How to Graduate from the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class

The Marine Corps Officer Selection Officer showed up at your college or university, told you about the Platoon Leaders Class program and you decided to join. Fantastic! Now, as you get closer to attending your first summer training session at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, you’ll need to prepare yourself for the adventure—and the challenge—of your life to date. In the span of six brief weeks, you’ll be transformed by the Marines into someone much different from the average college Joe or Jane. You’ll learn to march, salute and fire a weapon. You’ll experience the satisfaction of conquering seemingly impossible physical tasks including six weeks worth of Marine Corps physical training. Further, the obstacle course, confidence course and other challenges you’ll encounter are designed to test your capabilities both as an individual and as a future leader of Marines. PLC is a month and a half of tough, demanding work, but it’s the most popular method by which young men and women begin their Marine Corps career. Here’s how to make the most of that experience.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Physical fitness
• Unbridled determination
• The ability to think quickly and adapt to rapidly changing conditions
• A personal resolution not to quit
• Comfortable, proven running shoes

1. Preparing yourself. The standard Marine Corps physical fitness test consists of a timed 3-mile run, a timed abdominal crunch event and pullups. Become familiar with the test and understand what it takes to pass and fail. PLC training is conducted between June and August, and the summertime climate in Quantico is generally hot and muggy. The climate is unforgiving, and it will sap your reserves of endurance and strength. Be sure to consider these conditions as you train yourself before the course begins since physical fitness is more valuable to a Marine officer candidate than money.
2. Reporting in. Your Officer Selection Officer will take care of your travel arrangements to Quantico. Bring with you no more than what’s listed on the packing sheet you’ll receive and make sure that you dress in neat, comfortable civilian attire. You’ll be wearing your civilian clothes for the first few days until you receive your uniform issue. Keep your running shoes handy since their use can be mandated at any time.
3. Three-mile run Up before the sun. Days start early during PLC training so expect to be up and about no later than 5:00 a.m. every morning. If your training increment happens to coincide with a summertime holiday such as the Fourth of July, look forward to a day off; otherwise, training is normally conducted Monday through Saturday—and on some Sundays as well. Prepare yourself for waking up early. Moreover, the instant you’re awakened, you’ll be subject to questions and tests administered by the training staff. Learn to thrive as an early riser.
4. Officer Candidates School, MCB Quantico, VA Pack your brain. When you arrive, you’ll undergo a culture shock the likes of which you probably have never experienced. Uniforms, regimentation, discipline, training—all will weigh heavily on your mind as you become immersed in this new society. Realize in advance that your training staff—the platoon sergeant, the sergeant-instructor and the platoon commander—is not paid to befriend you. Their primary mission "is to educate, train, evaluate, and screen officer candidates to ensure they possess the moral, intellectual, and physical qualities for commissioning….” Expect these Marines to be firm but fair, and keep in mind that PLC is the Corps’ initial weeding out process. As long as you remain aware of the big picture perspective of the program and your place in it, you’ll avoid being counted among the 20 to 25 percent of all officer candidates who fail to complete training.
5. Log Carry Event at PLC Fitness is key. During the first week of training, you’ll undergo an “inventory” physical fitness test. No doubt, you’ll notice some of those around you who appear either unable or unwilling to pass the exam. Don’t be one of them! Expect to be fatigued during all courses of the training and know that PLC is not responsible for getting you in shape. In fact, if you don’t bring physical fitness and courage with you to Quantico, you probably won’t graduate. Beyond straightforward fitness testing, you’ll participate in formation runs of five miles or more, conditioning marches of between ten and 25 miles, rope and net climbing, and tactical simulations that will certainly test your stamina—physical and mental.
6. Close order Drill Attention to detail. Beyond the physicality of training, there is also an equally important mental factor. You’ll be subjected to uniform and weapons inspections that will necessitate your detailed preparation long after lights out. Those formations will take place in the heat of the day and you’ll be standing still for hours at a time until the process is complete. Achieve the mindset that an ironed crease can never be too sharp, a weapon can never be too clean and your personal grooming standards can never be set too high.
7. Pugil Stick Training Expect the unexpected. Part of the training approach at PLC is to keep officer candidates mentally off balance. Anticipate changes being made to the published training schedule. On the day your platoon is scheduled to run the obstacle course twice, for time, you may instead be told to pack all your gear, board helicopters and be ferried to a remote training area for several days and nights of instruction in map reading, tactics or self-defense. Always be prepared for these eventualities by keeping your uniforms clean and all of your equipment serviceable and accessible.
8. Obstacle Course End of the road. When you’re in the middle of training, your six-week PLC experience will seem more like six months. Later, when you’re back at school and looking forward to Thanksgiving with your family, you’ll adjust your perspective. During the six weeks of training every officer candidate will be graded rigorously and ruthlessly. Keep in mind throughout the training that you’re “on the clock” no matter the time of day or the particular event—someone’s critical eyes will always be focused on you. When graduation day comes, you’ll see fewer faces standing in formation with you than during the first few days of training. Take pride in having successfully completed this excruciatingly difficult training and realizing that you are a giant leap closer to earning your commission as an officer of Marines.

Tips & Warnings

• Commit to a consistent, steadily more demanding fitness program beginning at least two months before you’re due to report to Quantico. You can’t hope to be in shape for the training if you postpone starting that fitness program until two weeks before you arrive.
• When you try to cram for a fitness test as you do a written exam, you’ll wind up hurting yourself. If you arrive at Quantico injured with a sprain, strain or pull, your ability to graduate the course will be markedly reduced. Start early and finish strong.
• You may be impressed by the stunning blue uniform worn by the Marine Officer Selection Officer when he visits your school, but listen closely to what he says. A line in a famous movie admonished the star not to write checks his body couldn’t cash, and a truer statement couldn’t be made about PLC. Think about the most demanding activities you’ve engaged in—college sports, rigorous academics, lack of sleep—and then quadruple the discomfort you felt at the time; that’s roughly similar to the intensity of training you’ll receive during PLC.
• You can earn a monthly stipend of one hundred fifty dollars after successfully completing your first phase of training at the PLC Junior course, but be aware that if you accept the money and later change your mind about becoming a Marine officer, you can be ordered to active duty involuntarily as an enlisted Marine.