The Crucible starts at 07:00 A recruit aims his M16A1 rifle in 1984. The Crucible is the final test in recruit training, and represents the culmination of all of the skills and knowledge a Marine should possess. Designed in 1996[17] to emphasize the importance of teamwork in overcoming adversity, the Crucible is a rigorous 54-hour field training[1] exercise demanding the application of everything a recruit has learned until that point in recruit training, and includes a total of 48 miles of marching.[18] It simulates typical combat situations with strenuous testing, hardship, and the deprivation of food and sleep. A recruit is given 2.5 MREs (meal, ready-to-eat, a self-contained, individual field ration) and eight hours of sleep through the entire 54-hour event.[18] Recruits are broken into squad-sized teams (possibly smaller) and placed under the charge of one drill instructor. West Coast recruits are returned to Edson Range for the Crucible. Parris Island recruits will conduct the Crucible in the derelict Page Airfield on the south end of the depot. Throughout the Crucible, recruits are faced with physical and mental challenges that must be accomplished before advancing further.[19][20] Teamwork is stressed, as the majority of tasks are impossible without it; each group must succeed or fail as a whole. The others will fail unless every recruit passes through together, requiring the team to aid their fellow recruit(s) who struggle in the accomplishment of the given mission. Also stressed are the Corps core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment; events sometimes present a moral challenge.[17] Many challenge events are named after Marine Medal of Honor recipients or otherwise notable Marines, and drill instructors will often take the time to read the citation of the award and hold a guided discussion with the recruits to evaluate their moral development. Drill instructors are also vigilant for those recruits who succeed and fail in leadership positions. Some of the challenges encountered during the Crucible are team and individual obstacle courses, day and night assault courses, land navigation courses, individual rushes up steep hills, large-scale martial arts challenges, and countless patrols to and from each of these. Often, these challenges are made even more difficult by the additions of limitations or handicaps, such as the requirement to carry several ammunition drums, not touching portions of an obstacle painted red to indicate simulated booby traps, and evacuating team members with simulated wounds. On the final day of the Crucible, recruits are awoken and begin their final march (including The Reaper a forced march up a steeply inclined hill to the top of Edsons Ridge on the west coast). Following this is the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor ceremony, where the recruits receive the eponymous emblem, and thereby cease to be recruits, finally becoming Marines. Immediately after this, Marines hike back down the The Reaper and are then offered the Warriors Breakfast, where they are permitted to eat as much as they like, even of previously forbidden foods, such as ice cream.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 11:53:57 +0000