Recruits will spend two weeks in ‘Phase 4’

[FoxtrotOscar]

Big change to boot camp: Recruits will spend two weeks in ‘Phase 4’

Making Marines at boot camp is a sacred mission that the Corps rarely changes.

But the commandant is revising the schedule for the 12-week regiment to make sure that new Marines can succeed in follow-on training.

Starting in February, Marines will have an extra week following the Crucible to learn from drill instructors, Marine-to-Marine, Gen. Robert Neller told Marine Corps Times in an exclusive interview. The number of training days will remain the same.

The move comes after Neller and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald Green noticed that Marines were struggling both physically and mentally at training after boot camp, Neller said. Some Marines had not adjusted to the fact that they were Marines, not recruits.

“We ask these young men and women to grow up really fast,” Neller said. “They’ve made the transformation from recruit to Marine and then we shoot them out the door.

What we’re trying to do is give them a little bit of time to get used to that and understand that OK, you’ve got your eagle, globe and anchor, you’ve earned the title ‘Marine,’ that’s just the beginning.

“Now it’s actually going to become more difficult because more and more of the responsibility to live up to being a Marine, to live a life of honor, courage and commitment, is more and more going to be on your shoulders.”

Currently, Marines earn their eagle, globe and anchor after completing the Crucible during the 11th week of recruit training.

The Crucible is 54 hours of combat drills, during which recruits get little sleep as they are put through simulated attacks day and night. Recruits learn they need to scream to be heard over the simulated gunfire, and that any illumination can give away their positions.


For recruits, the grueling ordeal is the last hurdle to overcome before they are officially Marines. The final week of boot camp is called “Marine Week,” during which the new Marines are no longer treated as recruits.

When recruits arrive at Parris Island and San Diego in November, they will face the Crucible during the 10th week of boot camp so that they will have two weeks to adjust to being Marines before leaving the recruit depots, officials said. Instead of being called “Marine Week,” the time after boot camp will be called “Phase 4” of recruit training.

“It doesn’t change any of the graduation requirements,” Neller said. “The standards are the standards. Nothing has changed. We’re just trying to facilitate the maturity of these young men and women in a more rapid process.”

Drill instructors will still be charge of training during Phase 4, but Marines will have more responsibility and they will be able to ask instructors questions, he said.

The change is a long time coming. Over the past couple of years, Corps officials have talked to drill instructors and recruit training depot commanders as part of a review of boot camp, Neller said.

“The consensus was: As part of the transformation from a civilian to a Marine, we were not giving newly made Marines enough time to get used to being a Marine before we sent them off on their way to begin the rest of the transformation, when they went to Marine Combat Training and on to the MOS School,” Neller said.

Drill instructors felt that having more time with the new Marines would provide a “huge opportunity” to better prepare them for success, Neller said. The training environment changes completely when Marines complete the Crucible and drill instructors can talk to them as fellow Marines, not recruits.

During Phase 4 of boot camp, drill instructors will have more time to convey to the new Marines that they have made the first step, but defending the nation is a serious business and now they will have to assume the responsibilities that come with being a Marine, he said.

“Now you’ve got somebody who’s been a drill instructor, who’s been intimately involved in this transformation, and now they have another few days to talk to their new Marines as a fellow Marine about what it’s going to be like as they get ready to go out and begin the rest of their journey as a Marine,” Neller said.

Initially, the Marine Corps had concerns that moving the Crucible earlier in recruit training could make boot camp less physically strenuous, Neller said. However, Marines will continue to train physically during the last two weeks of boot camp. The difference will be that the Marines will PT because they know it’s their responsibility, not because they are being told to by drill instructors.

“Any time you change something, people are going to say, ‘Well, what’s wrong with the way we did it?’” Neller said.

“There’s nothing wrong with the way we did it. We’re trying to keep the very, very best of what we do now and add something to make it even better. They’re going to PT every day.”

Still, Neller acknowledges that any change to boot camp is bound to draw criticism, but he noted that boot camp has transformed over time, such as when then-Commandant Gen. Charles Krulak added the Crucible to recruit training in the 1990s.

“This is a normal evolution of the recruit training experience,” Neller said. “Of course, everybody thinks, proudly, ‘Hey, it was never as hard as when I went through.’ OK. I got that. The proof will be in the performance of these soon-to-be recruits.”

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[Tennessee Top]

Another week of mentoring/guided discussion groups. Let's not make it too hard. One more step to making bootcamp just like all the other services. Just as Congress wants.

[Hammer]

What a bunch of crap IMO. The Corp is in a spiral of becoming accommodating to today's snowflake generation, and it's officers are leading the charge.

[Mongoose]

One day the Air Force will be .....The Few, The Proud. Just saying....

[advanced]

We didn't even know we were going to graduate till the morning of graduation when we were given our MOS. Then off to ITR. We certainly were not coddled, this is the Marine Corps, not the peace corps.

[Kegler300]

Two weeks of sensitivity training ...

[FoxtrotOscar]

Two weeks of sensitivity training ...

EXACTLY Keg...

[m14ed]

facepalm-and-carry-on.jpg

Yesterday, 09:33 PM #5
advanced
We didn't even know we were going to graduate
till the morning of graduation when we were given our MOS.

Then off to ITR.

We certainly were not coddled,

this is the Marine Corps,

not the peace corps.
.************************************************* *******************
I don't think anyone could have said it better-
JMHO

[Zulu 36]

I don't know about some people here, but I had no problems understanding that I was no longer in boot camp and that I was a Marine, even in ITR. True, in ITR we were treated like we didn't know much, but that was because we DIDN'T know much.

Different times.

[USMC 2571]

Well, Phase 4 has been described. Phase 5 will be implemented next year, and it involves two things. 1) holding hands with fellow new Marines singing Kumbaya, and 2) having a drill instructor assigned to each new Marine to hold his or her hand for the rest of the enlistment, just to make sure they are babied enough. Moms of America will love this new development.

Then every 30 days, they will personally meet with the Commandant for a sit-down at HQMC just to be sure baby is treated properly and has no complaints. Again, the protocol for this is to get the Commandant, and all new Marines in a giant virtual circle, all on computer screens across the country and around the world, to sing Kumbaya, as one happy family.

And I am not criticizing these new developments, but rather saying that they all are natural results of the mentality nowadays.

The 69th Transgender Regiment will be at the forefront of any ceremonies conducted prior to these events taking place. By 2050 all Marine MUST transition to transgender. These are just the times, and there is nothing at all unusual about changing with the times. The Corps seems to think it is is all just fine, so let's go all the way, while we're at it. Enough of these piecemeal halfway measures. Let's get an agenda together and press forward until the entire Armed Forces of the United States are just like our country, mere shadows of their former shelves.

[USMC 2571]

By the year 2025 it is reported from reliable sources that each Marine will have, in his or her cell phone, the personal number 24/7 of the Commandant, which the Marine can call for any reason that involves comforting that Marine, and the Commandant will be available, again, 24/7, so important is the New Coddling Program (NCP) to our armed forces and our way of life.

[USMC 2571]

I especially like the phrase "normal evolution of boot camp". Just the fact that it was said means that it is anything but.

[Mongoose]

So much for the prestige that goes with being a Marine. As Dave and I once talked about, we may very well see on-line Boot Camp one day. You will be able to become a Marine on the internet. Like Chris stated.....I never had a problem going from point a to point b. I really liked the part that said....recruits will PT because it's their responsibility, not because the D.I. told them to. Yeaaaaa Boy.....responsibility is in over abundance in this new generation.

[greybeard]

Strange sheit for sure. We didn't need anything to tell us we were now Marines and tho my memory is fading fast and probably jaded, I thought ITR did the job this screwy 'program' is supposed to do. No?

"“There’s nothing wrong with the way we did it."
If it ain't broke, why 'fix' it?

[advanced]

I hit Parris Island 3rd Battalion in the middle of January 1967. During my time recruit training had been modified and shrunk down to about 5 days of forming for the company of 3 platoons to fill up (I was in the 1st platoon), and then training was cut to 8 weeks. But, what an 8 weeks that was. Sunday's were not a training day so our 5 DI's used Sunday's to mass fvck with us. I never want to hear again "The name of the game is together."

From the best of my memory we also had 6 phases back then. Forming and phases 1-2 were simply a nightmare. Rifle range (2 weeks) was phase 3, Elliot's Beach I believe was phase 4 (and no one received their EGA's), mess duty for a week was phase 5. Our last phase 6 was continued training and the DI's were no longer as vicious, but many of our recruits still had their assses handed to them. We also did guard duty that week, I pulled guard at 4th Battalion though I never saw any of the women (but we can dream, can't we?) We were also now allowed to unbutton our top shirt button. Damn, we were proud. We all knew we were boots and more important we all knew that most of us would be going to the Nam (needs of the Marine Corps) and we were not coddled - we were told that many/most of us would die. I would say we were prepared. 85 of the 96 in my platoon that graduated became 03's and we couldn't have been happier.

Back in my day most of us were very naive, we didn't know that the Marine Corps had so many MOS's as we had all gone in on open contract, we all thought the MC was strictly infantry so we had no problem with our assignments. Most of my graduating platoon went to the Nam during the summer of 67, I didn't get there till Jan 68. I was told later that most of my platoon was dead from friends I ran across both in the Nam and when I returned home. I never was hit, but spent many years with survivor guilt. Just saying.