MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Martial arts emphasize the thriving warrior ethos that makes today's Marines, but to teach its fighting skills to other leathernecks, the Corps requires a host of instructors. Several times a year at the depot, Marines from the region's installations undergo a 15-training-day Martial Arts Instructor Course. "We are teaching the foundations of martial arts and close combat," said Staff Sgt. Michael P. Suskin, one of the course's instructors. "We also build character, and ultimately, the combat leaders of the Corps' future."The course - conducted mostly at the martial arts facility in Building 571 - requires that participants have a gray belt and a first-class physical fitness test score and be at least a corporal. "The first-class PFT is a must," said Suskin. "The exercises here are very demanding physically. The first day of the course, we make all the students take a PFT. If they don't get a first class, we have to drop them." Throughout the course, students practice ground fighting, grappling and sparring. They run strength and endurance courses. And carrying a combat load and rifles, they run an obstacle course several times consecutively. Students also take on the secretive Cohesion Room, a combat-conditioning exercise that Suskin said "fosters teamwork and mental toughness." Toward the end of the course, Hank Hayes, a premier knife-fighting instructor, came to the depot to train students with his "No-Lie Blades" training. Marines wore white T-shirts as they went to town on each other with felt-edged training knives lined with red lipstick. The red on white registered every simulated cut - arms, heads and necks not exempt. "My training is designed to expose one's strengths and weaknesses with edge weapons and edge-weapon defense," said Hayes. "I love training Marines because they have a committed mind set and courage to take up any challenge. The Corps is the smallest force, yet they are the most feared. Our training just fortifies these warriors."The students said they found the course very tough but well worth the effort. "What wasn't hard about it?" said Sgt. Thomas A. Hartrick, Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. "It's a different type of training. It's much tougher than everyday Marine Corps, both mentally and physically. Overcoming the challenge is what makes this course great. I would suggest this course to anyone who wants a real challenge." At the graduation ceremony, instructors gave Hartrick the Gung Ho Award, which is designated for the student who shows the most motivation in the course. Staff Sgt. Joseph Rusinko, a course instructor, said the course instills mental, physical and character discipline. The mental discipline comes from training to make clear decisions when physically exhausted, but the character discipline comes from classroom time. The instructors teach Marines what being a warrior is all about, and come graduation - after each accepts his green belt with tan instructor tab wrapped around a diploma - the student becomes the teacher.