As Josh and the other recruits in his platoon prepare for the second week of Phase III, their graduation certainly must be coming into view – if it hasn’t already. They had a uniform fitting this past week, and will have another one in the days ahead.
But they won’t have a lot of time to dream about that big day because there still is plenty on tap to keep them focused on training. Scheduled this week is another physical fitness test, a combat fitness evaluation, one more round with pugil sticks, the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program test and a sustainment hike.
For the PFT, each recruit will have to perform crunches (two minutes to complete as many as possible), pull-ups (to measure upper-body strength and endurance) and run for three miles.
Josh did a number of PFTs while he was in the Delayed Entry Program. Each time the running part was his weakest link, but he still managed to perform well. When Josh and his fellow poolies at the Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Temecula went for their mile-and-a-half runs, Josh would finish in about 11 minutes – 30 seconds faster than the cut-off for that RS.
For the MCMAP (shown above), he will be tested on a range of techniques: punches, upper- and lower-body strikes, chokes and holds, unarmed restraints, knife and bayonet thrusts among them. To pass, students must score 70 percent, failing no more than 15 techniques.
When Josh and the other recruits hit their bunks tonight, only three training weeks will remain. The Crucible, arguably the biggest hurdle left between the platoon and graduation day, is scheduled to begin Oct. 5.
In the meantime, congratulations go out to the new Marines of Fox Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, at MCRD San Diego.
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