Backing up a little, SOI

Those from Marine's India Co. boot camp who chose MOIs of Infantry are still in their Infantry Training Battalion at Camp Pendleton. The families of those young men report it is difficult and the battalion has quite a few who "don't make it." There were 249 to start and now are 193 left.
The mission is: "To train and provide proficient, MOS qualified Infantrymen to the Fleet Marine Force, Marine Security Forces and Marine Force Reserve."

SOI East



The first three weeks you learn what all basic Grunts must know. The M67 fragmentary grendades, the M203 grenade launcher, the M249 SAW, and you will spent some time getting to use the AN/PVS 14B night vision goggles. You will also learn Basic combat formations, patrolling, hand and arm signals, Field craft(how to live right in the field), the correct way to pack a pack. (the bootcamp way is just craming things in tight as hell.) how to understand 5 paragraph orders. and a whole lot of humps....

Once your 3 week is training is up, you will be split off into actual MOSs like 0311 rifleman, 0331 machinegunner, 0341 mortorman, 0351 assualtman.

The whole thing ends with one giant illuminated night attack, combined arms range, with your old buddies the Machine gunners and mortarmen in support. youll assault those evil Ivan target bastards with Machineguns cracking over your head, and Mortars providing constant illumination. Its serrious buisness, but to be honnest it was alot of fun.

Leatherneck

The best of all luck and heart to all these young men and women who are undergoing hell to put their lives in danger. Sempre Fi!

Dancing Marines

My Marine son and some buddies went to a club but there were few girls there. He said there was one girl to every 10 guys and the Marines were mostly dancing with each other. It made me wonder ...

They pretty much dance at the drop of a hat it seems ...

At home and abroad ...

Get em in their Dress Blues and things get even wilder ...

So just for curiosity again, I looked at the other armed forces ...

Lets just say, well, dance, dance, dance

I guess it's universal.

But clearly the Marines do it best.

Finally, one from the history screen ... Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Dance Marine Dance

Marine Corps Detachment, Fort Leonard Wood and one special MOS

From their facebook page:

The Marine Corps Detachment at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri hosts the largest United States Marine Corps detachment outside a Marine Corps base. With over 1200 students and support personnel, Ft Leonard Wood hosts Marines training at the Motor Transport Instruction School, Military Police Instruction School, Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Defense School and the Engineer Equipment Instruction School.



Mission
Conduct basic and advanced Engineer Equipment, Motor Transport, Military Police, Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Defense and Non-Lethal Weapons Systems training in order to provide the operating forces with basic and advanced qualified Marines capable of operating in the 21st Century.
Continue the transformation process by providing force preservation through dedicated leadership, mentoring, ORM, risk reduction to better develop Marines’ ethos, moral character, esprit de corps and further recognize the dignity of every Marine in order to prepare them for the challenges of the operating forces.
Serve as the USMC representative for engineer equipment, motor transport, military police, CBRND, Non-lethal weapons systems and other ITRO matters to the United States Army Maneuver Support Center, Fort Leonard Wood.
Serve as the Training and Education Centers of Excellence (TECOE) for Motor Transport, Military Police and Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear occupational fields in order to provide connectivity and timely coordinated solutions for validated training and education requirements in support of the Operating Forces using the DOTMLPF process.

And here he goes ...

Marine Pvt. Mark Ladele, Marine Corps Detachment, student, prepares to drive an MK23 on one of the many designated routes through post, Monday.

The Military Occupational Specialty 3531 is full of some bad mother truckers. (Shut your mouth)

I'm just talking about the basic motor transport Marines, and the training they receive on post.
Fort Leonard Wood's Marine Corps Motor Transport Instruction Company provides about 2,800 Marines a year with the basic knowledge and skills to operate and handle the MK23 7-ton truck, as well as the M1113 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle.
The intensive 27-day course is split up into five different sections, culminating in a convoy to Lebanon through the back roads of south central Missouri. By the time its over, each student will have more than 250 miles under their belt. Marines train for the long haul

Fort Leonard Wood

Marine is in Mo. at Fort Leonard Wood. The place is an Army facility but Marine reports there is representation from all branches there training for their future placements. He said the Army outnumbers everyone else, but there are a lot of people there.

branson

The Mission of MANSCEN is to provide the Nation with values-based individuals, leaders, and teams trained in basic combat skills and chemical, engineer, military police and transportation disciplines who are prepared for success in any future environment.  Fort Leonard Wood

Marine is close to his father's original home. The facility is about 75 miles from the family grave yard and 104 miles from his uncle's house.

Fort Leonard Wood, in the beautiful south central Missouri Ozarks, covers more than 62,911 acres, of which, 53,995 is used for training.  The fort is located in Pulaski County, which has a population of nearly 45,000.  Bordering the installation to the north are the towns of Waynesville and St. Robert, with an approximate combined population of 6,700.  The post is two miles south of Interstate 44.  St. Louis is a two hour drive to the east along Interstate 44 and Springfield, Missouri is a little more than an hour’s drive to the west.

south central Missouri

 

Also Marine says there is plenty available to do on the weekends on the base: fishing, swimming, kayaking, paint ball and much more. MWR

Marine said they have already had several tornado warnings ... Last year they had a tornado.

Another graduation: MCT

So Marine graduated from combat training yesterday in the morning, then they put him on a bus to the airport and now he is in Missouri. He said the graduation ceremony was short, half an hour, and they didn't even change out of their cammos.

MCT Graduation, Kilo Co August 2, 2011 (Photo courtesy of  Phyllis Galvan McGeath, Wackadoo!)

It looks quite beautiful there at Camp Pendleton, and I wonder where that road leads ... I'm sure those boys know.

Every time I talked to him during the past few weeks, he talked about hiking (that and blowing things up). And sure enough, seemingly they did a lot of that marching around stuff:

Marine Combat Training
The hikes at MCT are not any better or worse than the Boot Camp hikes. You will only do 3 main hikes. You’ll do a scheduled 5k (3.1 miles), a 10k (6.2 miles) and a 17k (10 miles). You’ll also hike every day to either class, or the range which can be anywhere from 2 miles to 5 miles per day… every day while you’re there. You won’t PT much, but the hiking will keep you from getting fat, just expect to lose some muscle mass during Marine Combat Training. Kevin Webb



My Marine's actual platoon group, MCT Facebook



MCT Facebook also posted my Marine himself (above), and according to him, his butt (below).

So, with that at an end ... on to the next adventure: Missouri, Camp Leonard Wood ...