Recruits with Lima Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, conduct swim qualification on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., Sep. 25, 2023. Swim qualification is a graduation requirement, during which recruits must demonstrate their proficiency in the water. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Micah Bower)
Recruits with Echo Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, complete pugil sticks bouts during the Crucible on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C. Sep. 20, 2023.
Pugil sticks are used multiple times during recruit training to simulate close quarters combat.
(U.S. Marine Corps video by Cpl. Colin Harper)
Women have worked and trained at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island since 1943. For the past eighty years, the Marine Corps has used the depot and recruit training as the foundation to define the roles and responsibilities for servicewomen. As the Marine Corps prepares for 21 century warfare, the roles of women in uniform have become indistinguishable from men— and so has their training.
