This post is more for people who have already been through Marine Combat Training. This blog has become a great source of first-hand information for people and I want to be able to share some details on Marine Combat Training (MCT) with them, since that is where I’ll be going. I’m interested in some details as well. Below are some of the basic questions some might have.
1) Is it worth taking a cell phone to boot camp, or is it a waste.
2) Is there still a block of “free time” each day?
3) What do they do to those who mess up or suck (in forms of punishment)?
4) I’m going straight from MCT to my MOS school, so should I take and store my MOS laptop at MCT, or wait until I arrive at my MOS school to purchase one?
5) Since you’re in the field for the majority of MCT, do you take actual showers each night, or just field hygiene with baby wipes?
6) Is each Marine responsible for themselves during MCT, or do we still get baby sat from place to place?
7) What is the longest single hike you do in MCT? Anything comparable to the Crucible?
Does MCT have a graduation ceremony for family to attend, or do you just leave once you’re finished?
9) Do you get bused directly from MCT to your MOS school? Is there any leave time in between?
Anyone have any other questions? Feel free to ask away.
Thanks,
PFC Webb
Evening devil dog! I can’t lie I haven’t read all of your blog but I did read a bit of it at one point or another and have read some of your latest posts. I want you to know how gracious you should be that a Marine Corps officer of any grade has graced these as I’m sure you are.
Second, I would like to help answer a few questions for you from my experience at MCT. You will have to forgive my Hollywood’ness though as I am a San Diego Marine. I do talk to a lot of people from East Coast so I will try to better help you out also.
1) Take a cell phone, don’t use it when not allowed as it’s a good way to earn yourself a Page 11 or a ninja punch.
2) No not really. That was a boot camp right, the bill of boot camp rights does not apply at MCT…….besides church.
3) MCT is different in the fact that there is no more IT, but that doesn’t mean the games are over. However at MCT it is less group punishment than at boot camp so be glad for that one.
4) Wait until you arrive at MOS school to either have your laptop mailed or to buy one, you have enough stuff to tote around from MCT.
5) You will take actual showers during the first and last weeks and every once in a while in between. No more PT showers though, atleast in my company.
6) You still get babysat but it is a lot more relaxed.
7) Hikes go 5k, 10k, 15k. Personally I cannot comment on hiking at MCT because in the west coast we experience hiking up mountains where the east coast is not so lucky.
9) You will arrive at your MOS school the day of or the next day of graduation. No leave. However once at your school you will learn more about when your class picks up and if you can take leave or RA (soon you will learn RA is called PTAD).
I’m sure when you go through you will be able to blog what the east coast experience is like but hopefully that is a little heads up.
Semper fi
Moss
1) Just had an MCT class before we left (it was an instructor don’t remember his name or his billet, he was a first sergeant from Lima I think). He said that on Sundays, if behaviour deems it, you get 4 hours of free time and can use your phones then.
2) Hahahahaha
3) No se.
4) You can bring it, but it’s just in your seabag, which makes it insanely easy for someone to break, steal, or harass your stuff.
7) Hikes: They are with 80 lb packs for hours at a time, much longer and straining on your knees, etc. The crucible hike home and back were the easiest hikes for me during recruit training.
I had a question, though, the most recent p osts say you are leaving in about a week for MCT training (Jan 23rd) I graduated Parris Island Jan 22, and I see posts from you that are posted prior to Jan 23….how is this??! (And, I know that we didn’t have access to blogging prior to graduation date….) Thanks and good luck at MCT.
as far as someone posting during boot… liberty sunday and familky day we were able to go to the library and use the computers there…i too graduated jan. 22nd and i know many from my company were able to use computers those days at the library
after the graduation, when they have the few hours of free time, can they call home?
my boyfriend graduated from Parris island on January 22nd, and hes been in MCT since February 2nd. He’s called on sundays for a little while about a half hour or so.
Yes, they can call home if they have a phone and the bus isn’t there yet. We had about 30 minutes after graduation to hang with family before loading the bus up.
What do they bring to MCT?
You will take everything that you were issued at boot camp, as well as anything that you bought while you were at boot camp. You don’t necessarily need everything at MCT, but you will need it at MOS school and you’ll head straight to MOS school from MCT.
here was my experiance from MCT, and every marines experience will be different, but for the most part all aspects of MCT are of the same similar stories. unless MCT has changed, but a few new PFC’s that came to my unit in the past few months have said that its alittle more strict than when i went through it, but there stories match mine quite the same. minus the marine that killed himself with a grenade on the live grenade range. it was unintentional. and not in my platoon.
1. you don’t bring anything to boot camp except the clothes on your back, your orders if you got them, and your wallet. your not going to be needing any of these things once you get there though (clothes go in a box for 3 months and wallet stays with, orders go to admin once you get there.) if you do take anything to boot camp you just gave the drill instructors new gear, cause your not getting anything back.
2. boot camp there is no free time, you do everything by “the numbers” you get counted down for everything and you don’t get any free time until sunday for four house of church or newspaper/shitting time (you will literally sit on the shit can for 4 hours on a sunday, not because you actually have to poop, but because you’re not going to get messed with on sunday morning in the head. as for MCT is concerned, i got 8 hours of liberty to go to mainside or just hang out in the barracks with my buddies. most of the time i went down to main side and bought tobacco and new magazines for the field if i ever got time off to do something, and i definitly went to domino’s (owned by a former marine and its the best near marine bases.) and there is alot of sitting around waiting for something to do on non sundays. its called “hurry up and wait” you’ll get used to it. keep yourself occupied with stupid games that don’t involve much moving around and learn to be a comedian or a good converationalist, or you’ll be really bored on those down times.
3. i have a SSGT who is a recent drill instructor, and he told me that it really depends on what you do wrong, if you mess up with a rifle, you will get IT’ed with the rifle (possibly holding it out with your arm fully extended with only two fingers, or doing other things like that) but you got to remember that IT is a good thing most times, if you mess up and you get ITed it makes you work harder next time, and it gets you in good psychical shape and good mental mind set. here is a good link for what IT is and alittle more info on how the marine corps works.
http://www.marines.cc/content/view/32/33/
4. you will go to MOS school immediatly following graduation of MCT. you may get lucky and have a 8 hour lay over like i did.. and just buy your laptop in MOS school. and definitly do, or become good buddies with someone that does have one, cause nights after MOS training you’re pretty much free to do whatever you want (within reason).
5. most of the time when your in the field you will just do a field wash and that would be the end of your showering story until you get back to the barracks. i think i showered atleast 2 times a week though. since most of the time your sleeping in a biyou shed thing.
6. your only resposible for yourself if you get liberty, but even then you can’t leave the base you can only do what you want to do within the boundaries set by the platoon sergent. your going to continue to be baby sat til your in the fleet (your done with all training exercises and are in your final unit) or if you are a E-5 or above (sometimes an E-4 isn’t babysat at MOS school it depends on the CO or the platoon Sergent and an E-4 wouldn’t be in MCT unless he is an instructor)
7. the longest hike at MCT is the microwave (camp pendleton) and its a 15K hike. pretty easy if your in shape from bootcamp and your a good hiker( seems like every marine is different when it comes down to hiking, your either good at it or your not, doesn’t matter how physically fit you are or how strong you are.) its only called the microwave cause it increases elevation at a constant rate and you get the feeling like your in the microwave (you get really hot!) but once your at the top of the hill it goes steadily straight for a few hundred yards then drops down sharply and goes back up sharply, but in comparison to the crusible, its not anything you can’t handle. personally i thought the crusible was fun ( i was a motivated PT junky in boot camp, i used to do things wrong just so they would IT me, til my drill instructors figured it out and stopped paying attention to me, that made me pretty upset.) if you can survive the crusible and become a marine, you can pretty much do anything. except win an argument with the commanding officer and the first sergent. you will never win that one but pay dearly for it.
there is a graduation, but if your not from were your MCT site is, don’t invite your family, it will be a waste of money.
9. you will normally leave the day of your graduation, and it will be a bussing to the airport and you are on your own getting to your flieghts/connections on time, normally you’ll meet other marines going the same place so its not a big deal if you feel lost (two brains is better than one) and once you touch down in the place your going, normally you will have to get a cab to your destination, so make sure you have some money saved up to pay for your taxi fare ( i have a cab bill of 230 dollars to get to my MOS school but it was split 6 ways and some trading of dirty magazines…)
hopefully this helps you PFC Webb and anybody else that takes a visit to this site, if you got any other questions you can all ways email me with questions @ joshua_Girraffeee@yahoo.com
Hey i just got out of boot camp and i was woundering what the hardest part of MCT was? and how hard is the written exam?
My son is going to bootcamp in July. He is headed to Camp Pendelton. My ex-husband has a friend who is an Officer in the JAG. She is stationed by Camp Pendelton and was planning on checking in on my son during bootcamp. I think it is a crazy, foolish idea. Being a 27 year military brat veteran…. I just think it somewhat presumptious to assume my son should be afforded a visitor when his squad is not. I don’t know. I am just trying to research this issue. There is enough going on in bootcamp to have preferential treatment be a part of the mix. Any thoughts?
Its possible for him to get visitors (especially on the west coast), but it would be in his interest not to. It will mess with him mentally, as he gets adapted to boot camp, it is best to not have any outside contact… otherwise it will mess with his emotions. Just my opinion.
Wish him luck for me and Semper Fi!