Marine Corps Questions

[futuremarine]

Are there any tips that you guys can give me about boot camp? Like how to prepare for it and the types of drills and exercises that I will have to endure while i'm there?

What is the MCT Battalion, what do you do while you're there, and is it as tough as boot camp is?

If you guys don't mind I have more questions and I will ask them later, I am only 16 and am very interested in joining the corps after I graduate from high school and college.

Thank you!

[wrbones]

from someone else, but if I were you, I'd talk to my recruiter. didn't have to worry about the physical part of it, was involved in sports in high school and worked farm labor in the summer. But I would suggest going to your search engine and putting in Marine Corps sites. one that will come up is the official Marine Corps site. More than you want to know all over the internet, including Marine Corps recruiting. Others will have more info for you here, I'm sure. just hang tight, and be patient.

[mpwildes]

If you are active in sports then boot camp will not be hard physically, if not then I would suggest running. Run a little not allot at first then build yourself up. start out with a 1 mile rune do that a few time and gradually increase you run. do a combo of sit ups and crunches to build up your stomach muscles. Also do pushups and pushup and more pushups. they will increase your pull ups when it is time to test. Don't worry about the drill part or anything. They will teach you when you get there. Learn General orders and Rank structure. other than that you will do fine.

[mrbsox]

Like mrbones said... don't wory about the physical part. They'll do that for you
As far as what to expect... mine was in '76.
We didn't have no "STRESS CARDS" to wave at our D.I.
We got our "UNIFORMS" adjusted whenever the D.I. decided it
needed it
We LISTENED, and followed Instructions. DON'T forget
ANYTHING they tell you

And, I feel lucky to have had one of the loudest, craziest, dirtyest, most ruthless SOB that ever put on a Duty Belt and a Smokey, for an Asst. D.I. He put (me) us through stuff, that today, I can face something with a smile, and say..... this ain't SH*# !!!!!
And I realized somewhere on down the road, that I had something inside that NO-ONE; NO-ONE could ever take away. A way that makes your OOHHRRAA, not come from the gut, but from the HEART, and puts a tear in your eye when you see YOUR Nations Colors Fly.

You can expect to get, what YOU put into it... like life.

Semper Fi to all that are, were, and WILL BE.

[mpwildes]

Just to let you know being around the drill field and having friend on the drill field right now there is no such thing as a stress card. just a huge rumor.

[USMC0311]

Tell ya what ..Ya better Be ready to Kill someone pal ..a War is on..Think about that!!

[mrbsox]

Glad to hear NO STRESS CARDS !!!!

My step-son just delay-programed into the Navy, (somehow I feel better for the Corps... lol), and in his paperwork was a mention about receiving a CARD, about the 'recruits' rights.

The way you (re)act to stress,
MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE, (or your buddy's). That's what training is all about.

[Gary]

reference to these things before, but WTF is a stress card

[mrbsox]

Something I heard years ago (just scuttlebutt), when all the left wingers were cutting boot camp from it's WONDERFUL 12 weeks of 'sun and fun'.

I had heard that if a recruit felt 'overloaded', he/she could get a break in the action with this card, that they were required to keep with them at all times.

Please forgive me...I mean forgive the LCpl for his moment of weakness (waving card in air) !!!! lol

Semper Fi

[mpwildes]

The biggest rumor I have ever heard was the famous stress card. I think everyone says that in some way shape or form now when they get out of bootcamp and it starts a riot between Marines. Everyone I think wants to say that they went through a harder boot camp than the rest with these invisible stress cards. Now first hand I have seen the Army with Yellow stress cards. The way they work there is they can use it one time a day and I think it is only for 2 hrs of being left alone. That was in 1998 though I don't know if it has changed any since.

[Sixguns]

The responsibility of getting ready to ship to MCRD is yours and your recruiter's. You must be able to pass an Initial Strength Test when you arrive at training. The IST is made up of crunches, pull ups and a 1 1/2 mile run. In order to start training, you must be able to do three "dead hang" pull ups, 45 crunches in a two-minute time period and run the 1 1/2 miles in less than 12:30. You should train like you will be tested. In other words, run only a mile and a half. Each time you run it, your personal goal should be to do it quicker. For pull ups you'll need to build upper body strength. Doing actual pull ups is better to improve in this event than actually lifting weights, but you can combine the two to offer a variety in your training. The same is true for crunches. The only way to do more of them is to continually practice them. Set your timer for two minutes and punch out as many as you can. Keep trying to improve on your score.

The better shape you are in when you arrive, the better of you will be. Make physical training a daily part of your activities. It doesn't have to just be these events, but get some form of PT daily.

I speak as a Marine who was stationed at MCRD PI for two years (93-95) and as a recruiter who prepared 94 of my own recruits and hundreds more of the recruiters I supervised for training at MCRD.


Sixguns

[FutureUSMC04]

hey futureMarine, i had that name before Leatherneck shut downa while ago, and im going to pass on som einformation that i got, any time you use the name Marine, make sure you capitalize it, its a sin not to, lol.
SF

[futuremarine]

LOL! very nice USMC04 I'll remember that for future reference. Thanks for the tip. I think I might have to go to church and confess to the lord what I did. LOL! i'm j/k man, but honestly, i'll remember that next time!

[wrbones]

Keep in mind, folks have earned, fought and died for the name, Marine. Do a little research, you'll begin to begin to see why. I'm not much fer giving folks url's. figure they need to do their own work as much as possible. Set yer search engine on top 50 USMC sites for a start...then take a look at usmchq....then check out as many links as you can. Pay particular attention, for this instuctional purpose, to the links and pages concerning history and traditions of Marines. Just a heads up, kiddo, nothing more.

[FutureUSMC04]

from Marines.com they sent me a book Precious Medals. It gives alot of information about the Corps. and to get Leatherneck Magazine u can either find one and get the subscription card out of it or maybe on the internet. and for SGT Grit its at www.GRUNT.com. the Top 50 Marines links is a good source of information also. Ive been through those a few times.
Sempers