Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego -- Geared up and ready for battle, Recruit John D. Johnson stared at the course in front of him, determined and ready for the challenge.
Recruits of Company B, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, took on the Obstacle Course with helmet, flak, and service rifle aboard the depot, Oct. 12.
The first time recruits ran through the course was without any extra gear to familiarize themselves with it. Now, with extra gear on and in groups of four, recruits needed to come together as a team if they wanted to successfully navigate the course.
“We use this event to build teamwork and negotiate obstacles in a combat mindset,” said Sgt. Partick J. Gartland, senior drill instructor, Platoon 1025. “The goal is for a team of four to go through the course and balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
The Obstacle Course is comprised of multiple obstacle challenges recruits must conquer to reach the end. Though challenging by itself, running through the course with extra gear adds a new level of difficulty. For some recruits, this was a challenge they were prepared for.
“The first time I saw the Obstacle Course it was really intimidating,” said Johnson, an Omaha Neb. native. “Going through it was a hard challenge, but during recruit training my physical and mental strength went up, so it became easier this time through.”
Co. B started with the high bar, which they had to jump and pull themselves over. Recruits needed to summon all of their upper body strength to account for the additional weight they were carrying. Next, they slid across a metal pipe and balanced across a wood beam followed by a jump over a high wood beam.
Going through the course, as exhaustion was setting in, recruits needed to keep in mind why they were doing this.
“We were training our combat mindset to get combat ready,” said Johnson. “If you’re out in combat you might have to overcome similar obstacles. In order to conquer them and be fast you need to practice it.”
As they pushed on through the course, recruits had to hurdle their bodies over a high wall. As individual team members were going over the obstacles, the rest were providing security, another way to prepare them for an actual combat environment. Recruits then came to one of their biggest challenges, the high log.
“Recruits struggle with the high log. They stop and look at it and get intimidated by the height,” said Gartland, a Pittsburg, Pa. native. “This event is about confidence. We’ve taught them everything they need to know throughout recruit training; now they must bring it here and apply it.”
After they made it over the high log, recruits had to quickly jump over multiple logs while keeping a low profile. This teaches recruits to expose as little of themselves as possible while out in combat. Recruits then had to conquer a double high bar, utilizing a roll technique at the top that made climbing over easier.
After conquering the majority of the course, recruits faced the toughest obstacle yet, the 20-foot rope climb. Exhausted by this point of the course, some recruits became sloppy and utilized poor technique.
“The rope obstacle is all about having the right mindset,” said Gartland. “It’s 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. They just think because they’re tired they can’t do it.”
Utilizing the last of their strength, recruits climbed to the top. They screamed their platoon number and senior drill instructor’s name to signify they reached the top, reached the end, of the Obstacle Course.
Co. B recruits conquered one of the most physically challenging courses aboard the depot. They have learned the importance of a combat mindset and having the confidence to move forward through any challenges they face. Now they must go out and live it on a daily basis.
“It’s about adjusting over your fears and that ‘I can’t attitude,’” said Gartland. “We’re training them to step back, look at the challenge logically and then overcome it.”