New Marines learn discipline, camaraderie

[Woodmonkey]

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO — The Spartans, Romans and today’s U.S. Marines are known as some of the finest fighting organizations man kind has ever known. These great armed forces in history all had one thing in common with one another. They all had discipline and all knew some form of close-order drill.

Throughout the history of the military, close-order formations have played an important part in the fighting efficiency of a unit, as strict discipline was needed to fight in the close proximity battles, according to the Marine Corps Drill and Ceremony Manual.

The use of those formations to help build discipline is one of the many reasons that the Marine Corps adopted close-order drill and uses it in recruit training.

The purpose of close-order drill is to teach Marines by repetition to obey orders immediately and correctly, according to the Marine Corps Drill and Ceremony Manual.

“It helps the recruits to learn and develop instant willingness and obedience to orders,” said Gunnery Sgt. Delwin K. Ellington, 3rd Battalion drill master. “It also gives the recruits an opportunity to work with their rifles.”

Drill instructors waste no time before teaching recruits close-order drill. On the recruits first day aboard the depot, they learn facing movements and how to fall into a formation.

During the course of recruit training, recruits go through 100-plus hours of drill practice on the depot’s Shepherd Memorial Drill Field and inside the squad bays.

The recruits practice the halted drill and rifle manual in their squad bays to fine-tune movements before they perform them on the drill field while marching.

In order to complete a drill movement, the unit commander calls commands and the recruit executes those commands as soon as he hears them, said Ellington.

While in training, recruits learn facing movements, marching, rifle manual, physical training formations, and halted movements.

“Recruits have the most difficulty with rifle manual because when you put a weapon in a recruit’s hand, you are adding an accessory that they have to adjust to,” said Sgt. Julio Vega, drill instructor, Platoon 3221, Co. K. “A lot of these recruits come from different backgrounds and sometimes have problems working together; drill encourages them to work as a unit and not be adverse.”

A platoon undergoes two tests in which they are evaluated in their proficiency in drill. The initial drill competition is conducted on training day 17, in which the recruits had three weeks to learn the drill movements. The second test is Final Drill, held on training day 54, at which time the recruits and their drill instructor are evaluated again.

“Final drill is like the Super Bowl of recruit training,” said Vega, a Las Vegas, Nev., native. “It takes team effort between the drill instructor and the recruits, and is a friendly competition between platoons to show off everything they have learned.”

Vega explained that although he wants his platoon to excel, he reminds them that it is not about winning a trophy, but about building the final product of a Marine.

“The Marine Corps is known for its precise drill,” said Ellington. “As long as there is a Marine Corps, drill will be a big part of it.”

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