Confidence and "O" Courses from MarineParents.com and RecruitParents.com

—Marine Corps photos 2015/released.

The "O"Course, or obstacle course, is a corner stone of the Combat Conditioning program. All recruits run the obstacle course several times during recruit training. The course challenges the recruit's upper body strength as well as their technique on the course. The obstacle course proves that brute strength alone is not enough to quickly negotiate the course. Those recruits that work on technique find the course easier to run.

The Confidence Course, as its name implies, is designed to build the self-confidence of the recruit. The recruit develops physically and mentally by overcoming obstacles that require strength, balance, and determination.

The Confidence Course consists of eleven obstacles, designed so that each obstacle is more physically challenging than the last. The Confidence Course is a great morale builder, as most of the recruits find out that after a little practice, they can negotiate the obstacles with ease.

Recruits receive additional instruction on the values of the Corps which are further elaborated and detailed.

• Discipline
• Bearing
• Loyalty
• Flexibility
• Esprit de Corps
• Teamwork
• Commitment
• Dependability
• Self Confidence
• Self Improvement
• Aggressiveness
• Pride

Above information found on the Parris Island web site, July, 2009.

Read an article about the Confidence Course–from the July 10, 2009 issue of Chevron. Click here for PDF.

Recruits make their way up to the first obstacle during the Obstacle Course II event aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, November 20, 2014.
—USMC photo by Sergeant Benjamin E. Woodle.