What Does the Training Schedule Look Like?

Okay, so I thought I should probably explain more about how exactly the training schedule works in the Marine Corps before I started explaining the finer points of boot camp.

Everyone Marine starts off as a recruit at either MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) Parris Island or San Diego. If you are a male living west of the Mississippi River, you will report to MCRD San Diego. If you are a male living east of the Mississippi River, you will report to MCRD Parris Island. If you are a female, regardless of where in the country you live, you will report to MCRD Parris Island. If you are a male and you want to go to the recruit depot that you wouldn't normally go to, you can request to go to the other one, but I wouldn't suggest doing that, unless you have your heart absolutely set on it. Boot camp is 12.5 weeks (89 days) long.

After boot camp, training begins to differ depending on your MOS. If you are a grunt (a Marine with a job field of 0300 - Infantry), you will report to either SOI (School of Infantry) West, which is in Camp Pendleton, California, or you will report to Camp Geiger, North Carolina and complete ITB (Infantry Training Battalion). ITB is 8.5 weeks (59 days) long and will teach you all the basics you need to know to become a grunt in the Marine Corps. If you are a POG (Personnel Other than Grunt [a Marine with an MOS not in the 0300 - Infantry field]), you will report to SOI West or SOI East and complete MCT (Marine Combat Training). MCT is 4 weeks (29 days) long and will teach you the basic infantry stuff you need to know if you ever get deployed to a combat zone. Which SOI you go to depends on where you went to boot camp. If you went to MCRD San Diego, you will report to SOI West. If you went to MCRD Parris Island, you will report to SOI East. Once again, you can request to go to a different SOI, but I wouldn't suggest doing that.

After SOI, if you are a grunt, you will report to the FMF (Fleet Marine Force [Fleet, for short]), which basically means you're done with all your training and you're ready to join the component of the Marine Corps that actually gets stuff done. If you're a POG, you will report to your MOS school.

MOS schools vary greatly in length and location depending on what your job is. For example, my job school is in Courthouse Bay, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It is approximately a 3.5 month course and covers all the basics  you need to fix generators in the Marine Corps. Job schools can be anywhere in length from two weeks for some supply jobs to multiple years for cryptolinguists.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjo2/a/marinejobs.htm

That is a great website to check out if you want to learn more about specific jobs in the Marine Corps.

Your training schedule may look different than the one I just provided for you. If you get dropped due to injury or lack of fitness at boot camp or SOI, you will be dropped in training until you meet standards. At MOS school, you will be dropped if you don't meet the academic standards they set for your individual school.