MARINE CORPS INFANTRYThe Marine Corps Infantry is the heart and soul of the Marine Corps’ existence. It is the tip of the spear, America’s 911, force in readiness, and all the great tag names you have heard used to describe Marine Grunts. The term "Grunt" actually is derived from back in World War II, when ground troops (infantrymen) were getting killed and wounded so fast that it was difficult to keep up with the pace of replacing them in combat.
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The Marine Corps began sending their fresh recruits right over into the fight with very little, to no combat training, with the intent that they would "pick it up" while they were over there. Essentially, these Marines were untrained ground combat troops, or in military speak (since we say everything backwards when describing our equipment) "Ground Replacement, Untrained" or GRUnt. These grunts took the fight to the enemy and won the war in the Pacific during the Island Hopping Campaign in storied heroic battles such as Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Tinian.
Today’s grunt is very much the same as the grunts of yesteryear, in that the mission has remained the same. The mission of the Marine Corps Infantry is to "Locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, and to repel the enemies assault by fire and close combat". They carry their existence on their backs and their weapon in their hand. They live in the dirt, sleep in holes, eat what they can carry, and kill the enemy with precision and accuracy.
They take pride in the fact that they live a tougher life than their fellow Marines who do jobs like administration, mechanic, and supply clerk. The camaraderie in the Grunts is similar to that of a high school football team, but much deeper. It is a bunch of good guys who are all there for the same reason, because they wanted a challenge, they wanted to be part of something bigger, and they wanted to serve their country and not take the easy road while doing it. They sweat, bleed, mourn, and celebrate together just as a tight nit family would.
The life of a grunt starts at Marine Corps Boot Camp, just like every other Marine. After boot camp and ten days of boot leave, while all of their buddies are checking in to Marine Combat Training (MCT) for three weeks of training, the grunts check in to Infantry Training Battalion for 2 months of Infantry Training. At ITB, grunts will complete hikes of various distances from 5 kilometers to 20 kilometers. They will shoot all the weapons that are organic to their MOS, whether they are an 0311, 0331, 0341, 0351, or 0352. They will learn the skills necessary that they will need during their life as grunts in the Fleet Marine Force.
At the end of ITB, grunts receive orders to their permanent duty station, whether that is the Fleet Marine Force, Marine Corps Security Forces, Marine Corps Reserve, or one of the follow on schools such as Light Armored Vehicle Training Company or Basic Reconnaissance Course.
For the Marines who receive orders to the Fleet, they will be picked up at ITB by a representative from their new battalion. If they have orders to somewhere outside the general vicinity of ITB, they will get on a plane and fly to their new duty station. They will be met at the airport by a representative from their new battalion.
The first couple of days in the Fleet will be very confusing and busy for the new grunts. They will go around to all the different areas and check in. They will draw their gear and be assigned their weapons. They will be assigned to a company, platoon, and squad. They will meet all their new leadership from the squad leader, platoon sergeant, platoon commander, company gunnery sergeant, company first sergeant, and company commander.
Once they have completed the check-in process, the new grunts will fall in on the training cycle, or the "workup" as it is referred to in the Fleet. Workup refers to the fact that you are working up to a deployment. The training cycle will consist of many field ops, hikes, live fire shoots, and other field exercises. Most of the time grunts go to the field on Monday afternoon and come out on Friday morning. Friday mornings after a field op are dedicated to getting all the weapons and vehicles cleaned and turned back in to the armory and motor pool.
You will spend anywhere from a month to a year doing your workup, depending when you get to the battalion. At the end of the workup, you will go on pre-deployment leave for two to three weeks. This is one of the only opportunities you will have to take leave during the workup. You may some a few others, but they are few and far between when you are training for a deployment. After you come back from leave, you will pack your gear and standby for the ship or plane so you can deploy.
You will either deploy on a Marine Expeditionary Unit, or straight over to which ever war is being fought at the current time. . .
Today’s grunt is very much the same as the grunts of yesteryear, in that the mission has remained the same. The mission of the Marine Corps Infantry is to "Locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, and to repel the enemies assault by fire and close combat". They carry their existence on their backs and their weapon in their hand. They live in the dirt, sleep in holes, eat what they can carry, and kill the enemy with precision and accuracy.
They take pride in the fact that they live a tougher life than their fellow Marines who do jobs like administration, mechanic, and supply clerk. The camaraderie in the Grunts is similar to that of a high school football team, but much deeper. It is a bunch of good guys who are all there for the same reason, because they wanted a challenge, they wanted to be part of something bigger, and they wanted to serve their country and not take the easy road while doing it. They sweat, bleed, mourn, and celebrate together just as a tight nit family would.
The life of a grunt starts at Marine Corps Boot Camp, just like every other Marine. After boot camp and ten days of boot leave, while all of their buddies are checking in to Marine Combat Training (MCT) for three weeks of training, the grunts check in to Infantry Training Battalion for 2 months of Infantry Training. At ITB, grunts will complete hikes of various distances from 5 kilometers to 20 kilometers. They will shoot all the weapons that are organic to their MOS, whether they are an 0311, 0331, 0341, 0351, or 0352. They will learn the skills necessary that they will need during their life as grunts in the Fleet Marine Force.
At the end of ITB, grunts receive orders to their permanent duty station, whether that is the Fleet Marine Force, Marine Corps Security Forces, Marine Corps Reserve, or one of the follow on schools such as Light Armored Vehicle Training Company or Basic Reconnaissance Course.
For the Marines who receive orders to the Fleet, they will be picked up at ITB by a representative from their new battalion. If they have orders to somewhere outside the general vicinity of ITB, they will get on a plane and fly to their new duty station. They will be met at the airport by a representative from their new battalion.
The first couple of days in the Fleet will be very confusing and busy for the new grunts. They will go around to all the different areas and check in. They will draw their gear and be assigned their weapons. They will be assigned to a company, platoon, and squad. They will meet all their new leadership from the squad leader, platoon sergeant, platoon commander, company gunnery sergeant, company first sergeant, and company commander.
Once they have completed the check-in process, the new grunts will fall in on the training cycle, or the "workup" as it is referred to in the Fleet. Workup refers to the fact that you are working up to a deployment. The training cycle will consist of many field ops, hikes, live fire shoots, and other field exercises. Most of the time grunts go to the field on Monday afternoon and come out on Friday morning. Friday mornings after a field op are dedicated to getting all the weapons and vehicles cleaned and turned back in to the armory and motor pool.
You will spend anywhere from a month to a year doing your workup, depending when you get to the battalion. At the end of the workup, you will go on pre-deployment leave for two to three weeks. This is one of the only opportunities you will have to take leave during the workup. You may some a few others, but they are few and far between when you are training for a deployment. After you come back from leave, you will pack your gear and standby for the ship or plane so you can deploy.
You will either deploy on a Marine Expeditionary Unit, or straight over to which ever war is being fought at the current time. . .