crucible dinner

The crucible dinner. Jacob left around 1:30 am yesterday morning to head out to work and get ready for the crucible. The crucible is the final test before these young boys become United States Marines! I wanted you to understand what exactally it is they do while on the crucible, so here is a breif summary of what I found to help our friends and family who have no idea what it is we are doing out here in South Carolina, better understand it!!!

The Crucible is the final test in recruit training, and represents the culmination of all of the skills and knowledge a Marine should possess. Designed to emphasize the importance of teamwork in overcoming adversity, the Crucible is a rigorous 54-hour field training exercise demanding the application of everything a recruit has learned until that point in recruit training, and includes a total of 48 miles of marching. It simulates typical combat situations with strenuous testing, hardship, and the deprivation of food and sleep. A recruit is given three MREs (previously two and half) and four to eight hours of sleep through the entire 54-hour event. For this event, recruits are broken into squad-sized teams (possibly smaller) and placed under the charge of one drill instructor.

The final day of the Crucible, recruits are awoken and begin their final march. Immediately following this, recruits are offered the "Warrior's Breakfast", where they are permitted to eat as much as they like, even of previously forbidden foods, such as ice cream. Following this is the Eagle, Globe and Anchor ceremony, where the recruits receive the eponymous emblem, and thereby cease to be recruits, finally becoming Marines. In recent years, this ceremony has been moved to the day before graduation, and signals the start of Family Day.