MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Recruits come here expecting combat - something Marines are renowned for. At the beginning of their third week on the depot, combat is what they get in a gladiator showdown circa whoopin' sticks in a coliseum of dirt and painted tires. Senior drill instructor plays Julius Caesar. Pugil Sticks 1 is the training evolution in which recruits apply freshly-learned close combat techniques using a padded, double-ended stick as a weapon. The pugil stick represents a rifle with fixed bayonet. The red pad is the bayonet side, and the black pad is the butt. "This training is to make sure Marines know what to do in case the worst happens," said Gunnery Sgt. Alex L. Vallete, Instructional Training Company's close-combat staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge. "Now, war is usually just pushing buttons and long-range fighting. But if a Marine is in a close-combat situation, and he's out of rounds, we make sure they know what to do." After about an hour of instruction on the six basic bayonet techniques - horizontal buttstroke, vertical buttstroke, smash, slash, thrust and block, the recruits line up around a circular battleground bordered with half-buried tires to watch their comrades wallop each other one-on-one. Some recruits are anxious; others are scared, but safety measures are paramount, according to Vallete."First of all, we group the recruits by weight," said Vallete. "We make sure no recruit will fight someone that outweighs them by more than 10 pounds. We don't allow 'David and Goliath' match-ups."To coincide with the weight limitations, ITC provides armor for the recruits: a football helmet, a flak jacket with an attached neck roll and a codpiece for the groin. While at the depot, recruits tackle three pugil stick training evolutions. In the second evolution, recruits fight on a narrow, wooden bridge. In the third evolution, they fight in the "Thunderdome," a small building that simulates fighting in close quarters.