Injuries during Marine Corps officer basic training

On average, about 25% of male and 50% of female enlisted recruits sustain o ne or more injuries during basic training. Because data on military officer populations are sparse, this study investigated injury incidence, injury r ates, and modified duty days that occurred during Marine Corps officer basi c training (6 weeks in length). Subjects were 480 officer candidates (inclu ding 30 females) undergoing training at Quantico, Virginia. The cumulative injury incidence (one or more injuries) was 60,8%, and the injury rate was 3.9 per 1,000 candidate hours of training. There were 378 primary injury en counters (first visit for a specific injury), The highest injury rates occu rred during weeks 2, 3, and 6, Male injury categories with the highest rate s (injuries per 100 trainees per 1,000 training hours) were blisters (0,68) , sprains (0.58), and bone stress reactions (0.40). The highest injury rate s in females were for bone stress reactions (1.35). On average, a total of 3.1% of training days constituted modified duty for each candidate. This st udy provides basic descriptive injury data for this unique military populat ion that can assist in future planning for injury management and preventive interventional strategies.