“Embrace the Suck Moments” of The Basic School

“Embrace the Suck” is a mantra you will become very familiar with over the course of your Marine Corps service. “Embrace the suck” means, yes, this situation sucks, but lean in and accept the challenge as much as possible.

The following blog includes a list of what I believe to be the 8 most “Embrace the Suck Moments” of the USMC’s The Basic School (TBS). Although it may not be an all inclusive list, it definitely includes some memories worth preserving.

In order to best prepare Marines for actual war, the USMC makes training as challenging and realistic as possible. During my time at TBS, I experienced some pretty sucky times with my fellow officers.

Here’s a list of 8 of those times in no particular order:

1. WAR FEX – What was supposed to be an enjoyable and somewhat laid back final field exercise turned into a 7+ mile weighted movement in dense vegetation, without water and in 90+ degree weather. This movement coupled with the night attack, night movement and defense to follow spelled heat exhaustion and a very difficult 36 hours for most of the company.
2. PEX Night Patrol – The night patrol field exercise that turned into us carrying casualties for miles in the tree line under no illumination certainly gains a reputable spot on this list. This experience was a brutal introduction into the challenges of operating during the night.
3. Night Land Nav (or land nav in general) – Unfortunately I will never forget the long nights of looking down at my barely visible glow in the dark compass while stumbling my way through the tree line to find the box I was to be looking for. Land nav was especially brutal because failing meant coming in on a Saturday to remediate and try again, a misfortune that I had to do twice.
4. R-15 (105 heat index) – Each live fire range had their own challenges, but R-15 was especially memorable due to the insane heat that day. We trained all day in an open field and into the night on this life fire range, leaving myself and most around me pretty spent.
5. MOUT FEX – Although MOUT (Urban) FEX was an incredible experience overall, there was one mission that left me experiencing some serious signs of heat exhaustion and projectile throwing up all the fluids in my body. Luckily I was able to avoid the silver bullet (rectum thermometer), but it still was not a fun experience.
6. Quad Stress Test – Only the US military would have you hike 12 miles with 90 pounds on your back and then take a two hour long written exam right when returning. Literally we got back, dropped our gear, then were told to get an exam and begin.
7. Range Weeks – Two of the first weeks of the program deserve to be on this list because of the absolute grind that they posed. For nearly two weeks straight we woke up between 0300-0500 in the morning, hiked 3 miles up a hill to the range, shot weapons all day, then returned back to the barracks late in the evening around 1900-2000. Doing this everyday for two weeks got old to say the least.
8. FEX 2 Defense – My first experience with digging fighting holes and the constant patrolling / hard work that encompasses a USMC Defense was FEX 2. Overall the field exercise was a valuable experience, but it was one of the times that I felt really challenged in the field. We didn’t sleep much or hardly at all this week.

TBS was a difficult experience overall and I can’t said I’m disappointed to see it wrap up in a few weeks. Long days, challenging academics, leadership situations, physical demands, leading peers, a lack of sleep, an unpredictable schedule and other things all contributed to making TBS the challenge that it was. I would never volunteer to take this course again, I can say that I’ve learned a lot and that it has been a valuable contribution for my life.

If you are going to be attending the United States Marine Corps The Basic School anytime soon or if you are interested in becoming a officer in the military, here are a few things (other than the list above) that you can expect about the experience.