Photo By Lance Cpl. Francisco Abundes | Staff Sgt. Jason Wilson, senior drill instructor for Platoon 3038, India Company, 3rd...... read more read more
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MCRD PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- The Marines of Platoon 3038, India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion were more than 24 hours into the Crucible the morning of May 6. The Battle of Mariana Islands, which is the name of the combat endurance course on Page Field, brought them one step closer to earning their Eagle, Globe and Anchor.
“Let’s go! Let’s go! A Marine’s life depends on you!” screamed Staff Sgt. Jason Wilson, senior drill instructor for the platoon, as the recruits ran through the trails of Event 5.
“Your mission is to get out of the kill zone. But you’re too tired – you’re hurting!” he shouted scornfully.
The Battle of Mariana Islands, like any other Crucible challenge, received its name from a significant historical event.
According to the historical citation read to the recruits before the event, “The Mariana Islands of the central Pacific played a pivotal role in the United States northwest advance toward Japan [during World War II] because the larger Mariana Islands of Guam, Saipan and Tinian offered bases from which B-29 Super Fortress aircraft could bomb Japan.”
Recruits are tasked to re-supply forward units along the designated route, said Gunnery Sgt. Gregory Terwilliger, operations chief for Field Training Platoon. The route challenges recruits to negotiate several obstacles.
The recruits began the course patrolling a dirt path in the middle of the woods of Page Field. The fresh rain had left the air humid and sticky.
As the drill instructor called “Contact left!” or “Contact right!” recruits would crash to the ground and get in a position to provide security against the simulated threat.
Along the two-mile hike, recruits would have to redo obstacles when they would become complacent or lose their drive.
“The hardest part was to keep going back when recruits didn’t do the obstacles correctly or moved too slowly,” said Rct. Zackary Millsaps, Plt. 3038, India Company, 3rd RTBn.
In classic Parris Island fashion, they would continue low-crawling under the wire or leaping over obstacles until everyone got it right.
“Some people put out every time,” said Rct. Daniel Ulrich, Plt. 3038, India Company, 3rd RTBn., “but some don’t have it in them to push themselves.”
He said the frustration caused the recruits to bicker with one another, giving their drill instructor more reasons to have the recruits retrace their steps. Only when they learned to work as a team could they accomplish each task.
“We were pushing ourselves and each other,” Millsaps said. “We just wanted to get through it.”
Millsaps said that the look on his drill instructor’s face showed he wanted the same.
“The drill instructors want us to complete it – want us to do well,” he said. “That’s why they push us so hard.”
Ulrich said he understood the importance of the event and the necessity of the training approach.
“Here it’s not much on the line,” Ulrich said. “But when you get out there to save a Marine’s life, it’s real. Someone is dying so you’re hurrying.”
The recruits continued their battle back-crawling under barbed wire. Wet sand that remained on their uniforms peeled away and landed on their faces as they attempted to use their rifles to hold up the wires.
The recruits used teamwork until the end, where they lifted each other, pushed off of one another and pulled each other over a tall wooden wall until each of them had made it to the other side. Once their drill instructor gave the word, they formed up and continued their patrol.
They still had the second half of Event 5 to endure along with the rest of the grueling Crucible.
| Date Taken: | 05.13.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2011 16:19 |
| Story ID: | 70338 |
| Location: | PARRIS ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 350 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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