SUCCEED OR DIE: Inside Marine Corps Officer Training At Quantico | Boot Camp | Business Insider

move move move give me these Marine Corps

officer

s are

training

in a simulated combat scenario is the culminating event of Basic School

succeed

or die

succeed

or die succeed or as the Marine Corps presence grows in the Indo-Pacific theater where tensions rise with China and in the Middle East, where we and allied forces are fighting rebels, the stakes for these new

officer

s could not be hired, they are charged with making decisions that could make a difference between life and death, but in basic school these future leaders put themselves in the shoes. For the Marines who will be in command performing their duties in realistic combat exercises, it is critical to understand what you are asking your Marines to do from a standpoint that truly knows what you are doing and what you are trying to ask them to do.

I achieved. We spent 5 days inside the Basic School observing five different companies in different stages of

training

, all working toward the same goal: becoming Marine Corps leaders. They have trained for over a century, they call it the core of the core. Here each new Navy officer receives 1,100 hours of classroom and field instruction during a rigorous 26-hour program. The official name of this Marine Corps institution is simply the basic school, today around 1,700 officers graduate from the school each year before officially joining the fleet. Basic School is the entry-level training program for all officers passing through the Marine Corps, whether they come from the commissioning pipeline of Officer Candidate School, the Naval ROTC Academy, or even officers. of Warren.

In the Marine Corps everyone goes through basic school, but basic school not only trains U.S. Navy officers, it also welcomes members from foreign military partners. Having international officers here is so important, to be perfectly clear, we may find ourselves serving with them. I'm from the Bahamas. I represent the Royal Bahamas Defense Force. How do you feel about having the opportunity to come to televisions? I feel like it's a great opportunity, especially for internationals. Build international relationships and you can also meet new people. As you like? This weather, ah, the weather it is, it takes a while to get used to, as you can see, I'm fully dressed and fine at the PO, we have all those things on a freezing December day.

Davis and his fellow Bravo Company pick up the clothes and equipment they will need to train, okay there will be a lot going on so please pay attention so what we are going to do is get your gortex up and down, get two sleeping bags. get two of them next, you're going to grab a gold compression bag, you're going to fill it. WBY, it's okay, you go Wagon Wheel from the back to the end, please, hey, sir, hey, come on, come on, everything breaks. Don't throw anything away and pay for it later. Will you sign the date of your IMR?

Please, I'm going to pick them up and I just want to say thank you all. I appreciate each and every one of you for what you do. Alright, next up will be your parka, your Apex parka, also known as your gortex. Next up, we have our waffle tops and pants. You should have one of each on top, one on bottom. Alright, next up will be your

camp

stool. Camp Stool I think using it again will be a good thing for all of us. Coming from OCS, most of us came out of OCS not with injuries, but most of us were pretty broken, like pretty tired, so it was good to have it. that week off with Thanksgiving, but it's good to keep that momentum going.

I didn't want to sit in an office for 6 months and then come back and then lose all that momentum that we've built, so I'm not looking forward to the cold weather, but I mean, I think being around everyone just getting through it together, I think will be the thing that essentially builds our camaraderie and gets us through it, so next up will be your NE Gator, what about him? The Marine Corps made you want to sign up, my grandfather was a Marine and that really meant a lot to me growing up. I had never considered another Branch, so you look around and see the Marines and the camaraderie is much more impressive than I am.

I've seen everywhere else your grandfather still with us, no, did you ever talk to him about how you wanted to continue this? No, I didn't, but he was always in the back of my mind, so I just had to go to Was Really Your Inspiration Absolutely next. Up will be your golden sleeping bag. How do you feel about tomorrow's fitness test? um it's nothing I haven't done before so I'm ready for it but it will be. It will be cold, but that's the only difference the next morning with temperatures below freezing. Bravo Company arrives for your initial fitness test which is made up of three parts first pull ups your first event here will be your pull up event this is not a timed event the intention is to execute a suspended vertical pull up the intention is to avoid a movement similar to a pendulum that improves the ability to perform the pull-up Marines perform as many pull-ups as they can The minimum standard varies by height, weight and gender according to the Marine Corps.

Pull-ups and push-ups are essential for developing the upper body strength needed to win battles. How did the pull-ups go pretty well for you? I recovered a little better after the OCS, so I rested a little more and they were better than I expected. So how's the weather? I'm actually from the north, so it's not too far from three four five. It was pretty easy for me, not as hard as you. I can see I have a small frame so it wasn't too bad and the bar was a little colder so it was a little harder but it turned out pretty well. 60.

I got a 20. I feel good about that. Absolutely, the sergeant told me I went a little. too high on the pull ups, like going chest high instead of just chin up, so I probably could have hit 20 three, but you know you have to be in good shape on the number. How do you like this weather? I love it, I love it, the table must be made. As follows, the elbows should be bent and lowered to the ground so that the forearms are flat on the ground with the body in a straight line, similar to a push-up position, then Marines should perform a push-up. two minutes, elbows should be aligned under shoulders with forearms parallel to body, plank, that's it, it's usually quite mental after the first minute, so you just push the rest, get it Max, how you feel about the run .

Well, I know it'll be fine, I mean. You know, once you go uphill, it's downhill, so take that and stride, this will be your 3M run portion of your PFT, this is a timed event, ultimately a threeM run. I have some question? Ready, the men have 28 minutes to complete the race, the women have 31 minutes, padone printer Gast and Davis finished the race on time, in fact, all members of Bravo Company passed the PFT, but this was the last time that Bravo Company saw the new class of Marine Corps officers in training at the basic level. School proficiency is acquired in all weapons and explosives available to the rifle platoon in combat today.

The platoon commander must have a working knowledge of the features and capabilities of all weapons available to the infantry battalion and how to employ them day or night. sure, let them hang out, as the saying goes, every

marine

is first and foremost a rifleman in basic school. They spend two weeks learning how to handle and shoot firearms. Alpha company is in the eighth week of training. All Marines are trained in the M16 service rifle. which has been around for quite a while, but it's the standard weapon system that every

marine

uses when they go out to the fleet, so I'm currently going through all the nonsense to make sure there are no instructions on the subject. uh around the rifle which could cause an obstruction and later maybe cause an explosion wait for contact before they fire live rounds the marines practice moving slower look to your left look to your right and shoot out of ammunition so go ahead close your bus back once you say click go forward and do the speed reload all right click is what they are doing today something the Marines in basic school look forward to is definitely something they look forward to this is the first time with I practice a weapons system by placing bullets at the range um and practicing those skills you guys are good, you're comfortable with rehearsals, okay, go ahead, go to St prosy on the red ammo table, hey, here's two more, almost a third of the how, hey, grab those, my hat, not my hat, they carry six standard magazines, the number of rounds they will fire, I'll probably put it somewhere around 100, maybe 150, round range, how Is success measured here today?

Therefore, success is measured specifically by how they score, if the bullets hit the paper, the headshots are basically shots that are taken in the Leal area, so the chest and face shots that are in the oblique they could make someone stop moving, but they wouldn't necessarily be. lethal or incapacitating shots make sure you are fluent don't think too much about shooting today just focus on the basics 1 2 34 okay every marine can be a rifleman first and foremost but they are also trained to shoot pistols specifically the Sig sour M18 so here we're looking at your target for pistol and Pistol Lo here in the center all of this counts as 10 inside what we call is the bolo the bolo is this whole area in here which is mainly what everyone wants to try to score to get the most points, this is the area of ​​10 after this, we have the eight, the ring of eight, all the shots here count as eight and then so on, so here there are six after the ring of six and then anything in the body is four, anything that is outside basically outside the body here is considered a failure.

They have to at least hit the body in one of the exercises to get some kind of score between 264 and 323. You are considered a marksman, between 324 and 323. 363 out of 400 you are a sniper and then expert is 364 out of 400, the Most of these lieutenants are basically hoping to try to become experts because for some reason they care more about their little pistol badge than their rifle badge, why is that essential? Officials having this kind of skill helps a lot with your credibility and it's hard to lead people if you don't know what they've been through and you haven't experienced those things, so to go out here and be on good sets. and the Representatives will help you be able to lead and plan better, even if you may not execute those things in the future, why the Marines you know could have chosen anyone else before joining the Marines?

The second lieutenant House graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he acted as the school's mascot, the Leprechaun, so yes, why the Marines specifically? Well, sir, uh, just the way the Marines did, they got there first. The first recruiter that contacted me and talked to me was a Marine recruiter that came in and saw everything in it. On the walls, I was a wrestler, they had a poster of some wrestlers and they told me it was going to be difficult, you know, they didn't tell me it was going to be easy or that it was going to be a scholarship, they almost dissuaded me from doing it. do it and that makes you want to go even harder, see how far you can go and push yourself unlike any other branch of the US military, but the space force that the Marine Corps is recruiting successfully met its goals in 2023, which that attracts people to the Marine Corps they are convinced of all the things that our recruiters propose to them, the journey and you know the camaraderie and the friendship, and if the nation calls and it probably will, they will be adequately trained to go out and meet the orders of the nation.

They make up about 12% of the Marine Corps and with more than 30,000 newly enlisted Marines, basic school is where officers learn to command them. The role of a senior Marine Corps officer is to lead his platoon to accomplish a mission and is supported by three critical skills the ability of a student to do tactical planning the ability of a student to deliver a combat order and then his ability to run it that's what the car frame provides Col. Reginald Mcclam serves as commanding officer of the basic school a combat veteran with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan graduated from the school in 1998, at the end of the day, you have the enormous responsibility and obligation to create an environment where they can thrive every day and you can take their damn talas and turn them into lethality against an adversary, every Marine.

Corps officers must have a bachelor's degree when joining the fleet, salaryThe shooting in the street, hey, okay, going down, I didn't want to. be exaggerated to the point that it was almost too dramatic. I wanted to make it as realistic as possible being the victim because I knew the more realistic it was would just translate into realistic training and so I wanted to make sure my Marines were getting the practice they needed in applying the care they needed to a victim dager dager Bravo ready for transmission over two non-ambulatory pendant lines line six secure line seven aerial panel line eight all US military halts next morning after successful attack Bravo The group is now playing defense against an enemy counterattack that could begin at any moment.

How were you sleeping here last night? It's cold, we were pulling security, so we were up every three hours, just watching the enemy in the tree line, but I honestly believe. When you sleep in the sleeping bags it's pretty hot, I'd say two of our friends had to go up on the roof last night and it started raining on them and they were there the whole time so they got nice. Cold and wet, what are you having fun? Yes, they are having a great time. I think, especially in weapons, what is your MOS. I'm going to be a ground supply officer, so I wouldn't really be doing anything like this specifically, um, but it's nice. hey C4, hey, the enemy is moving right where the gate is despite the fire attack from the defense, part of the enemy Force reaches the city.

I'll be brief, you all are dead, look at the FR, look at the front, hey, you got it, you see it, yes, no. I see the gun, yes, I guessed right, hey, the squad that had just left that building to that side was killed, hey, we arrived when the enemy could not overcome the defense, green, the instructors called for a ceasefire, what is it? all this commotion and shouting? probably just telling the other team how bad we beat them sir so the defense won yeah sir well guys good job Spoils of War SP a war I feel better you know afterward yeah , yes, I feel better.

It feels good to win the war, I mean both sides were doing a great job, but it was good training, yes sir, we won, we had a fun time, we picked up weapons and lived. My dream, you are going to mix with the group there and everything will be humble and respectful because they worked hard, they worked very well, they spent many good hours here, they had some good deeds, just like you. well with that said ladies and gentlemen what is our motto succeed or succeed or succeed or for this new class of second lieutenants that motto will be put to the test after graduating from basic school and joining the fleet many of them will be commissioned to test Navy Expeditionary Units and those are four units deployed on ships floating in different areas of the world waiting for a crisis to occur so they can respond.

The basic school never closes while one class graduates, another continues with the course. They know why they are here. to become one of the few good men who would when I got to basic school I was right where I wanted to be the Navy officers I had known had always impressed me with their professionalism their self-confidence expressed their pride in the fundamental for me was a challenge.