Mart

[Garrett869]

A few questions about MART.
How long does it last?
What goes on there?

Every internet site says something different so it would be nice to hear from some Marines who have actually been through. Thank you

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Someone educate ME as well....

Mini Mart?
Serve-Mart?
Wal-Mart?

[Quinbo]

I think he picked up Mart from another thread. Some sort of pre BRC program. Never heard it called that before.

[Phantom Blooper]

Military
Air
Rescue
Team

????????? :evilgrin:

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Interesting...

Never heard of it.

[SGT7477]

A few questions about MART.
How long does it last?
What goes on there?

Every internet site says something different so it would be nice to hear from some Marines who have actually been through. Thank you
WTF, never heard of it.:evilgrin:

[polizei]

Apparently FS19 is the only Marine who knows about this. LOL

[Garrett869]

My apologies, I should have clarified.

I was talking about the Marines Awaiting Reconnaissance Training part of the recon training pipeline. I understand it takes place between SOI and BRC.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Well, at least now we have a definition.

My guess, based JUST on the definition, is that you would likely be doing PT, painting rocks, mowing the grass, and general details around the company area. It's a 'limbo' sorta thing (what it sounds like) meaning you can't do Recon training, or much of anything else.

Think of it like a 'holding' company. And you don't wanna be there long, either. No fun.

[fs19]

M.A.R.T. stands for Marines Awaiting Reconnaissance training. When BRC moved from Coronado to SOI, the Pre-BRC program (formerly R.I.P.) was also moved from the individual Recon Bns. to Reconnaissance Training Company in SOI.

About this time last year there was a big push to change BRC back to the way it was in Coronado, I.E. make it tougher and more demanding as some believe it had become easier to conform to SOI training rules. During that process MART had its name changed to RIP again, and is now commonly referred to by both names. (At least by Marines who went through before they changed it back to RIP.)

To answer the OPs question (bear in mind that this info is about a year old and things at RTC change frequently-but this should give you a good idea)

There is no set time that you will be in MART/RIP, and that time depends on a number of factors. RIP is a holding platoon designed to: Help prepare you for BRC both physically and mentally, as a place to put Marines who are waiting to go through BRC but haven't had the chance to class up yet, and as a place for Marines who were either hurt or were dropped from BRC to recover/remediate while they wait to class up again.

The main factor that will determine how long you are in RIP is simply how many other Marines are already in it. ATM there are 2 BRC classes training at any given time, although they are working towards getting a third class going so there will be one in every phase at all times.
I arrived on Dec. 19th and we all went home the next day on RA. When we returned, a few of the Marines I went through ITB with picked up on their first real day in MART. I did not and was picked up by the next class about 2 months later. There were some people in my ITB class that picked up a few months after that and some who never did.

My BRC class was the first where the instructors asked us MARTlings who wanted to pick up. I was sick of MART and ran my happy little ass over to the ready to pick up group, but a lot of people didn't want to yet for some reason. The instructors ended up having to pick several people who didn't volunteer, but did their best to pick the ones who had the greatest chance of success. (Good mental attitude, good PTer, comfortable in the water)
Also note that at one point when I was in MART, there were over 120 of us. That's more than 2 full BRC classes and it took a long time to cycle them all through.

So the short answer is, ,you'll be there as long as you need to be, but count on at least 2 months or so.

As for what you do in RIP, be prepared to PT and get wet...a lot.
A typical day was something like this:
Wake up around 0500-0600
PT
Run to Chow,Eat
Run back to RTC
PT till lunch
Run back to chow and eat again
Run back to RTC
PT till Dinner
Run to chow, and eat again
Run back to RTC
Get off around 18-1900. You will have area libo every night, meaning once you get off you can go to the PX, order pizza, pretty much do w/e you want within the 52 area. You will never have overnight libo during MART, but you will during weekends in BRC.
The PT you do every day in MART can vary quite a bit. We went to the pool twice to three times a week, but I have heard that they go every day now, alternating between morning and afternoon.
Land PT varies from unknown distance runs, a lot of CROSSFIT (check it out if you haven't), different O-Course variations (I.E. run the o-course, run 1 mile, O-Course x2, run two miles, O course x3, run 3 miles), run-swim-runs (run 3 miles to the pool, swim X amount of distance doing X stroke, run 3 miles back) and whatever else the instructors decide to do.

Water PT is usually combination's of swimming laps (in both cammies and slick), treading water for as long as they decide to make you, underwater crossovers (25 meters underwater in cammies-DO NOT practice this on your own without a trained life guard specifically watching you), rifle retrievals from the bottom, and "Water Aerobics" which is pretty much just a term they use for a slay fest at the end of the workout to remove any and all remaining energy.

During RIP you will also have classes on things you will learn during BRC to give you a head start, you will memorize the Reconnaissance Creed, and you will learn your knots. (During BRC you have to pass a knot test on a number of different knots)
You will also be more tired and sore than you thought possible, all while having one of the best and worst times of your life, all while eating three giant meals a day and getting into incredible shape. I will say that I am thankful for all the time I spent in MART as I most likely wouln't have passes BRC w/o it. At the same time it got pretty miserable at times, and when I saw my name on the roster to class up, I was ready to get the **** out of MART.

I hope this answers your questions, and sorry if this is a long post. I'm just tired of seeing all the Recon posts on this board shut down by people who have no idea what they are talking about, and are ****ed because someone has a little extra drive and ambition.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

OUTstanding post! That's exactly what's needed here, the right scoop.

Other Marines, don't take offense, but I'm going to condense this one and eliminate some of the other responses (including my own) for clarities sake...

[Garrett869]

Thank you Fs19. Very good info. Greatly appreciated.

[fs19]

Thanks Sgt. and NP Garrett. If you, or anyone else, has any more questions on RIP/BRC feel free to post and ill do my best to answer them for you.

[patolcott]

God I loved Mart. Best two months In the Marine Corps Bn was fun, but in mart you had no responsibilities other than getting thrashed and showing up on time. It helps that I loved the pool.