One of the milestones of Marine Corps boot camp is when recruits take a break from getting IT’d to get their official photo taken. They stand in a long line to briefly slip on a modified dress uniform coat and white hat, or “cover,” as a photographer snaps a quick picture.
These (often embarrassing) pictures are treasured by Marines’ families and prominently displayed on their mantles, even though, as Adam Driver’s boot camp photo shows, they are not glamour shots.
But for some recent Marine recruits, the uniforms in their photos were ‘photoshopped’ on.
“From approximately August 2024 to December 2024 – a contracted photography vendor experimented with photoshopping Dress Blues blouses and covers on MCRD San Diego recruit yearbook photos in an attempt to streamline the process and ensure uniformity,” Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Austin Gallegos told Task & Purpose. “This effort was independent of official MCRDSD Communication Strategy and Operations (COMMSTRAT) activities.”
The leadership at MCRD San Diego decided to discontinue the digital version of the coats and covers after reviewing the process “to ensure it is aligned with the Marine Corps’ high standards of representation and authenticity,” Gallegos said.
“Following feedback from depot leadership and other stakeholders, and a careful review of potential implications for authenticity and alignment with Marine Corps traditions, the vendor reverted to the traditional approach of photographing recruits in the physical coats and covers,” Gallegos said. “This decision was made to preserve the credibility of the recruit yearbook photos and maintain the trust of both internal and external audiences.”
Gunnery Sgt. Taylor Yontz, a Marine recruiter who shares content on social media about the Corps, made a Dec. 2 video about how he had learned that recruits were having their dress uniform coats and covers photoshopped on during boot camp.
“They go to the same studio, stand in the same location, but now they’re in a green skivvy shirt and their camouflaged bottoms,” Yontz said in the video. “They look at the camera, snap a picture, and then someone goes in after the fact, photoshops a coat on, photoshops a cover on, and those are the pictures that you get.”
Photoshopping on the coats and covers has pluses and minuses, a source with knowledge of the matter told Task & Purpose. On the one hand, it shortens the photo-taking process from two to three hours to 45 minutes to one hour, giving drill instructors more time to put the recruits through physical or educational training – but they also get less of a break.
In other words, photoshopping the uniforms means more time for such boot camp classics as “sweep up all the sunshine on the parade deck,” and “chase that airplane flying out of San Diego International Airport,” or just another hour and a half of burpees and push-ups.
It’s probably for the best that they’re back to doing it the old way — for the recruits, at least.
UPDATE: 01/06/2025; this story was updated to clarify that the photoshopped dress uniforms were added to yearbook photos by a contracted photography vendor.