America's Elite Fighting Force

There are two locations which turn men into Marines: the Recruit Training Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina, and the Recruit Training Depot at San Diego, California. Where you go depends largely upon where you enlist. Those who enlist west of the Mississippi will likely go through boot camp in San Diego, while those in the East will attend at Parris Island. There is only one boot camp to turn women into Marines -- Parris Island.

Other than geographical differences, such as the lack of sand fleas and better outdoor exercise weather for "Hollywood Marines," the training is virtually identical at both locations.

Parris Island graduates more than 17,000 Marines per year. The average daily male recruit population is 3,786. The average daily female recruit population is 600.San Diego graduates more than 21,000 Marines per year. The average age of male recruits is 19.1, and female recruits is 19.3.

Without doubt, Marine boot camp is more challenging -- both physically and mentally -- than the basic training programs of any of the other military services. Not only are the physical requirements much higher, but recruits are required to learn and memorize a startling amount of information. There are more than 70 "training days" in a period a little longer than 12 weeks (but don't let that fool you). There is lots of "training" going on during the "non-training days," such as the time in Reception, the time spent in "forming," and on Sundays and Holidays. It has been said time and time again by former Marines that Marine Corps recruit training was the most difficult thing they ever had to do in their entire lives.

The more you can prepare in advance, the better off you will be.

It's important that you get into some semblance of physical shape. Concentrate on running three miles and long marches (up to 10 miles). Sit-ups and pull-ups are also important. If you are unable to perform basic exercises, you may spend a significant amount of time in PCP (the Physical Conditioning Platoon). PCP is tough: PCP's objective is physical fitness, and that's what you'll be concentrating on while in the program. You don't get out until you can do 3 pull ups, 40 sit ups in 2 minutes, and run 3 miles in 28:00 minutes.


Alpha Company, Platoon 1009 Taking Their Last Run
July 2007

In Afghanistan, Marines Say Now's Not The Time For U.S. Pullout

U.S. Marines with Golf Company patrol with Afghan forces through a harvested poppy field in Northern Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Later this month, President Barack Obama is expected to announce just how many troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan starting in July. Whether the U.S. should still be engaged in Afghanistan has been hotly contested for years, but the budget crunch and the killing of Osama bin Laden has only intensified the debate.

Marines in the Golf Company agree that now is not the time to pull combat troops out of Afghanistan. Some Marines are OK with the president pulling out support troops like the construction battalion, but not combat troops.

Marines say they've made some gains against the Taliban and they finally have the right amount of troops... finally have everything they need. They finally feel like they're making progress. They just want more time.

The handoff to the Afghan military is complicated, because there are few well-trained units.

Sgt. John Maulder says if you've ever seen Afghan forces during a firefight, all they do is "pray and pray." To leave them now, he said, would just mean the country would descend into a "civil uprising" and the U.S. would just have to turn back around to help them.

Helmand Province, Afghanistan

Helmand (Pashto/Persian: هلمند) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the southwest of the country. Its capital is Lashkar Gah. The Helmand River flows through the mainly desert region, providing water for irrigation.

Helmand is the world's largest opium-producing region, responsible for 42% of the world's total production. This is more than the whole of Burma, which is the second largest producing nation after Afghanistan. Afghan opium accounts for more than 90% of the global supply.

Much of the fighting between NATO and Taliban forces is taking place in this province and Helmand is said to be a Taliban stronghold.

Helmand has a southern border with the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Many domestic and international observers have criticized Pakistan's efforts towards securing the border against Taliban insurgents.

Marine from Twentynine Palms Battalion Killed in Afghanistan

A Marine from Twentynine Palms has been killed in combat in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Monday.

Cpl. Paul W. Zanowick II, 23, of Miamisburg, Ohio, was killed Friday in Helmand province, long a Taliban stronghold. Zanowick, an anti-tank missileman, was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment from Twentynine Palms.

Zanowick enlisted in January 2008. This was his second war-zone deployment.

Military Losses in Afghanistan: Joseph Gill and Bradley Justin Gaudet

British Marine, Lance Corporal Martin Joseph Gill from 42 Commando Royal Marines died in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday 5th June 2011.

L-Cpl Gill was on patrol in the Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand. His unit was attacked by enemy forces with small-arms fire from a compound. L-Cpl Gill was hit and despite receiving immediate first aid, died of gunshot wounds.

L-Cpl Gill joined the Royal Marines in April 2008 and was appointed to the Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines. Within a year, he was promoted to Lance Corporal and took responsibility for a four-man team, guarding the UK's nuclear deterrent. He moved to 42 Commando Royal Marines in September 2010.


US Army helicopter pilot, Bradley Justin Gaudet, a Warrant Officer serving with the 6th Cavalry Regiment, died on Sunday 5th June 2011 when his helicopter crashed in Afghanistan.

WO Gaudet was on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan.

He had returned home last month for his daughter's birth and went back to Afghanistan a few days later to finish his tour. He and his wife, Ginny, also have a 10-year-old daughter, Tealie.

Ilyas Kashmiri, Deemed the New Bin Laden in 2010, Killed in Drone Strike

In an article in Newsweek (dated 10/23/2010) it was report that Ilyas Kashmiri, 47 has the experience, the connections, and a determination to attack the West—including the United States—that make him the most dangerous al-Qaeda operative to emerge in years.

Evil geniuses are a rare breed, even in the ranks of al-Qaeda.

U.S. intelligence has been watching Kashmiri’s rise to prominence closely. Kashmiri fought the Soviets in Afghanistan, and the Indians in Kashmir and in India itself. He also worked with the Pakistani intelligence service, but turned on Islamabad with a vengeance in 2003, trying to murder then-president Pervez Musharraf. Since then Kashmiri has been linked to planned attacks in Denmark, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, most probably Chicago.

Born in the Pakistani-controlled section of Kashmir in 1964, this veteran terrorist lost an index finger and one of his eyes during the fight against the Soviets in the 1980s. In such photographs as exist, he’s often shown wearing aviator sunglasses. He reportedly changes the color of his thick beard frequently, and it may be white or dyed red with henna, or then again dyed black. But his imposing presence and the deference shown him can still make him stand out.

Kashmiri’s status as a bin Laden favorite has been obvious. Kashmiri rode in a new four-wheel-drive pickup truck flying a white flag. Most of the al-Qaeda leadership is from the Arab world, not South Asia, but Kashmiri attended nearly all the top-secret terrorist summits held in North Waziristan. He was the only non-Arab attending strategy sessions. He came to the most restricted meetings of the Arab mujahedin and he could go to meetings and to areas that were off-limits to some Arab al-Qaeda leaders.

Ilyas Kashmiri killed in US drone strike

ISLAMABAD: Ilyas Kashmiri, one of al-Qaida's most active leaders, has been killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region, locals, officials and spokesman of the dreaded '313 Brigade' said on Saturday.

It is always difficult to confirm reports in Pakistan's volatile tribal areas which are no-go areas for journalists, but information pouring in from Pakistani spies and tribal journalists indicate that the one-eyed Kashmiri is indeed dead.

On Saturday, a man, Abu Hanzallah, who called himself a spokesman of '313 Brigade', a unit of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al- Islami (HuJI) faxed a letter to some media organizations confirming Kashmiri's death in a drone strike on Friday. He mentioned in the message that Kashmiri's death would be avenged.

Last week during her visit to Pakistan, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had mentioned Kashmiri as one of the top five al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.

A former officer of Pakistan military's special services group (SSG), Ilyas Kashmiri was suspected of carrying out several militant attacks in India and Pakistan, including the one on Pakistan's naval air station (PNS) Mehran in Karachi on May 22. His '313 Brigade' was believed to be behind the high-profile operations, including the terrorist attack on Mumbai in 2008, in which 166 people were killed. The '313 Brigade' specialises in coordinated and organized simultaneous attacks on targeted places. Kashmiri merged his militant outfit into the ranks of al-Qaida but maintained a separate identity for his group as well.

Kashmir was also said to be the operational head of al-Qaida. The US blamed him for organising brazen attacks inside Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Washington offered $5 million for any information that would locate the renegade Pakistani military official.

On Friday, two drone strikes targeted compounds near Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan. Later some militants operating in the region claimed that Kashmiri was killed in one of the strikes.

Kashmiri's death had previously been misreported. In 2009, Pakistani intelligence and the US pronounced him dead in drone attack. The CIA called it a great success in the war on terror. But those reports proved wrong when Kashmiri was interviewed by slain Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad in North Waziristan.

Kashmiri's death will be a serious blow to Islamist militant outfits after the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden on May 2 in a covert US operation in Pakistan's Abbottabad town.

Ilyas Kashmiri, 47, had a long history of guerrilla warfare. Like Mullah Omer, he also lost one eye fighting the former USSR forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Later, while working with Kashmiri militants against India, he became famous with the Pakistani military establishment for escaping from an Indian jail where he was detained.

The former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, banned his HuJI in 2002. He was also arrested in connection with an assassination attempt on Musharraf but was released due to lack of evidence.

Kashmiri was born in 1964 in Bimbur (old Mirpur) of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1964. He got a degree in mass communication from Islamabad's Allama Iqbal Open University. However, during student life, he had strong affiliations with jihadi outfits. His first exposure into the field of militancy was through the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation front (JKLF), then the HuJI and ultimately the '313 Brigad'.