated MCT. My platoon/company seemed to get treated fairly worse than the others, but it's still not bad. It was probably better than I thought at the time because I was a fresh boot graduate and thought I deserved more respect, which is entirely wrong...

Oh, and stay away from the females, seriously. Nothing will get you in more trouble, and faster-than females. Also stay away from phones, electronics, cigs, snuff, etc. just don't do it. It's only 30 days, get over it.

And something I didn't really know about until the end of MCT, if your instructors let you, my god use the MRE heaters! It makes most of them better, but most of the time you won't have time to really eat. And the MRE market was HUGE when I was there. People would sell their skittles and crap for ~$10-20 a PACK! A few people in the company made over $200 just selling MRE snacks.

[firedog974]

Male Marines go through MCT with WM's now?

[fastback190]

its funny i guess i forgot alot, it's been since 1990 since i was mct, and hearing buick 233 brought alot of memories, all i remeber about mct was trianing was just like buick 233, said but very lax, and going to soil was just like boot camp all over agian, when i was in you went to mct, and then you went to your schools, infantry mos, went to soi.

[Vandrel]

Male Marines have been going through MCT with WM's, kinda. When I went through we had a small platoon of WM's going through with us, we didn't see them much but there were times in the field where we were around eachother.

All last week I was working over on Geiger to fix the simulators and update them, driving around I saw large platoons of both male and female Marines marching around by in the MCT area.


On a lesser note, have fun at Camp Geiger! It's been cold as balls here lately, if you are lucky it will warm up for you but if not you'll be hating life at Camp Devil Dog.

When I went through MCT in 2000 I caught a amonia and ended up having to get liquid drawn from around my lungs several months later. **** sucked

[buick233]

Hey, I'm a female. But I'm not about to argue with any of what's been said. A lot of females do fall out of the humps. Not ALL...I didn't. But most Marines who fall out are female (yes, males fall out too.)

Also, yes, stay away from the females. Females, stay away from the males. You're there to train, not to get laid. And the last thing you want is to make a bad name for yourself. People will hook up. Don't be the one. He/she is not worth getting dropped back in training, or worse. You're only together for a few weeks and then you're on your merry way anyway.

-Cpl Lawrence

[polizei]

Yes males/females are together. My platoon had 23 or so females in our platoon. So it's not like they were training a mile away from us, they were with us the entire time besides in the squad bays. Obviously those are separated, as well as other obvious things such as the heads.

But as far as everything else, you'll have males/females around you the whole time.

[ZSKI]

Eh i had a blast there but im sure any info i give u will be ****ed up i heard they changed it up alot

[Komenko]

I remember when i went through it was only 14 days and it went by fast for me. before i knew it i was at CourtHouse Bay checking into my MOS school!

[WalkingMan]

1st BN, Alpha Co, PLT. 1000

You're a Marine now, so you shouldn't your profile now be upgraded to 'Marine'? It still says Poolee.

[Komenko]

You're a Marine now, so you shouldn't your profile now be upgraded to 'Marine'? It still says Poolee.

he doesn't have that ability to do that. Admin of the site has to do it upon request!

[Melancon]

When i went to MCT it was overflowing and i was one of the luck ones that got put in ITB to train with the grunts. It was basically the same, just a bit more in debt, and we had more things like weekend liberty, cell phones, and we were allowed to bring tobacco into the field.

[WalkingMan]

he doesn't have that ability to do that. Admin of the site has to do it upon request!

Aha! I learn something new every day. :)

Maybe he will notice the comments and contact admin. He's earned the title, so he may as well claim it.

[Crusader20]

Male Marines go through MCT with WM's now?


It started in '97 when I was there as a Instructor.

4th Battalion at PI use to cover the "basics" with the WM's during boot camp. Then the WM's would go straight to the MOS school. In '95-'96, someone said that was not "fair". So, the WM's started going to the MCT trainnig at Gieger.

[Komenko]

It started in '97 when I was there as a Instructor.

4th Battalion at PI use to cover the "basics" with the WM's during boot camp. Then the WM's would go straight to the MOS school. In '95-'96, someone said that was not "fair". So, the WM's started going to the MCT trainnig at Gieger.

And from what i saw when i went through they had their own platoon and were kept away from the males! I went to MCT from November 1-14, 1997

[spotts]

Went through MCT in 1989 and tghere wasnt a female in site. While on Geiger we stayed in the 1940's white barracks where the head was in another broken down shack across the street from where you slept. Grabbed our gear and spent the next few weeks in the field.

After "graduation" all the grunts packed our crap and dragged it 2 blocks down to our new barracksfor SOI which was in worse shape then the previous one. They were some great times.

[echo3oscar1833]

I went to MCT, in 2001 it wasn't to bad, I suppose. Got there checked in, that night we all got set up in the barracks, the Instructors let us chill, go the the smoke pit, etc. The next morning we got officially checked in, gear, etc, etc. Chow sucked really, but we had weekends free, I got lucky didn't have to stand fire watch while I was there. Spent all week in the field, and the weekend at the beach chilling, and boogy boarding. Craziest thing I remember from MCT, was a grenade on the grenade range didn't explode. Some old crusty Master Sergeant from EOD showed up, walked on the range without any protective gear. He picked up the grenade looked at it, set it down, put something on it. He walked off the range, and blew it up. That was crazy stuff right there, the other crappy thing I remember was sitting up on top of some mountian in a rain storm freezing my butt off, because I didn't have my gumby suit. All in all it was a good time though. :D

[Komenko]

I went to MCT, in 2001 it wasn't to bad, I suppose. Got there checked in, that night we all got set up in the barracks, the Instructors let us chill, go the the smoke pit, etc. The next morning we got officially checked in, gear, etc, etc. Chow sucked really, but we had weekends free, I got lucky didn't have to stand fire watch while I was there. Spent all week in the field, and the weekend at the beach chilling, and boogy boarding. Craziest thing I remember from MCT, was a grenade on the grenade range didn't explode. Some old crusty Master Sergeant from EOD showed up, walked on the range without any protective gear. He picked up the grenade looked at it, set it down, put something on it. He walked off the range, and blew it up. That was crazy stuff right there, the other crappy thing I remember was sitting up on top of some mountian in a rain storm freezing my butt off, because I didn't have my gumby suit. All in all it was a good time though. :D
i was on Gieger in April 2001 for Corporal's Course. I had a blast doing that for 2 weeks!

[echo3oscar1833]

i was on Gieger in April 2001 for Corporal's Course. I had a blast doing that for 2 weeks!

I started Corporals Course, that was when they where sending Lance Corporals. Didn't finish due to medical reasons, and my PEB. Not sure if they still send Lance's or not. Btw I was a west coaster at first, Boot, and MCT. Semper Fi!!!:D

[SGT0844]

Things I learned at MCT (way back in the day):

1) It is entirely possible to warm your hands from the light coming from a chevy suburban headlight before the sun comes up.

2) Don't feel like you are lucking out if the training schedule omits one of the humps because of Christmas. We set a time record on one of the others because of it.

3) No matter what, you will not be able to beat one of your troop handlers at setting the H&T on an M2 if he is a machine-gunner by trade. No matter what the "prize" might be.

4) It is possible for it to be colder in Southern California in December than it is in Oklahoma in January.

5) Somehow people can lack the energy to keep up on a hump but still be able to get into a fist fight with you when you try to pass them.

6) If driven hard enough you can hallucinate even on just a 16 mile hump. "Didn't you just see that guy in the HazMat suit standing by the edge of the road?" Blank stares.

7) On the way out of the chow hall, stepping on a rotting plank in a wooden deck, punching through and wedging yourself up to your groin between the 2 adjacent planks, gashing the heck out of your thigh in the process, might not necessarily get you out of training. The guy looked like an amputee and the firemen had to come chop him out. 30 minutes later (with the help of some gauze and superglue) he was humping along beside me.

[firedog974]

It started in '97 when I was there as a Instructor.

4th Battalion at PI use to cover the "basics" with the WM's during boot camp. Then the WM's would go straight to the MOS school. In '95-'96, someone said that was not "fair". So, the WM's started going to the MCT trainnig at Gieger.


Holy cow...I just looked at you profile pic, and I think you may have been one of my instructors.
I know there were females there in Feb 1997 when I went through, but we were kept away from each other. The training for males and females was totally seperate.

[dizark]

MCT wasn't that bad. I was there in June. When you get the chance to eat at the chow hall, it's decently good food. Our combat instructors were really cool, however a few of them could be real pains in the asses. However, they're there to train you and move on, so it wasn't that bad. Far better than boot camp... I would know since I spent 4.5 months in boot.

MOS school is where your real fun begins though because you'll get libo every day after class, and on the weekends, pending no one screws up. I enjoyed my MOS school, even if it was in 29 Palms.

[Crusader20]

Holy cow...I just looked at you profile pic, and I think you may have been one of my instructors.
I know there were females there in Feb 1997 when I went through, but we were kept away from each other. The training for males and females was totally seperate.


Maybe. We had alot of Marines come thru the system. On average, we had 85-125 Marines in the platoon. I was in Echo Company. 3rd plt. "3rd Herd" :D

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