Staff Sgt. Michael Kyle, a drill instructor with Platoon

Staff Sgt. Michael Kyle, a drill instructor with Platoon 3024, Lima Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, encourages a recruit to respond to orders loudly and confidently Feb. 3, 2014, on Parris Island, S.C. Drill instructors like Kyle, 30, from California, Md., spent their first three days with their recruits teaching basic procedures and expectations. The formal 70-day training schedule begins about a week after recruits arrive on Parris Island; recruits spend the first week in-processing. Lima Company is scheduled to graduate April 25, 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. Caitlin Brink)