Marine Corps Recruits meet their Drill Instructors for the very first time. This is what the first real day of Recruit Training looks like for young recruits hoping to become Marines.

When you arrive at either Marine Corps Recruit Depot Paris Island or San Diego, the first thing you do is get off of a bus and move to a set of yellow footprints that are painted onto the deck. For the next three days, you in-process at the Recruit Depot. You turn in all of your personal belongings, get your head shaved, receive your first standard issue of uniforms and essential hygiene equipment, and then move to a holding barracks. From there you get a myriad of shots, initial dental screening, and you do a lot of administrative paperwork pertaining to getting paid.

After those first three days is when Boot Camp really starts. On the first Friday that you arrive at any MCRD, you go through a process called Black Friday. The receiving Drill Instructor, who up until this point was your only interaction with a real Marine, marches you to your new squad bay and an Officer sits everyone down on the quarter-deck. From here, you meet your Drill Instructors, and your training as a Marine Corps Recruit officially begins. This is your first real day at Boot Camp.