Recruits arriving at Marine Corps Recruit Depots in late November will be the first to go through an additional period of training, which will be known as fourth phase, designed to better prepare them for success as Marines.
The Marine Corps has reorganized a portion of the current 13-week recruit training to afford drill instructors additional time to mentor and lead new Marines. Among the slight modifications, recruits will tackle the Crucible, the demanding 54-hour challenge, a week earlier and then spend the final two weeks of training as ‘Marines’. The Crucible remains the culminating event for recruits as they earn the title ‘Marine.’“Making Marines is one of the most important things that we do,” said Gen. Robert Neller, Commandant of the Marine Corps. “Earning the title is, and will remain, difficult. Our standards and requirements have not changed but as recruit training evolves we want to ensure we are preparing Marines for success in their follow-on training and service to our great country.”
Fourth phase will utilize the six F’s of Marine Leader Development framework: Fidelity, Fighter, Fitness, Family, Finances and Future. Marines will be in small groups covering subjects that are critical to success and growth in all aspects of their personal and professional lives.
Neller added that the Corps is seeking more time for these new Marines to get used to the idea that earning the title ‘Marine’ is just the beginning.
“We thought it was important that the drill instructor, the key figure in the development of these new Marines, had a role to play in the transition,” said Neller. “They were their drill instructors, but now they have to be their staff sergeant, their gunnery sergeant and we thought that was very powerful.”
As drill instructors transition from trainers of recruits to mentors of Marines, the expected result is a more resilient, mature, disciplined and better-prepared Marine.
“This is a normal evolution of the recruit training experience,” said Neller. “We are trying to keep the very best of what we do now [in recruit training] and add something to make it even better.”
Recruits at both Marine Corps Recruit Depots Parris Island, South Carolina, and San Diego will first tackle the fourth phase in early February 2018.
31 comments
If you have never been a D.I. you don’t know what your talking about. D.I.’s don’t want to big dad these pukes. It’s their job to train them to be basically trained Marines just as the D.I. oath says, that’s all, nothing more. I think it’s a joke and just trying to be politically correct.
Smart move. The “someone to trust” factor is important. Who better than the DI.
I sense that the corp has taken a few steps back since I enlisted in “69” but was not grant to enter till “72”, This is my opinion and thoughts , The USMC has gotten soft in really making true marines , or it the leadership of who is in charged, I have been asked by my son, are the Marines better than the Army, in a honest reply I say yes Like they say once a Marine always a Marine. But I wonder what’s next after phase 4 ??
PI summer ’68 .. we did boot in 8 wks, not 12 or 13 .. don’t believe we suffered due to 4-5 fewer weeks. Altho, Crucible would have been useful, but was sorta part of “staging”. In 8 wks I gained 55 lbs, and was the fake platoon Sgt in ITR, and lasted the entire time. Think good idea, but why 2 wks, and why add to 13 wks? Trials are necessary. Cpl 68-70 Pogue!
i agree with Jack Hanson, above. The new concept has value to these new Marines, but it should not take away from other important recruit training. Add the extra time at the end of current recruit training. Semper Fi Vietnam Vet ’66-’67.
i remember the 7 -P’s in life. Prior,Proper,Planning,Prevents,Piss Poor Performance!
Great Idea, but it needs to continue through out their enlistment. As a former Marine (Cpl 84-88) I’m anxious to see how it expands and if the start date holds my son will be one of the first to experience it, he departs for MCRD San Diego in late November. Semper Fi!!
Question why not add two more weeks to training? The Corps cut something out of training that was deemed important all these years. I think it is away to please PC pun-dents. Maybe you could reinforce Corps history this generation of Marine could care less about Chesty Puller or the term “Semper Fi” I have experienced this first hand on many occasions. Semper Fi tet 68
In ’76 when I was at MCRD Parris Island we were trained to be combat warriors. That was the mission of our Drill Instructors. Most of them at that time were combat hardened, Vietnam Veterans. The emphasis was on combat readiness, and Marine Corps values. The next phase of our training was not how to be a peacetime Marine, nor were we prepared for life in the Corps beyond the Boot Camp experience. I was sent to a Army Base, (FT Bliss) for training and was mentored by Army Drill Sergeants. There was no Marine Corps chain of Command other than a small office to process orders and deal with personal issues. This fourth phase is a great idea, and if it is successful will help make the transition from recruit to Marine complete. Many of my fellow Marines failed at being Marines simply because there was nothing to do but spend a day at a time in the “work force”, and not preparing for the life we were expected to live beyond PI or SD.
After graduating boot camp in ’79, I was on “Legal Hold” for 2 weeks. I was assigned as company clerk to give me something to do during the day. I got to know my DI’s (and other Instructors) as Marines. This helped me much later in life, as I still look back on these times for what being a leader of men is all about. This “new” system should work well and only improve the quality of Marine produced.
It will give them a little time to adjust to Marine life and not being yelled at …Hopefully they are not just sitting around doing nothing.
Sounds to me like it’ll end up being a kinder gentler portion of boot camp with the reward of earning the title coming even sooner; I think the honor of being called a Marine should be withheld until the very last day after graduation.
Great idea
“Six F’s??” I can only imagine the seventh. Look, the program works well in TBS but for enlisted who come out of Basic, they need life skills that will lower the divorce rates, lower financial bankruptcy, lower drug use and lower trates of suicide. If this is a mentor program, I’m all for it. The top brass know they have a problem. But once deployed, this kind of support will lose it’s effectiveness if not continued in some form. How can the “mentor-like” individual follow the career of his or her Marine throughout their career. Things that get measured get done. Find a way for the Drill Instructor to stay in touch. Give them the tools and the time. The Marines don’t have an HR Department and nobody would use it any way. But give them access to a person who they can trust and perhaps you now have any early warning system that can initiate action.
That’s a great idea.