4th Recruit Training Battalion Parris Island USMC Patch

For most of its history, 4th Recruit Training Battalion was where the Marine Corps made its enlisted women into Marines, and its three companies were November, Oscar and Papa. Every woman who came through that battalion remembers which of the three she belonged to. The battalion was part of the Recruit Training Regiment at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. Its drill instructors took civilians off the bus and handed back Marines at the parade deck. This patch carries the battalion's number in purple, big enough to see from across a room.

Women have trained at Parris Island since 23 February 1949, when the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion was activated for them. That mission later passed to the Woman Recruit Training Command, which was redesignated the 4th Recruit Training Battalion on 1 November 1986. In January 2021 the battalion began training male recruits, and Papa Company became the first of its companies to train men and women together. The first male recruits to graduate from 4th Battalion did so in April 2021. Oscar Company followed as a gender-integrated company in February 2022. The battalion was deactivated in a ceremony on 15 June 2023.

This is a 4 by 4 inch round patch on a white field with a purple merrowed border. A tall purple 4 stands behind the center design. In front of it sits a drill instructor's campaign cover in green with a brown band, with the eagle, globe and anchor on its front. Two swords cross beneath the cover, one with a white grip and gold crossguard in the Mameluke style, the other with the brass D-guard of a Marine NCO sword. A ribbon across the middle reads FOURTH RECRUIT TRAINING BATTALION in black capitals.

Fourth Battalion trained generations of women who went on to serve in every part of the Corps. The campaign cover on this patch is the one every recruit learned to watch for from the first night on the yellow footprints. The battalion's integration in 2021 and 2022 put men and women through the same companies, and its colors were cased in 2023. For the Marines who earned the title with November, Oscar or Papa, that is still where it started. The number 4 means something specific to them.

It belongs in a shadow box beside a boot camp graduation photo, or on the vest a former drill instructor wears to a Parris Island reunion. It is also a fitting gift for a mother, aunt or grandmother who went through Fourth Battalion before her family ever knew what it took. The 4 by 4 inch size sits well on a jacket shoulder or the back of a vest. One battalion, three companies, and a lot of Marines who started there.