Rct. Angel Meza, Platoon 1024, Delta Company, 1st Recruit

Rct. Angel Meza, Platoon 1024, Delta Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, passes out answer sheets to his fellow recruits before their first written exam March 10, 2014, on Parris Island, S.C. The recruits spent much of the previous training weeks learning and studying Marine Corps history, values and regulations. The recruits will be expected to know this information if they become Marines. Meza, an 18-year-old from Willard, N.C., is scheduled to graduate May 2, 2014. Parris Island has been the site of Marine Corps recruit training since Nov. 1, 1915. Today, approximately 20,000 recruits come to Parris Island annually for the chance to become United States Marines by enduring 13 weeks of rigorous, transformative training. Parris Island is home to entry-level enlisted training for 50 percent of males and 100 percent of females in the Marine Corps. (Photo by Cpl. Octavia Davis)