Initial Drill

I will try to explain this in civilian terms, but it all gets rather confusing...

At MCRD there are 3 training Batallions. Within each Batallion there are 4 Companies. Bryan is in Alpha Company. Within Alpha Company (this cycle) there are 6 platoons. Each platoon has 3-4 Drill Instructors. Bryan is the most junior Drill Instructor for his platoon, #1009.

On the 17th training day of 'boot camp' they have what is called Initial Drill. Initial Drill is a pretty big thing. I went to watch and I have never seen Bryan more nervous. The junior DI for each platoon and the recruits from each platoon compete against each other during Initial Drill. So basically Bryan was competing against 5 other DIs during initial drill. 4 of the 6 had competed once before, but this was Bryan's first time. During Initial Drill, the DI's are the unit leader while they drill their platoon. The DIs and the platoons are graded separately. Each platoon drill took about 20 minutes.

Here are some pictures of the event from Initial Drill on Saturday, May 19th:


That is Bryan with the sword. The guy standing behind him with the clipboard is one of the 'judges'. This is at the very beginning of the drill.




The recruits look so young.








Bryan got the highest score (97/100) out of the 6 DIs. Before the competition they were told the winner would have the rest of the day off but it turned out to be more than that. By winning he gets bragging rights and he also got to have a full day & a half off! Yippee! Bryan's platoon also won the drill competition but the recruits didn't get time off, they got a trophy instead.

(These pictures are all SOOC - I am too tired to edit.)