Being A Marine

Part 5 MCT/SOI: Marine combat training/school of infantry

Part 5

MCT/SOI: Marine combat training/school of infantry

Ah MCT.

Ya know, I never even heard of mct until like the end of bootcamp. And this branch is the only branch that has extended training like this. In the other branches, they dont have another training place to go to, they just go straight to school after their bootcamp and whatever happens from then on for them.

And we're the only branch who is required for EVERYONE to go to combat school, regardless of the job we're assigned. Everyone in the marine corps is also required to know how to use a weapon and throw grenades, etc. And I'm saying this because in the other branches, you dont need to learn infantry things unless you have an infantry job and that's stupid because what if something happens on base? The majority of people arent gonna know how to wield a weapon or contact right and know hand signals to protect themselves or others.

And I didn't know this until recently.

So yeah, keep that in mind when you're looking into joining any branch.

So mct for me was really cold, not even joking. The winter sleeping bags we were issued DID NOT work, they didn't keep me warm for crap. Even when I slept in all my warming layers, my cammies, gloves, hat, when I say everything like I even slept with my boots on and I was still freezing. I thought I lost my toes at one point and it didn't help when it rained sometimes.

Most of the time, you're going to be eating MRES, meal ready packaged food. It's disgusting but you're gonna be so hungry and food is food at that point so you're gonna eat it lol.

You're taught how to shoot a M240, a machine gun, you're regular M16, you're gonna be taught how to throw grenades, how to work a radio, and go through combat drills. You're gonna learn how to detain people and of course, save people, and go through the confidence course. The confidence course is just an obstacle course, its SO fun, and You're gonna shoot at night using a night vision cam.

You're kept awake until ridiculous nights, only getting 5 or less hours of sleep. Depends how crappy your platoon is. The combat instructors can keep you up all night if they wanted. That was rough. A whole ass month with little sleep. Ever since I joined the marine corps I found out I can happily sleep anywhere if I wanted. Outside, standing up, sitting, I can even sleep while walking like who knew I could do that lol.