Training Areas

• Marines train at either the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego or the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island. Recruits are distributed by a district system that ensures an equal number of male recruits are sent to each recruit depot. All female recruits are trained at Parris Island in a segregated battalion.
  
  

Training

• In order to create well rounded Marines who are both elite warriors and model citizens, Marine training combines both classroom work and physical training. Classroom study includes ethics, leadership skills, Marine customs, military history, first aid and personal conduct. Physical training includes marksmanship, martial arts, bayonet training, pugil stick training, precision marching, physical conditioning and outdoor skills.
  
  

Graduation

• The training program culminates in a two day graduation program that presents new Marines to friends and family. The new Marines are reunited with their loved ones the day before graduation at Family Day. This is followed by the traditional motivational run where the new Marines run past the training battalions while singing cadence as a way to inspire recruits. The graduation ceremony is carried out with great pomp and circumstance and includes performances by the Marine Corps Band and Color Guard as the Marines march with their training platoon for the last time.