54 hours, then the EGA

The weeks of training, physical and mental stress, discipline, yelling, camaraderie and sacrifice all come down to this: The Crucible. For Josh and his fellow recruits, now back at Camp Pendleton, it’s the only thing standing between them and the title of Marine.

Of course, the word “only” shouldn’t diminish what the 80 or so recruits in Josh’s platoon are about face. The Crucible will test each and every one of them physically, mentally and morally.

They will be split into teams, and for 54 hours will be confronted with a barrage of challenges – day and night. Deprived of sleep and food, the recruits will need to work together to overcome obstacles, solve problems and help each other every step of the way.

And with 40 miles of marching, there will be a lot of steps. But that’s not all. The recruits will tackle combat assault courses, a problem-solving reaction course and team-building warrior stations. Each of those stations is named for a Marine hero.

One of the obstacles on the Confidence Course is the Sky Scraper, seen here in a photo from the Aug. 6 edition of the Chevron. Each recruit is required to climb the three-tiered tower while holding their rifles. They go down the other side carrying a 160-pound dummy, which simulates the evacuation of a casualty.

At the end of the Crucible, the recruits will march to a ceremony where drill instructors will present them with the Eagle, Globe and Anchor. Officially the emblem of the Marine Corps since 1955, the EGA as been a part of the uniform since 1868. The eagle represents a proud nation, the globe points to worldwide presence, and the anchor stands for the naval tradition of the Corps.

“Receiving the emblem signifies that the recruits have earned a place in the Marine Corps legacy,” says a Marine Corps website. “They will now stand side by side with their instructors as Marines.”

An update: In his last letter, which was written Sept. 26, Josh described his final days as a recruit. “We have final drill on Monday, final written exams/first-aid exams on Tuesday, a visit to the museum on Wednesday (plus final PFT), rappel tower on Thursday, pictures on Friday, Commanding Officer’s Inspection on Saturday and in one week (Oct. 3) we leave for Pendleton.”

At the conclusion of the letter, his excitement was obvious: “I’ll be a Marine in less than two weeks! Woooo!”

That “less than two weeks” is now down to a handful of days. On Tuesday, Training Day 61, the clock will start on the Crucible and will continue running for 54 hours.

Clearing the decks

Some items and observations …

– Josh’s platoon was among the first to use the Marine Corps’ new service rifle, the M-16A4 (shown above in a photo from the Chevron). Recruits started firing the weapons during training at Camp Pendleton’s Edison Range on July 19, the same day Josh arrived at MCRD San Diego.

– Besides recruit training, MCRD has been home to a lot of activity this summer. Two new “H-style” barracks, a recruit rehabilitation facility and several independent restrooms are under construction. Also, upgrades are being made to other buildings, some of which date to the early 1920s. The work is expected to be finished within the next 18 months.

– Civilians got a taste of what recruits endure by running an MCRD obstacle course during the Boot Camp Challenge on Sept. 26. The course’s first set of waist-high logs proved to be a true challenge for one woman, who went over them and promptly did a face-plant in a pit filled with rubber chips next to Union-Tribune reporter Jeanette Steele. “It scared me. I was already predisposed to crawling gingerly over the logs,” Steele observed in her story. “But the depot’s drill instructors didn’t seem to care about my height, my old knees or my concern for keeping my front teeth. About 60 guys with campaign hats and loud voices were stationed along the course, offering ‘encouragement.’”

– Boot camp graduations have something in common with Lakers games: attracting celebrities. Dyan Cannon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Andy Garcia, Penny Marshall, Denzel Washington and, of course, Jack Nicholson are regulars at Staples. But the Sept. 3 graduation at MCRD for Company K drew some star wattage as well. It was attended by Caressa Cameron, Miss America 2010 – minus her tiara.

– Dozens of survivors of the Chosin Reservoir battle during the Korean War were on hand Sept. 15 when a memorial for the “Chosin Few” was unveiled at Camp Pendleton. In the battle, Nov. 27 to Dec. 13, 1950, vastly outnumbered soldiers and Marines were up against 100,000 Chinese troops. More than 900 Americans were killed, and thousands more were wounded. The 6-by-8 foot, 3,000-pound granite monument is on an overcrop with a sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean near Pendleton’s main gate. After three weeks of Phase II training at the camp, Josh’s platoon was already back at MCRD the day it was unveiled. Josh’s grandfather, Jerome Jess Rice, an Army sergeant, served in Korea during the war.

How hot was it?

Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” often would make the weather a punchline: “It was so hot …”

Yesterday in downtown Los Angeles, it was so hot – and this is no joke – that the National Weather Service’s thermometer broke after it reached an all-time high of 113 degrees. The record is based on temperature recordings that date back to 1877.

Camp Pendleton, where Josh was for Phase II of boot camp training and where he returns next week for the Crucible, hit 109 on Monday. In San Diego, at MCRD, it was a relatively balmy 95.

Today’s predicted high for San Diego: 82.

A way with words

Of all the jobs that I've had over the years, working as a freelance copy editor and writer at Variety have been among my favorites.

I’ve always been impressed by the talent level of the entertainment trade publication’s staff, which has included one of the best writers of this past century: Art Buchwald, the Pulitzer-winning columnist and humorist. He started as Variety’s Paris correspondent.

One of the reasons Variety is an entertaining read is that it literally has a language all its own. “Ankle,” for example, means to leave or get dismissed from a job; a Western film is an “oater,” referring to what horses eat; and a “zitcom” is a TV comedy aimed at teenagers.

The wordsmiths at Variety have used the paper’s “slanguage” to create some “boffo” headlines. Perhaps the most famous was this gem from 1935: Sticks Nix Hick Pix. It meant that rural audiences were not watching movies about rural life.

On Variety’s website (www.variety.com), there’s a “Slanguage Dictionary,” so if a reader can’t determine the definition of a word they can go there to find out what it means.

The Marine Corps also has its own “slanguage.” Below are 12 common items, followed by the word Josh is now using to describe each one in boot camp:

Pants: Trousers
Bed: Rack
Floor: Deck
Door: Hatch
Window: Port
Glasses: Portholes
Pen: Ink stick
Flashlight: Moonbeam
Shoes: Go-fasters
Duffel bag: Sea bag
Restroom: Head
Food: Chow

More testing as the days dwindle

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.

At home on the range

Gen. John Pershing, the US Army commander of American forces during World War I, was quoted as saying, "The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle."

I'm not ready to think of Josh in those terms, but at Camp Pendleton he has shown himself to be adept at shooting his service weapon – particularly for a novice. (Above is the score sheet from his first time shooting a gun.)

He qualified Sept. 2 as “expert” – achieving a pre-boot camp goal.

In a recent letter, he wrote about his training leading up to that qualification day: “This past week has been primarily spent in small groups (4-8 people), with coaches going over techniques, or on the range. We’ve been so busy we wake up at 0400, and I’m on the range ready to go before the sun comes up.”

Of course many times in civilian life he was going to bed when the sun came up after a night of playing video games online with his buddies, but I digress…

Anyway, on Thursday and Friday, it was time for Table II, which involved shooting moving targets at a closer range (less than 50 yards). For Josh to maintain his “expert” ranking, he needed to score 80 out of 100 points. At least 60 was required to qualify on this round, which would have made Josh a “sharpshooter” overall. As of this writing, I’m not sure how he scored.

Tonight, Josh is back in his rack at MCRD. Phase III – the home stretch toward graduation day – starts bright and early Monday morning.

Firing line

Regardless of Josh’s ultimate Military Occupational Specialty – saxophonist with the 1st Marine Division Band at Camp Pendleton – the Corps expects him to be first and foremost a rifleman.

While Josh has shot thousands of rounds, perhaps even tens of thousands, before he went to boot camp, I don’t believe he has ever picked up a weapon that could do serious damage. Not counting his air gun, every shot he took before July 19 was with a video game controller.

So while “Call of Duty,” “Ghost Recon” and “Socom” may have given him a taste of battlefield strategy, the last several training days in the field at Pendleton have developed his skills with a real M16 service rifle. On Friday, Training Day 34, Josh and the other recruits in his platoon will put their skills to the test.

Up to this point, they’ve learned four shooting positions (standing, kneeling, sitting and prone), and have been taught how to take weather conditions and other variables into account when shooting. They have been aiming and firing targets that are 200, 300 and 500 yards away. Now they’ll be scored on how well they’ve developed as riflemen.

There are three levels: marksman, sharpshooter and expert. I’m not sure of the latest numbers on how each level is scored, but I do know that Josh’s pre-boot camp goal was to be considered “expert.”

Regardless of whether he achieves that or not, Josh will have the opportunity to re-qualify every year and can wear the corresponding rifle marksmanship badge. Of the three, the expert badge really is the coolest looking, so says Josh.

There’s no telling how far he wants to take this training, but I think it’s interesting to note that six soldiers with the US Army Marksmanship Unit were on the US Olympic Team two years ago in Beijing. One of them, Maj. Michael E. Anti, was competing in his fourth Olympics. He won a silver medal in the men’s three position rifle event at the Athens Games in 2004.

From this corner, an Olympic medal looks pretty cool, too.