When you’re ready to give it your all, will it be enough? How will the fight inside you measure up when there’s great challenges in front of you? If you’re truly ready to find out, Battle Position will show you the answer. This competition-filled, multi-sensory environment is uniquely Marine, designed to give you a taste of what it takes to fight and win through anything and everything. Battle Position is your proving ground. This is your guide.
Don’t let the tech-forward, virtual reality-enabled format fool you—this is not a game. This is physical. This is combat readiness training and evaluation. This is battle. Battle Position simulates the training required to win as United States Marines, putting you in high-pressure situations across multiple fronts. To give you valuable insight into what it means to be a Marine, Battle Position will test you against these three distinct challenges.
Part of the Physical Fitness Test (PFT) that evaluates the stamina and physical conditioning of all Marines, pull-ups test the upper body strength necessary to win battles. In this challenge, your task is to perform as many correct pull-ups as you can muster.
Marines are measured for their functional fitness through the Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test (CFT), which ensures they are ready for the physical rigors of combat operations. This challenge borrows from one element of the CFT evaluation—the ammo can lift. Your task is to lift a weighted ammo can above your head as many times as possible in 2 minutes.
Inspired by one of the most physically aggressive portions of Marine Corps Recruit Training, Pugil Sticks, this challenge is the ultimate test of Battle Position. This is virtual combat, where you will face off head-to-head against a virtual warrior in a computer-simulated battle arena. This test of speed, reflexes, and endurance will evaluate what your will to win is really made of.
When you take your battle position, you are seconds away from finding out what kind of warrior you are. But once the battle rages, there is no more time to prepare. Will your blows land? Or will your opponent’s? Watch this video to see what’s waiting for you in our virtual arena.
In close combat, it takes more than the will to win to achieve victory. One must learn and perfect the skills that Marines have proven successful in battle. Learn the techniques you’ll need before you ever step foot in Battle Position’s virtual arena.
Pugil Stick training is such an important part of the Marine Corps Recruit Training process because for many recruits, it represents the first time they’ve ever had to face an opponent in such an aggressive manner. They quickly have to learn how to overcome hesitation and act, despite fear, in order to outmaneuver and overpower their opponents. Battle Position simulates this critical moment and equips participants with pugil sticks that are inspired by the heavily padded weapons used in this legendary melee combat training.
At Marine Corps Recruit Training, recruits learn how to combine unarmed and armed techniques designed for hand-to-hand combat through the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP).
Pugil Stick Training is an effective and safe way for Marine Recruits to develop the ability to decisively engage and defeat their opponents in close combat scenarios.
It is no small feat to stand in front of an opponent trying to defeat you. Battle Position will test your physical limits; but to prevail, you must be ready mentally. Watch the videos above to get your mind in the right place before taking on these challenges.
After you register at a Battle Position event with a Marine Recruiter, you’ll receive a specially coded dog tag that you’ll use to check into as many as three challenges designed to test you:
1. Virtual Warrior Pugil Battle
2. Pull-Ups
3. Timed Ammo Can lifts
After your Battle Position evaluation, the Marine on site will be available to talk to you about what it really takes to become a Marine and what it means to win as one. You will also be given a Battle Position poster that features an Augmented Reality challenge to interact with at home. This AR experience features the same virtual Marine Drill Instructor who provided instructions and motivation during the VR challenge.