Recruits of Fox Company tire themselves out in course

Photo By Sgt. Angelica Annastas | Recruits of Fox Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, run across the street in a fire team formation during the Bayonet Assault Course at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Sept. 15. The recruits had run the course earlier in training, but this time they had to complete it in the rain. Today, all males recruited from west of the Mississippi are trained at MCRD San Diego. The depot is responsible for training more than 16,000 recruits annually. Fox Company is scheduled to graduate Oct. 9.  

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES

09.15.2015

Story by Lance Cpl. Angelica Annastas 

Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego       

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO - In recruit training, it is imperative that recruits learn to expect the unexpected week after week. They train to prepare themselves, and each other, for what is to come during recruit training and beyond.

To prepare themselves for the Crucible, recruits of Fox Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, charged the Bayonet Assault Course in an unusual summer rain at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Sept. 15.

To prepare for the course, recruits first participated in Marine Corps Martial Arts Program classes when they learned techniques such as horizontal and vertical butt strokes, vertical and horizontal slashes, disrupts and offensive and defensive weapons maneuvers.

“We try to instill a little more courage into them and help them enhance the growth of a warrior mindset,” said Staff Sgt. Steve A. Pottinger, drill instructor, Fox Company.

The recruits had already attacked the course earlier in training, so to begin, a fire team led a demonstration as a refresher for everyone. During the course, recruits are required to move as a fire team while properly taking cover behind different obstacles and pits. Additionally, they needed to conduct MCMAP techniques on rubber tires that hung throughout the course.

Though this wasn’t the first time the recruits experienced the course, it was the first time they ran it in the rain, which brought a new challenge to the recruits.

“The rainy weather adds a touch of unpredictability to the course,” said 30-year old Pottinger. “It’s kind of like what they’d face in combat- the unknown.”

To add an additional unnerving element, speakers blared the sounds of gunshots and war cries over a loudspeaker simulating the sounds of combat, and keeping the recruits alert.

“We moved much faster this time around,” said Recruit Riley W. Reidhead, Fox Company. “I think we improved a lot since the last time we did it.”

Completing the course is what will ultimately prepare the recruits for similar events they’ll come across during the Crucible.

“They’ve grown as recruits,” said Pottinger, a native of Miami. “It further proves what happens when individual Marines rely on their training. We breed special warriors here, and we only seek to better them and enhance their warrior mindset.”

• Date Taken: 09.15.2015
• Date Posted: 09.24.2015 11:52
• Story ID: 177078
• Location: SAN DIEGO, CA, US