Marine Corps recruits do leg exercises during a circuit course at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, in August. The service is taking applications for its newest military occupational specialty: force fitness instructor. (Anthony Leite/U.S. Marine Corps)
The Marine Corps is taking applications for its newest military occupational specialty: force fitness instructor.
The service’s Training and Education Command is developing a new service-wide fitness program that will “incorporate a positive and holistic approach to physical training” and reflect the latest in sports medicine and modern technology, a Marine Administrative Message said.
The Marine Corps wants its force fitness instructors to be the centerpiece of this initiative, and plans to station the instructors throughout the service, down to the company level. The instructors, who are to serve as a unit’s resident experts on physical fitness and sports-related injury prevention, will design training programs tailored to their unit’s mission, with the overall goal of increasing unit readiness.
Each instructor will be expected to manage the unit’s daily fitness program.
To become a force fitness instructor, Marines must complete a five-week course at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., that will cover topics such as nutrition, injury prevention and sports medicine.
To apply, Marines must be an active-duty sergeant or higher rank, have a physical fitness test score of 250 and a first-class combat fitness score.
Those interested in attending the course should consult their career planner, the message said.
