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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Recruits with Kilo Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, conduct the Obstacle Course on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., July 23,...
New Marines with Bravo Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, are received by Lt. Col. Kimberly R. Sile, the commanding officer of 1st RTBN, during...
U.S. Marine Corps Pvt. Oluwagbemiga Omotoye, a Marine with Echo Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, is given his Eagle, Globe, and Anchor from...
Recruits with India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, complete the Crucible on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., July 2, 2024....
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.
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Staring out the window, Oluwagbemiga Omotoye saw the skyline of Washington, D.C. as his plane landed at Dulles International Airport. He and his family had traveled nearly 8,000 miles from South Africa and the city was a welcomed sight. The United States represented change and new opportunities for Omotoye, who was 17 years old at the time. His family’s desire for coming to America was simple—to gain prosperity and be able to share that with their family members who remained in South Africa.
U.S. Marine veteran Joseph Bond accomplished his lifelong goal and graduated high school at 72 years old.
On Oct. 23, 1983, Cpl. Dan Kovach was manning Checkpoint 8, a small outpost near the bullet ridden American University Library building in Beirut, when he heard a loud explosion. Kovach, an infantryman with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, saw two large mushroom clouds in the sky coming from the direction of the Battalion Landing Team barracks nearly a mile away.
“I would tell myself, ‘We started this together, so we’re going to finish this together’,” says PFC. Lily Membreno Paz, as she explains her experience the past 13 weeks, with her brother, Billy Membreno Paz, right by her side. Raised in a strong El Salvadorian family, from father Evelio Membreno and mother Edith Paz, Lily and Billy Membreno Paz were surrounded by a tight-knit family dynamic. Two of five siblings, Billy and Lily are the middle siblings of their family, with two older siblings, Glenda (25) and Beibis (20), and one younger sister, Denali (6). Both born in Lewisburg, Virginia in 2005 and 2006, Billy (19) and Lily (18) are close in age and inseparable in life.
Standing outside Barrow Hall, 1st Lt. Jose Toranzo raises his baton, readying the musicians of the Parris Island Marine Band to play morning colors. Toranzo normally directs formal concerts and chamber orchestra in Washington D.C. as the assistant director of “The President’s Own”United Stares Marine Band. However, for this performance, he finds himself leading the very band in which he began his career with in 2015.
Pvt. Diaz graduated from recruit training with Lima Company on November 21, 2023. She said she is excited to resume her career with a new sense of fulfillment and purpose. “I feel like I’ll be a better police officer,” said Diaz. “I’ve learned more about professionalism and bearing and grown as a person during my time here.”