MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- It's two miles, several obstacles and an hour plus of nerve-wracking silence, sweat and mind-numbing concentration. It's the Crucible's Endurance Course and it's an exercise that pits a recruit's entire three months of training into one event.
This is how Platoon 4030, November Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion and Platoon 3080, Mike Company, 3rd RTBn., began the Endurance Course on Event Five during the Crucible Sept. 27 and 28.
"My goal is for them to finish the course as best they can, as fast as they can and together,"said Staff Sgt. Daniel Meek, a drill instructor for Platoon 3080. "It combines a lot of points that they learn in recruit training and binds them all together."
The Crucible is a 54-hour event where recruits experience some of the stresses of a combat environment, such as food and sleep deprivation. In order to complete their"missions," they must work together and draw from all the lessons learned during recruit training.
One of the longest parts of the Crucible is the Endurance Course.
According to the regimental order, the purpose of the endurance course is to gauge the level of agility, confidence, physical fitness and ability to negotiate obstacles that are typically encountered in a combat environment.
During this portion of the Crucible, the recruits must complete all the obstacles on the course. However, due to black flag conditions, the recruits only completed the rope walk, cargo net, balance beam, low crawl and wall climb.
"The hiking is the hardest part for this recruit,"said November Company's Pfc. Vanessa Mijares of Stuart, Fla. "It seems like you are walking forever."
Mijares'boots were covered in black mud, which had been caking on layer-after-layer during the Crucible. The tops of her boots were gray with dried-out dirt. The many miles tread while at recruit training were visible.
However, fatigue and lack of food couldn't keep Mijares from moving on.
"This recruit has come so far,"Mijares explained. "Being so close to graduating keeps this recruit going."
Some of the recruits enjoyed the obstacles.
"My favorite obstacle was the rope walk,"said Mike Company's Pfc. Jonathan Brown. "It was different than crawling and more challenging."
Brown was breathing heavily. Sweat was dripping down his face. His cammies were soaked in sweat and mud. His M-16A2 wasn't looking much better. The trials of recruit training could easily be seen.
The challenges helped Brown realize how far he had come during training.
"During the Crucible, I gained confidence in myself,"Brown explained. "I learned I could push myself further than I thought."
November Company's Pfc. Carolyn Etter had something different going for her. For her, it was granting her grandfather's dying wish.
"I enlisted because I promised my grandfather I would do something with my life,"Etter explained. "He was a Marine so I felt joining was an appropriate route."
Etter served as the squad leader for the event and quickly discovered some of the challenges of leadership.
"The hardest part of the course was keeping the squads formed up,"Etter said breathless. "Back crawling and not getting stuck in the barbed wire was hard, too."
However, nothing could stop Etter from keeping her promise, or the three others.
"The knowledge that in a day and a half this recruit will have earned something she strived for keeps her going,"Etter explained.