Marine Corps Recruiting Districts

Every future Marine's journey begins at one of the nation's many recruiting stations and they're all under the jurisdiction of a Marine Corps Recruiting District. Each recruiting district is in turn under the direction of either the Western Recruiting Region or the Eastern Recruiting Region. Generally speaking, the Mississippi River is the natural border between the two, so that recruits west of ol' muddy go to the Western recruiting stations and vice versa. Each of the two regions is broken down into three smaller districts.

The Marine Corps aims to have a very diverse group of individuals filling its ranks, so a lot of effort goes into recruiting from all areas of the country. Each district contains several recruiting stations and substations so that all areas of the country, from major cities to small rural towns, fall under the jurisdiction of a recruit district. This means that anyone who is interested in joining the Marine Corps has access to information and a recruiter to assist them throughout the enlistment process.

All of that effort is aimed at reaching out to qualified young men and women and recruit them into the Marine Corps. They put a lot of money and time into finding, recruiting and preparing potential Marines for boot camp. They are also there to help anyone who has already decided to join, but needs help passing tests or getting physically in shape enough to be handle USMC boot camp.

The various recruiting districts focus largely on promoting the benefits of the Marine Corps life. They'll talk about how the Marine Corps will help enlisted personnel pay for a college education or provide access to various training programs that may useful in civilian life. The recruiting command often promotes the Marine Corps as a way for young men and women to gain life experiences that they would otherwise miss, like travel to other parts of the world and the pride that comes with completing one of the country's toughest basic training programs. They also promote community service, leadership skills, medical/dental benefits and other bonuses of being in the military; quite often downplaying some of the sacrifices and less appetizing aspects of Marine Corps life.

Sources:
Benefits of Service - Marine Corps