United States Marine Corps’ intense 13-week basic training program. Senior video correspondent Graham Flanagan spent five days at the Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina, where he observed different companies at various stages of training. Recruits endure a series of intense physical challenges such as entering a gas chamber, rappelling down a 47-foot-tower, and fighting each other with “pugil sticks.”
After weeks of extreme physical and psychological challenges, training culminates with “The Crucible,” a 54-hour event where recruits endure exhausting combat scenarios while running on minimal food and sleep.
The same gender platoon model is unique to the military.