MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO -- The main purpose for boot camp is to create basically trained Marines out of those who wish to enlist in the Marine Corps.
For many recruits, the most dreaded part of basic training is the Crucible. During these few days recruits will face mentally and physically demanding obstacles while enduring simulated combat stress, consisting of food and sleep deprivation. All of this is intended as the final step in training the recruits to understand the effects of being in combat.
The 54-hour Crucible, held at Edison Range, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., is designed to test the recruits’ endurance, teamwork, and how well they learned their core values.
Part of this testing is the Confidence Course. The recruits must display teamwork to make it over obstacles within set time limits while following set requirements.
These obstacles simulate scenarios that prepare the recruits should they have to face combat. Each obstacle is loosely based on combat scenarios in Marine Corps history, which may prove useful in future combat.
The most recent recruits to have faced these obstacles were those of Company M, July 27 and 28.
“These obstacles are meant to help them learn how to work as a team,” said SSgt. Zachary Taylor, drill instructor for Platoon 3275, Co M, 3rd Battalion.
Taylor said the group he was in charge of had struggled with working as a team before the Crucible, but here they were quick to learn to work together.
The recruits go through two obstacles in the Confidence Course: the Two-Line Bridge and the Sky Scraper.
The Two-Line Bridge is an obstacle with a simple rope bridge that allows up to three recruits to cross simultaneously but also requires them to carry across jugs of water and heavy ammunition cans. The bridge obstacle was completed by Taylor’s group of recruits in 11 minutes, 18 seconds, the fastest Taylor had ever seen it completed.
This obstacle is designed to simulate the recruits getting supplies and aid to troops in need within a set time limit, said Taylor.
For the Sky Scraper obstacle, the recruits had to climb the three-tiered tower while holding their rifles, with a limit of four recruits on each tier at any given time. They then had to climb down the other side of the obstacle carrying a 160-pound dummy, simulating the evacuation of a casualty.
The obstacle was intended to not only test the recruits on their ability to work as a team and plan efficiently but also to help them overcome any fear of heights.
“The recruits have 20 minutes to complete the obstacle, but it normally takes between 12 and 15 minutes for them to complete,” said Sgt. Johnny G. Sermersky, a field instructor for the Crucible.
Sermersky said the recruits used their time very efficiently and finished within the normal time frame.
“This obstacle helps recruits in coping with stress and maintaining teamwork in a stressing environment,” said Sermersky. “The recruits are doing well with the teamwork and using what they were taught to them by the drill instructors.”
The obstacles as a whole, according to the instructors, are intended to give the recruits an idea of some of the tough scenarios they may have to face as Marines in the Fleet and in combat.