The Marine Combat Training Battalion - East conducts standards-based common combat skills training of entry-level Marines in order to create riflemen for service throughout the Marine Corps.
Every Marine, regardless of his military occupation, is trained as a Rifleman. This concept has been around since the Marine Corps inception in 1775, when every man who volunteered was required to bring his own musket.
In the early 1900s, as the Marine Corps grew and additional military occupations were created, the Commandant, General John A. Lejeune, ensured that every Marine, regardless of his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), received marksmanship training.
During the Korean War, the Marine Corps was the only service to create rifle companies entirely from cooks, drivers, and other non-infantry Marines. From this war, the proverbial saying, Every Marine a Rifleman was born.
In the nineteen eighties, the Commandant, General Al Gray, recognized the need to train all Marines in more than just basic marksmanship, but in modern-day combat skills. The School of Infantry was assigned to conduct this training known as Common Skills because it is common to every Marine. These common skills allow every Marine, regardless of MOS, to act as Rifleman when called upon.
Officer of the Day Cell: 910-376-5668
S-1 Administration Phone: 910-449-0428/0395
S-3 Battalion Operations Phone: 910-449-4946
24/7 Sexual Assault Support Line, Camp Lejeune, NC Phone: 910-750-5852
LtCol Clevenger is from Phoenix, AZ. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps
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Sergeant Major Anthony D. Vega is a native of El Paso, Texas and volunteered to serve in the United