After three months of intense boot camp, recruits must face one more test before they can earn the title marine. It’s called the crucible and it’s a series of obstacle courses that involve more than 45 miles of hiking over the course of 54 hours at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
It’s designed to test the recruits honor, courage and commitment.
“It gives them a really good idea for what being deployed to another country is like,” Staff Sergeant Allen Donaire said. “For a basic marine it’s the best tool you’re going to have, it’s the best tool, it’s the best evaluation for them.”
The crucible is something Lubbock high school graduate Jose Garza said he’ll never forget
“It feels good to know we’ve accomplished something like this,” Garza said. “He’s [the drill instructor] acknowledged us finally as marines. We are a part of that brotherhood, we are a part of his brotherhood, and we earned that title, and we are allowed to stand by him now.”
Drill instructors who have been with the recruits since day one of boot camp said it’s rewarding to see their success.
“All of a sudden you blink and they’re marines,” Staff Sergeant Donaire said. “It feels great, it’s like a sigh of a relief, like everything I did worked.”
At the end of the more than 45 miles, the recruits come down a hill known as the reaper. When they reach the bottom, their drill instructors acknowledge them as marines for the first time in an emotional ceremony where the new marines receive their eagle globe and anchor pin.
“He [my drill instructor] told me to never forget where I came from and that we are becoming a part of something much greater than ourselves,” Garza said.
Recruits said the experience is exhausting, but being called marine for the first time is indescribable. Garza said he can’t help but think of where he came from.
“Go Red Raiders,” Garza said.
