This is the final week of training for Warren, Logan and the recruits for Mighty Mike, Platoon 3064 but it will be very challenging for them all. Please keep them in your prayers this week as they will need them.

 

Training Week 11 **Final PFT & Testing, Crucible**

This schedule is of course subject to change based on weather, holidays and the needs of the company.

 

TD60 MondayToday is a BIG day! There are two of the graduation requirements today!!!

- Final PFT is first thing in the morning.
- 171 question written test, the 171 question test is combined with the practical application part (which is Tuesday) to make one score -- a recruit must pass both parts as a graduation requirement. They get 2 hours to complete it, but it is multiple choice and they have been going over the information since they got to Parris Island.  It will include questions on general military knowledge (like what time is morning colors on base and What color DOD sticker do you salute), first aid (like how to treat a wound or how to cover a chest wound), and also basic Marine Corps History (like who are the only two Marines to win two Marine Corps Medal of Honors and where did the battle of Belleau Wood take place)

Drivers Safety Course
Pre Crucible Screening

 

TD61 Tuesday
- PLATOON PHOTO
a haircut
Pre Crucible Appt.

 

TD62 Wednesday
I know you don't really need me to reiterate that today is:
FINAL DRILL
Then the rest of the day will be fairly easy to help them for the crucible... they will have several classes on mentoring, leave and liberty as well as some Corps Values classes.

 

TD63 Thursday
1 week from Family Day!
It is finally time for the big challenge that we have all been waiting for while biting our nails for the last 11 weeks....this is the official USMC headquarters definition:

The culmination of recruit training is the Crucible, an intense field training exercise designed to build unit cohesion, reinforce core values, and complete the transformation from recruit to Marine. The Crucible is the defining moment of the recruit training experience. As a right of passage, the 45 Concepts and Issues Crucible is a 54-hour ordeal that tests the mettle of every recruit (and DI). The physical and mental challenges are intensified by sleep and food deprivation.

The Crucible focuses on six major field events and is augmented by eleven challenging Warrior Stations. Throughout this rapid paced exercise, emphasis is placed on the importance of teamwork in overcoming adversity and adaptive problem solving. The teams of recruits, under the leadership of their drill instructor, succeed as a team. The experience pushes recruits to their limits and is a poignant culmination to the transformation process.

A more detailed schedule of what they do during the crucible will be posted a little later on in the week, but here is an overview: during this time they will be given 4 MRE's and about 8 hours of sleep total (about 4 each night). They will march about 40 miles total in humps and between different stations carrying their packs and rifles. They began this "test" at 2AM (EST) Thursday morning after getting up at 1AM to get ready.

 

TD64 Friday
Crucible Continues!
Well, according to my not always correct calculations, by the time most of you wake up (if you slept at all that is)... they will be on the DOWNHILL SLIDE!!!!

TD65 Saturday

The company of recruits, DIs , corpsman, and officers should complete the last of their march back to Battalion. This is an incredibly emotional time for them (yes even for the guys! ) They realize that really the rest of boot camp is just a walk in the park. They will be issued their emblems (EGA) by their drill instructors in a private and memorable ceremony an are now officially recognized as basically trained Marines for the first time.

Then it is time for them to take part in the Warrior's Breakfast! Bacon, eggs, sausage, ham, grits, oatmeal, pancakes, steak, french toast, hashbrowns, fruit, milk, juice and even pop for the first time since arrival on island.

In the afternoon they will begin cleaning up their equipment from the crucible and preparing it to get turned in. They will then finally get to go to bed after their regular square away time later in the evening. I am sure basic Marines and DI's, corpsman, and officers alike will have no problem falling asleep tonight.

 

S11 Sunday -

 It's LIBERTY SUNDAY the day for the new Marines get to strut their stuff and eat whatever they want! They also have to go to the exchange and buy ribbons, watches (don't want to be late !) and phone cards. Yes PHONE cards, the new Marines can call home - lines are long but you all get a call. If not family day is right around the corner and that means
Liberty is from 1 PM - 4 PM if your still reading they also get to practice for graduation

Today we have received another set of letters from our recruit.  One was the graduation invite, the second was his longest letter he have sent to us.  I'll transcribe the letter so you can read what he has to say.

 

Sunday

Qualified with a 250 Marksman.

 

I don't know any of his teachers [speaking of Jacob's letter to him telling him his WHS class schedule and teachers].  MREs suck but aren't bad [Editor's note :  WHAT!?!?].  We were in a very hot hut [last week].  It was fun.

 

BWT did infantry things.  Night/Day movement was fun, very real.  Land nav Day/Night harder than you think but fun.  Many bruises and scrapes.  PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY.

 

Starting to taste the title, 2nd to last Sunday.  Table 2 [rifle qualification] went well.

 

I have a 200 minute phone card but it can be used for a long time,  Is Mom upgrading to the 6 that comes out in a week & half?  Let me know who is coming to graduation.

 

Tell everyone to send the last letter this Sunday.  No letters Crucible Week or Marine Week.  Do let everyone know that.  [EDITOR'S NOTE:  Send your last letters this week!!!  No whining, no complaining, just do it!].  Get their last wishes and what nots out.

 

Tomorrow is DRESS BLUE FITTING...AWESOME time.  Also, final testing is on Saturday.  Final CFT [Combat Fitness Test] Tuesday, Final PFT [Physical Fitness Test] Saturday.  Final pay on like Wednesday or Thursday.  Busy week.  Practicing Drill, Practical App (medical things) and practice testing.  Hope Jacob has a good week at school.

 

You guys probably won't notice me on Family Day or Wednesday walking around.  4th Squad - 8th Family.

 

Do not expect phone calls on Sunday [Editor's note: Sunday, after Crucible, he gets liberty for a few hours so we sent him a calling card so he can call home or whomever he pleases.  I guess he is telling us we won't be getting that call, which is okay].

 

Only 5 more tests to go until the Final Test and the BT Commander's Inspection.  This is the end of this letter [Editor's note:  Good to know].  I sent one out earlier about Family Day that Wednesday and graduation.  Make sure all rules are followed and you have everything.  Now church time so I have to go.  You'll get one last letter next Sunday.

 

Love,

 

Warren Dudley

 

PS.  We dropped one more RCT yesterday.  He is going home because he quit on Day Movement Course. 

 

Of course we were very happy to get a letter to update us on what is happening.  It won't be long now as he counts down to graduation.  Don't forget to send those final letters with the words of encouragement as they head into the crucible.

A few things to update on the recruit.

First, everything is on schedule for September 12^th graduation.  He left us hanging with a letter we got 2 weeks back.  In that letter he said that he failed Table 1 rifle qualification.  He passed the pre-qualification but when it came to qualification day, he didn’t score high enough to get a passing mark.  According to him, he got screwed by the pits, meaning that he had hits that weren’t counted which resulted in the failing score.  It’s a plausible line since he scored 30 points less on qualification day and that’s pretty far off.  For those who may not know (and why would you know), if they failed qualification on Grass Week, they must go back during Team Week and qualify.  According to the information if they fail a second time then they would get recycled into another platoon and go through Grass Week all over again (basically dropping him 2 weeks back in the process).  In the letter he was upbeat despite failing and said “I will go out and qualify tomorrow (Monday) because I want to see my family in 31 days”.  It was exactly the right attitude to take on, rub some dirt on it Johnny, put on your big boy panties and get back in there.  Now, from our view, we expected a letter sometime on Wednesday indicating his score from re-qualification.  However, Wednesday came and went, Thursday no word, Friday no word,…..  Although we wanted to believe that he had passed, there was this small nagging doubt in the back of our minds.  However, after a few days we decided that no news was good news so we assumed he had passed.  We finally got the letter on Friday (2 weeks after his last letter) confirming he passed and we’re on schedule.  [WHEW!!!]  Now we cannot tell him that we doubted so we left it alone in our letters over the past weeks but when we see him we’ll let him know that sometimes we are just as stressed as he is, although in a different way.  He’ll never understand until he becomes a parent, all of the parents out there understand.  A few months ago he was living at home and we had some input as to what he did etc.  Now, we have turned him over to the Marine Corps and they control his life and no matter how much we want to help, all we can do is write encouragement from the distant sidelines.  It’s a transition for everyone so while he endures boot camp for the Marines, we are enduring parental boot camp (with just less yelling and screaming).

Second thing, if you plan to write to Warren – make it happen this week.  Next week is The Crucible (dun, dun, DAAA-AH!) and there is little need to write to him beyond Tuesday (9/2).  By the time he gets the letter if all goes according to plan he will be officially a Marine (not to get ahead of ourselves).  Sending him letters beyond that time means that he will probably not receive them so if you have been thinking about writing or wanting to write, stop thinking about it and do it!

Third thing, keep praying for him and his fellow recruits.  They are all so very close to the end and we want them all to complete boot camp safely.  The light at the end of the tunnel is there, the question is what kind of light it is?  Is it the Wil E. Coyote light of train coming down the tracks or is it truly the end of the long journey that started months ago with some yellow footprints.

Last thing, here is Warren’s schedule for this week - Training Week 10.

TD54 Monday

Last uniform clothing fitting

TD55 Tuesday

Land navigation 2 – mapskills
Confidence Course 2

TD56 Wednesday

Combat Fitness Test
Classes on Terrorism Awareness, Operational Culture, OpSec/CommSec

TD57 Thursday

Combat fitness Conditioning
sexual assault, sexual responsibility, marriage as a first term Marine.

TD58 Friday

Start off the day with a 3.0mi formation run
Practical Application Testing -- PRACAP (which is the practical application of what they have learned in First Aid & customs and courtesies such as how to board a ship and how to report to an officer. They will demonstrate these techniques to the instructors of the course to show that they are efficient in them.)
Classes on Personal Assistance, Intro to Mentoring, Military Career Factors
Core Values Discussion

TD59 Saturday

Field meet (like a typical grade school field meet -- sorta; the platoons compete against each other for bragging rights in various PT related activities such as a stretcher relay, an M16 rifle assembly relay, 50 yd dash, dizzy izzy, team ironman competition, and even a tug of war)
Drill practice for Final Drill

S10 Sunday

Free Time - Chapel, cleaning and maintaining gear
Core Value Discussion

One last thing, here is a photo of the recruit and platoon drilling.

 

This is Week #9, Phase III has arrived.  Here is what comes for Week #9, BWT/Table 2 week.

TD48 Monday
***********START OF PHASE III**************
Begin classes on Table 2 Classes on target engagement (multiple, moving) and a review of snap in (in case they forgot )
Guardian Angel class (be aware of the surroundings, never go anywhere alone, security in a 360 perimeter, be a hard target)

*****They will also get to sleep out under the stars tonight!

TD49 Tuesday
This is the week that you see many people mention that their recruits said was harder than the crucible even.
Continue ALine
- continue classes and preparing for combat firing
- prequalification day for the combat firing that they learned yesterday
**Follow Series
Continue BWT
- Day Movement Class (moving about during the day without being detected)
- Day Movement Practical Application (crawl thru tunnels, under barb wire, crawl on their bellies, camoflauge and concealment, crawl over walls, thru woods, etc without being detected)
- cass on different combat formations (i.e. fireteam formations)
- Then the same course they did during the day under low light conditions

**They will also get to sleep out under the stars again tonight!

TD50 Wednesday
*There are only 20 training days left!!!!
***Lead Series
Qualification day for the combat firing
Classes on other types of field firing
They will also get to sleep out under the stars tonight!
***Follow Series
Begin ALine- classes on table 2 firing
Classes on target engagement (multiple, moving) and a review of snap in (in case they forgot )
Guardian Angel class (be aware of the surroundings, never go anywhere alone, security in a 360 perimeter, be a hard target)

TD51 Thursday
Family Day is 3 weeks away!!!!!!!!!! Not like you needed me to tell you that!
***Lead Series
Start BWT
Movement Course, Hand and Arm signals, IED
**They will also get to sleep out under the stars again tonight!
***Follow Series
Continue ALine
- continue classes and preparing for combat firing
- prequalification day for the combat firing that they learned yesterday

TD52 Friday
Three ..... more........ weeks ...... until ........ Graduation!!
***Lead Series
Continue BWT
- Day Movement Class (moving about during the day without being detected)
- Class on hand and arms signals
- Day Movement Practical Application (crawl thru tunnels, under barb wire, crawl on their bellies, camoflauge and concealment, crawl over walls, thru woods, etc without being detected)
- class on different combat formations (i.e. fireteam formations)
- Then the same course they did during the day under low light conditions
***Follow Series
Continue ALine, more BWT
Qualification day for the combat firing

****Last but not least.... they will ALL get to spend the night under the stars!!

TD53 Saturday
On tap for today is:
Continue BWT for everyone
- Combat Endurance Course (a 2.5 mi course which they have to use everything they learned in the last week, how to negotiate thru woods without making a sound as a squad, negotiate obstacles such as tunnels and walls and barbed wire and up and over obstacles such as cargo nets and monkey bars over a mud puddle -- to simulate going from tree branch to tree branch)
- practice some drill in preparation for final drill

S9 Sunday Free Time - Chapel , cleaning/maintaining gear
Red Cross Blood Drive
Core Value Discuss

Team Week

 

This is team week, here is information from the Marine Family Network on what Team Week is.

 

During this week the recruits will be assigned in small groups to areas of the depot to assist in the normal upkeep of the base.  Basically team week is devoted to working on Parris Island, whether it be organizing needed goods for new incoming recruits, working in the kitchen, cleaning the depot general administration buildings, working in supply organizing and doing inventory, and related tasks that keep the recruit depot operating smoothly. The recruits spend most of their day away from their drill instructor and pretty much are janitors (LOL). You wouldn't have heard much the last weeks because when qualifying with the rifle the recruits spend all day at the range; then when they go back to the barracks they usually drill til about 8pm, shower and go to bed. It's that way for two weeks; then they spend a week in the field so not much letter writing gets done. You should start receiving letters by next week because they will more or less be back to their usual routine after week 9 and Table II. But toward the end of third phase you won't hear from them too much either because of final drill and the crucible."

 

Those that did not qualify on table I will be out in the field again this week practicing to qualify on table II.

 

We did not get a letter this past week but expect to at least hear something this week from our recruit.  They had rifle qualification on Friday and we're very anxious to hear from him and know how he did. 

This is Week #7, past the halfway point through boot camp and Firing Week.  Here's what platoon 3064 is up to this week.


TD36 Monday
This morning, they will learn how to operate the pits (where the targets are behind the berm). They all have to take turns in running the targets up and down. No, they are not in the 21st century yet, it is all manual labor.... Then they will finally get to start firing. They will run the entire course of fire (called the Known Distance course or the KD course for short).

KD course:
200 yd line
20 mins for 5 rounds in sitting, 5 rounds in kneeling, & 5 rounds in standing
1 min for 10 rounds (5 in each magazine) in sitting
300 yd line
5 min for 5 rounds in sitting
1 min for 10 rounds (5 in each magazine) in prone (on belly)
500 yd line
10 min for 10 rounds in prone

It can take a lot longer than the 37 min above.... the Platoons are divided into relays probably 6 (three relays shoot the entire KD range and the other three relays are in the pits running the targets....then they switch). Plus you have to figure in the walking time between the yd lines.... The rifle range is not a quick process.

Later in the afternoon, of course some snap in time or drill practice time.

TD37 TuesdayToday the recruits will be doing more of the same... shooting that rifle!!!!!!! --

After firing they will have a little PT: running a 1/4 mi sprint and also do those combat conditioning exercises in a circuit six times.

TD38 Wednesday
Today is Hump Day!!!! YIPPEE!!!
I told you this weeks posts would be BORING!!!
Today the recruits will be doing more of the same...shooting that rifle!!!!!!! --

In the afternoon they get to do the obstacle course and a 3 mi run and and of course they will practice snap in and studying in the evening with their PMIs and DIs.

TD39 Thursday
Only 5 weeks until family day!!!!!
This is pre-qual day. Today is soley concentrated on practice for the big day tomorrow.

Complete with practice scoring ... that can be dangerous though, because the good shooters sometimes get cocky and the not so good shooters get discouraged. I have never been so crazy about letting my shooters know what they shot on pre-qual. I hope you guys have been sending lots of encouragement -- it means a great deal to them I know. They should also be getting another haircut and also study some for that big final test that they have coming up as a graduation requirement.

TD40 Friday
Today is the infamous Rifle Qualification Day. Of Course!

After time spent on the range yesterday they spent time with the PMI's to ensure that they are ready for today -- which of course we all KNOW they are! Today is a big day because they are on their own on the firing line with just the range officials, the DIs, PMIs and coaches must remain about 20 yds behind them at the benches.

TD41 Saturday
Well, now with the rifle range under their belt, it is all downhill from here. Yippeee!!
Well they are back in their regular squadbays at their Battalions now after the range yesterday so they are "home." They will start off the day with a short 1.5mi run then do some of those combat conditioning exercises, including a 12km Conditioning March, they have come to know so well and then another short 1.5mi run to work on their endurance. Then in the afternoon they will have some classes on leadership and then they all will also get to go the museum! 

This come highly recommend visiting it while you are here. It lays out the history of the Marine Corps approximately decade by decade since 1775. It has some awesome artifacts as well as video footage. The gift shop there is very good as well and has items you can't find anywhere else (including online or elsewhere on base even!).

The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle! - General Pershing, U.S. Army
"Freedom has a special meaning for those of us who have fought for it, that the protected shall never know" - unknown

S7 Sunday
Chapel / Free time
Core Value Discussions
Today they also learn how to maintain their clothing and equip