We make Marines by recruiting quality young men and women and transforming them through the foundations of rigorous basic training, our shared legacy, and a commitment to our core values, preparing them to win our nation’s battles in service to the country.
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U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Cash Nicholls, Headquarters and Service Battalion, squats during a 1,000-pound club challenge on Marine Corps Recruit...
Atlanta Falcons players pose with U.S. service members and their families at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., June 3, 2026. During the...
A U.S. Marine Corps recruit with November Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, fires at his target during his Table 2 qualification aboard Marine...
Recruits with Kilo Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, execute tan belt techniques as part of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program on Marine...
U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Marlyn Santana, a drill instructor with India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, inspects a recruit during the...
Over a year ago, Lance Cpl. Brandon Avila promised his mother that he would become a Marine and give her and their family a better life. Avila never let go of that promise, even when he was injured last June and spent the next eight months in recovery. “I had a goal when I came on the island, I made a promise to my mom,” said Avila. “I wanted to be different from my brothers, prove my family wrong, and give my mother a better life.”
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With one year left in her enlistment contract in the U.S. Army, Sgt. Alexis Banks had to decide what
When one recruit took his place on the parade deck to receive his Eagle Globe and Anchor, it was a moment filled with pride and loss—a hard-won tribute to the mother who inspired him to join the Corps and stood by him in spirit as he became a Marine October 19, 2024.
Pvt. Zachery Thurber, a Marine with India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, stood before the Iwo Jima monument on the Peatross Parade Deck, ready to receive his Eagle, Globe, and Anchor from his senior drill instructor. The last person Zachery expected to see was his father, Sgt. Maj. William Thurber (USMC, Ret.), and was shocked beyond belief when he stepped in front of him.
For one Marine, boot camp graduation was more than just a ceremony, it was the realization of a lifelong dream. “Seeing my father serve and his graduation pictures from over 30 years ago, that’s what I wanted. That was my dream,” said Lance Cpl. Sean Fang.
“I was about to show him the gas chamber, I heard him say ‘I’m going to-,’ and I looked back, and he was face down in the grass on the side of the road,” said VanDuyne.
The chaos and tragedy of the war in Iraq left Audai Naser and his wife Kanat Saad with few options. The war had already forced them to move countless times, relocating from the capital of Baghdad, to the city of Kirkuk, and eventually settling in Karbala.