Parris Island recruits make temporary home at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany

MCLB-ALBANY — Marine Corps recruits from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, totaling nearly 7,000 in all, have come to stay at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany while evacuation orders remain in effect due to Hurricane Dorian.

With their drill instructors alongside them, a relocation does not stop the recruits’ training.

“Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany is in a unique position to service some of the military units on the Gulf Coast and up and down the Eastern Seaboard as safe haven missions, which is one of our primary missions,” Col. Alphonso Trimble, commanding officer of MCLB-Albany, said in a social media video clip.

The recruits take part in a variety of training events including close order drill, academic classes, land navigation, martial arts training and infantry patrol. They continue to be organized by battalion while in Albany, and move forward with their transition into Marines based on where their battalion is in the three-month training cycle.

The large majority of the recruits’ training is taking place in the industrial sector of MCLB.

Following an evacuation order issued by South Carolina officials that went into effect Monday, the recruits began arriving Tuesday evening and into Wednesday. Brig. Gen. James Glynn, commanding general for the depot, said in a video message that the evacuation order is expected to be lifted this afternoon, and that normal operations at Parris Island ought to resume at noon Friday.

In that same message, Glynn announced the cancellation of recruit graduation ceremonies scheduled for this week, prompting an informal online ceremony. In the meantime, charter buses were to be used to transport recruits to MCLB.

“In concert with the state, we made the decision to evacuate Parris Island,” Glynn said. “They will continue to conduct training there until it is safe to resume training aboard Parris Island.”

The order called for the recruits to be taken to a location up to 400 miles away. The depot and MCLB have been using social media sites as the primary means for providing updates to families and the public.

Staff Photo: Jennifer ParksStaff Photo: Jennifer Parks

Staff Photo: Jennifer Parks

Staff Photo: Jennifer Parks

Staff Photo: Jennifer Parks