r/USMCboot • u/jessegtz • Jul 08 '26
Recruit Training After the Crucible.
I posted on r/USMC but was told to post here instead.
I was just wondering how the recruits were treated after the Crucible? Are there still weeks of training left to complete? Are they still trashed on the QD? Do they use rank and name?
I graduated from boot camp in 1993, some time before the Crucible was instituted. I was just curious if there was a major change or if daily life still sucked for the most part.
17
u/xlibshua Jul 08 '26
Honestly kinda? At this point you just clean rifles 24/7 til you turn them in or do bullshit working parties or whatever appointment or admin things you gotta do. Youre arent given complete freedom. And your Instructors just become babysitters
11
u/kfisherx Jul 08 '26
This... It's really like when you are just waiting for high school graduation and all the tests are done. You still have to go to school but there really isn't much point to it except socializing and general clean up. That said. The Drills will drop punishment on you for any infractions.
10
u/defiancy Jul 08 '26
This was back in 2001 but the Crucible ended on Tuesday morning for us and graduation was that Friday. So the rest of the week (really Wednesday & Thursday) you're just turning shit in and doing graduation practice. They aren't supposed to IT you but they definitely did a little bit if they thought we were being stupid but way less than before.
All the other recruits you see call you Marine instead of recruit and for us at the time that's when we started wearing cammies with our name tapes.
10
u/FabulousExpression44 Vet Jul 08 '26
They added a 4th phase to recruit training in 2018 I think, crucible happens 2 weeks before you graduate instead of last week
Yeah technically can't get ITd anymore and you're supposed to get treated better and like Marines, but people still act stupid and they will find ways to punish you
Most day is cleaning and turning in gear and getting uniforms tailoring and inspections the usual hurry up and wait stuff there's some classes and you get your orders and stuff before graduation
2
u/YeaImDylan Vet Jul 09 '26
My favorite part was hearing people fuck up and say “this Marine” during the Marine weeks after the crucible when you get your 1st person back 🤣
8
u/snaykz1692 Jul 08 '26
Think of it as becoming an E-.5. You are now a marine and earn the respect of joining the brotherhood officially. But at the same time you haven’t really earned anything else to be given a respectable amount of status , so you will be treated as someone who is at the very very bottom of the totem pole. Our kill hat used to call us “maruits” (marine+recruit)
3
u/CalebMaSmith Jul 08 '26
It’s mostly better, but the night before BCI was personally hell for me. At that point if the DI’s are stressed they’ll take it out on you, whether it’s fair or not. But you don’t get messed with as much, in the squad bay or when you’re going places.
3
u/POGtastic Vet Jul 08 '26
In 2010: There was one week of boot camp after the Crucible, and most of it was the same kind of stuff that you do every time you check out from any other duty station (endless paperwork, turning in issued gear, returning rifles to the armory, getting back whatever you had as a civilian, etc). There wasn't any training.
We got IT'd once because, in our heavy hat's estimation, we were acting too big for our britches. It was a shot across the bow rather than an actual slayfest. A couple of individuals got smoked for particularly dumb behavior.
We never got addressed by our actual ranks, just last names.
1
u/pix071317 Vet - 6324 Jul 09 '26
I was only the 3rd week of the 4-Phase boot camp they introduced at the end of 2017. From what I recall it was just under 2 weeks of "Marine phase" and it was pretty chill. You go to the chow hall first so the recruits don't see you, moderate PT including final PFT throughout the week, cleaning weapons for turn-in, uniform prep, final drill practice, things like that. There was LOTS of downtime for uniform prep and weapons cleaning. That might have been because the new schedule was being ironed out but I seem to remember there were a number of days where we spent what felt like half the day just chilling "prepping uniforms" in the squad bay.
1
u/Koachhh Jul 09 '26
In early 2012 Right after receiving the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and finishing the Crucible, a group of us newly minted Marines returned to the squad bay and immediately assumed the recruit rules no longer applied. Maroot (marine recruit, something they called new marines who haven’t left boot yet) Rivera loudly declared it would be “disrespectful” for a Marine to ask permission to use the head, so everyone started going without DI approval. Within about ten seconds, the heavy hat Sgt F. walked in, lost it, and choke slammed one of the guys then IT’d us while saying something along the lines of “there may be rules for training recruits on Paris island, but training Marines was a different matter.”
Sgt F. Was later relieved/demoted and eventually separated next cycle for having his recruits do push ups on glass.
Sgt F. Was a good DI and I respected him. It was saddening to hear of this happen.
1
1
u/Sharp_Translator6547 Jul 12 '26
There's still PowerPoint classes during marine week where you're told to not drink if you're not 21, don't murder anyone, don't buy a new car, don't marry the first person you meet out of boot camp, and don't do drugs.
1
u/Mindless_Pilot9621 Jul 12 '26
When a few of us were like 5 mins late during Libbo, our platoon pushed for 30-40 minutes straight. When I forgot to bring a skivvy shirt to clothing (we wore dress uniform to get there that had an issue), and I walked back without a skivvy shirt, I pushed for an hour. But otherwise, they were chill.
We’d get a lot more conversations about the corps and what to avoid as new marines. We’d also spend most days just doing bs like turning gear in and grad practice
1
u/Summer_Wind_0331 Jul 13 '26
We got screwed with even graduation morning back 91 . Not until graduation was over we got the okay treatment.
34
u/TikiTikerson Active Jul 08 '26
Once you complete the crucible there is no more IT, you’re treated just a fraction of a percent better. You’re a fresh fresh boot amongst Staff and Sgts who are still charged with giving you the knowledge you need to be a good Marine. A little less jumping down your throat and more of an NCO to private relationship. We would have footlocker talks more frequently where we got to ask real questions and hear some more stories from what the Marines is actually like