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Marines at Officer Candidates School recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of "The Quigley", a rigorous obstacle course that has stood the test of time since 1967. - Marines at Officer Candidates School recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of "The Quigley", a rigorous obstacle course that has stood the test of time since 1967.

50 years later "The Quigley" has the same wicked reputation

The assignment given to then-1st Lt. William J. Quigley was simple and to the point. Create a course where "each candidate should look like they tangled with two constipated pit bulls, and lost." The result was a 50-yard section of the Officer Candidates School’s (OCS) Combat Course, filled with snakes in the summer and ice in the winter. It greets you with dirty and foul smelling water, barbed wire, concrete culverts and someone yelling at you from start to finish. It is an experience that normal people would call their worst nightmare, while Marine Corps officers just smirk and think of two words – "The Quigley."

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Col. Harold Van Opdorp, left, relinquishes command to Col. Julie Nethercot at Officer Candidate School, July 8, at Brown Field, aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico. - Col. Harold Van Opdorp, left, relinquishes command to Col. Julie Nethercot at Officer Candidate School, July 8, at Brown Field, aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Col. Van Opdorp relinquishes command to Col. Nethercot at OCS

Artillery fire ceremoniously marked the occasion when service members of Officer Candidate School bid farewell to their commanding officer Col. Harold R. Van Opdorp, Jr. who relinquished command to Col. Julie L. Nethercot, July 8, aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico.

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