Son Wants to Join Marines - What Say You?

Anti-stance wrote: Would I have my own kid do it... Absolutely(but not if it was my daughter, no USMC)

Now that's interesting... Why not?

I was in my second year of college when I decide to enlist. At first I wanted to be a marine, but a chance encounter with a coast guard response boat up in Seattle clued me into the coast guard. 7 years later, I could not have made a better choice. I have worked with all the other branches and no one takes care of their people like the coast guard does. Also the chance to be an officer in charge as an enlisted person is huge... Just my 2 cents

If the boy is smart and driven... and wants to be a Marine... Tell him he shouldn't.. It will drive him HARDER!!!! You should be extremely proud your son has chosen the Marine Corps.. It isn't the easy path.

Oh.. and to all who post in the thread Marine is ALWAYS capitalized.

Don't listen to these guys blithering on about wanting jobs far from the front line, nor the guys talking about how the other branches have the money.. The Marine Corps gets it done.. and gets the call to be on the front line of history every single time.. You can't buy that.

These people don't have what it takes to make it in the Corps.

The Marine Corps will challenge your son, make him mentally strong. force him to really be more than he ever thought he could be.

I encourage him to GO ENLISTED. possibly enlisted in the Reserves and then setting a priority to go to OCS.

If you join the USMC.. and decide it isn't for you... then simply go for the easy life in one of the other branches.. No questions asked.. and often a pay grade bump.. You join want one of the others and decide you want to be a Marine.. Welcome to back to square one at boot camp...

Nuff said..

SEMPER FI!!!

Apologies if this gets long and/or preachy.

Everybody is different and wants/needs/gains different things from life's experiences. The real questions are for your son to answer regarding his reasons, what he wants to get out of it, does he have a plan, etc. Not everyone is prepared for or wants to go to college at 18 and joining the military may be better than screwing around in college without accomplishing anything.

My experience is not recent, but I wasted a year of my life in college before enlisting in the Marine Corps. I spent 6 years as an enlisted Marine and it was probably the best thing I have ever done. I gained a lot from the experience and then was much more focused when I got out and returned to college. For me, the discipline, mental attitude, etc. that I gained was the primary benefit. Also, the hard work, discomfort, low pay, etc. motivated me to go back to school and to pick a field that would be challenging yet provide a comfortable living and hopefully always be in demand. I also paid for my own education (with some help from Uncle Sam) and am very proud of this fact. I would never have finished college and probably would either be in prison or dead if I had not joined the military.

If he has the motivation to go to college and become an officer, it is most likely a better choice than enlisting. ROTC is a good program and scholarships are available. Unlike mentioned above, if he is on ROTC scholarship it involves a contract and restitution will be owed the gov't if he drops out. If he's not on scholarship then he can walk away anytime in the first 2 years. After the first 2 years, even the folks not on scholarship begin to receive some sort of stipend and a contract.

All services have programs for enlisted personnel to become officers, but in the Corps there is no guarantee. He cannot get it written into an enlistment contract and the numbers are so low that he probably has a better chance of winning the lottery. If he gets into the program he will remain as an enlisted Marine while in college and there is yet again a contractual obligation to extend his service time at a year per year in college. On top of that, he has to pay for his education out of his enlisted salary, student loans, and/or scholarships. I only met one Marine that was in this program and he spent 2 years in aeronautical engineering before dropping out of college. All of the prior enlisted officers I met served an enlistment, left the Corps, went to college and then rejoined the Corps as an officer.

Oh, if he does decide to enlist I want to pass on the best advice I ever got.

Never be first, never be last, and never ever volunteer!

My best friends Dad told me that right before I went to boot camp and it definitely applies to surviving boot camp. Also, boot camp is just a mental stress test.

Secretariata wrote: Oh, if he does decide to enlist I want to pass on the best advice I ever got. Never be first, never be last, and never ever volunteer! My best friends Dad told me that right before I went to boot camp and it definitely applies to surviving boot camp. Also, boot camp is just a mental stress test.

It doesn't hurt to have a last name that they can't pronounce either. Rather than look stupid the DIs will just call on someone else....Thw...Th...ah, Smith, go scrub the latrine ;)

Oh and as I found out the hard way, the first day of boot camp they ask if you have any immediate family in the service, it doesn't matter if he's your 3rd cousin, a Colonel is immediate family....DI got quite a surprise when he came to visit.

Secretariata wrote: Never be first, never be last, and never ever volunteer!

Very true! It's hard to not be first or voluntold to do something when you are 6'5" in bootcamp.

Best advice I heard and would pass on to people I knew going to bootcamp was to be invisible and blend in. The less visible, the less the hats can remember your name, which is never a bad thing.

My wife's cousin went to the Marines just out of highschool, graduated basic just this summer. For him, the Marines have been great. Every other Marine I know, has had the same experience. Just make sure that he knows where he is headed after enlistment. Other branches are accepting recruits, only to put them into the reserves. You wind up with all of the negatives and none of the benefits.

JThw8 wrote: Why Marines? Nothing against them, my father is a Marine (ret.) but when I decided to join the military out of HS he drove me to the AF recruiter.

This!!!

No active duty experience here, but I spent 19 years as a military brat. Dad did 23.5 years as an enlisted. His regrets? Not going officer, and not getting out when they offered him early retirement at 12 years, and going on to the faa.

Hated my dad growing up, I ended up in 5 high schools because of his career choice. But after hitting the real world, I can't thank him enough for it. I've seen 40 out of 50 states, been to Korea, and Hungary(caught a hop for both while dad was stationed over there remote). I know people that haven't left their hometown much less the state.

I will say this, while he was stationed in Hungary there were marines, and army there as well. They lived in tents, the air force guys, had hot water, wood floors in their tents, heaters with exhaust vents, and individual rooms, (E-7 at the time, lower ranks may have been different). I know the army guys had dirt/mud floors, cold water, racks like you see on MASH, one kerosene heater for the entire tent with like 12 guys in it, and one guy got to stay up every night to watch for signs of carbon monoxide poisoning effects.

I wanted to go into the military out of high school but after 5 knee surgeries they wouldn't touch me, later in life I talked to the army about their warrant officer program, but I had to have back surgery 11 years ago, so that was out.

Also, SWMBO has an uncle that is retired army, and he did recruiting as a civilian, and he will tell you flat out; if you are thinking about the military, JOIN THE AIR FORCE!

Also, look at basic training length. Last I heard the marines were up to something like 16 weeks, plus the crucible. Last I heard on a/f was something like 8-10. Been awhile though, things may have changed.

If he wants to go to college, get him into an ROTC program. If he doesn't want to make a career out of it, being infantry won't help him with getting jobs after he gets out. If he wants to be a Marine and have a civilian career, have him commission in the reserves.

My advice: there's no reason to go enlisted if he can go to college.

Sometimes it really sucks, but I can say that it's allowed me to do and experience things I never would have been able to otherwise.

I have a good friend who did 4 as an enlisted, got recruited for intelligence, did that for another 4, got out and now spends his time between his home in DC and his house in Tampa. There are some things to be said about being a contracted civvy.

My father, his brothers, his father... All served. they covered every branch and fought in 3 wars.

I have never had the temperament for accepting authority without question, still don't. So I guess it depends on who he is. Friends and family flourished there. I made the right call for me and went and did my own thing.

Finally, a subject I can speak on with authority. I was a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps having attending Platoon Leaders Class in 1975. It was without a doubt the most defining thing that I have ever done in my life other than becoming a Christian. I thought about enlisting but my father a former enlisted Marine encouraged me to get my commission instead. In a way I'm glad I listened to him but it was my experience that the Mustang officer (enlisted Marine who later got commissioned) seemed to have a keener insight into the Marines (or at least it seemed that way to me). It was always said that the Marines builds men but to me it helped define who I was and what I wanted to be. Everything from problem solving to how I interacted with people throughout my civilian career is from what I learned from the Marines. The Marine Corps impacted my life on a daily basis. I would not have traded those experiences for anything in the world. Even today in dealing with former Marines there is an unexplainable bond among us. From a GRM perspective all newly commissioned Lt;s drove either MG's or TR's. I had a 76 TR6 which started my love with cars. I would be thrilled if my young son told me he wanted to be a Marine officer. My only advice to him would be to get an appointment to the Naval Academy. But either way I would readily endorse it.

You might have noticed that the Marines have an esprit de corps that is unlike many of the other branches. I've got some friends who were in the Corps and they will echo the "Once a Marine, always a Marine!" mentality.

Coming from another branch, it is my opinion that the indoctrination and psychological conditioning a Marine gets is far and away the most thorough of any branch of the service, perhaps rivaling that of the French Foreign Legion.

The biggest regret of my life is not joining up after high school.

My brother was in the army during Vietnam. He was stationed in Germany. I'm sure some of you have heard stories about some of the "good drugs" you could get in Germany during that time. Well he had some problems over there and when I told Mom that I wanted to join she absolutely threw a fit. We fought over it for a couple weeks and eventually she wore me down with her begging and pleading and crying and I agreed not to go.

My sister was a Marine and I vaguely remember going to her graduation at Paris Island. I was three or four. She until recently had a very good paying job that she says she never would have got if she never would have enlisted.

I have some pretty good relationships with co workers who are ex military. A couple Vietnam vets, a couple Iraq vets and a couple guys who where never deployed over seas. Whenever they start telling war stories or anything related to the service I'm left with an incredible sense of regret for not answering the call to serve.

I would also like to add that my father in law was Air Force. ROTC at Virginia Tech and is now the North American president of a very large Japanese company. He has plants in eight states. I believe ROTC would be the path I would steer him towards.

JThw8 wrote: It doesn't hurt to have a last name that they can't pronounce either. Rather than look stupid the DIs will just call on someone else....Thw...Th...ah, Smith, go scrub the latrine ;)

Everyone in my platoon had a nickname before the end of the first week. The guy with the unpronounceable name with 15 consonants was the first one...Alphabet!

As a retired enlisted army (yeah kinda distant past-16 years ago now) and current army civilian dealing with soldiers daily, have him talk to all the recruiters. Find out what he wants out of it and decide which branch better suits that desire. I joined out of high school because of need for a job w/benefits. Had a wife & kid and no job prospects and not enough money for college and not smart enough for scholarships. Had every intention of doing 3 years and out, next thing I knew I was applying for retirement at 20 years. Got my degree thanks to the GI Bill. With his smarts, I go along with others about going ROTC or Academy if he can get in one. No matter which route he decides, the military is what you make of it and can benefit future endeavors, especially with college either before, during or after. Whether it's only one enlistment or a career.

Some of the answer may lie in the cultural aspects of where you live.

I am a Yankee who has lived in the south near a Marine base for nearly half my life.

When I lived in the north, being a Marine would have been a curiosity at best, shunned at worst. It didn't help in life.

Where I currently live, Marines are viewed with great honor. They are respected. They are connected to a bigger cause, and part of an elite class. They have enormous advantages in employment opportunities and connectedness in the community.

The advantages and disadvantages are part of the culture of where you live, or rather where he will be living.

ronholm wrote: and gets the call to be on the front line of history every single time..

Except, you know, D-Day.

Another thing to add to the mix.

In my current civilian job, I occasionally make hiring selections (has been about 1 per year to date). Given two equally qualified candidates, if one has an honorable discharge from any branch of the service and the other doesn't I don't need to debate which candidate to select. It doesn't make up for candidates that are not equally qualified, but can make a difference in competitive candidates. My experience is that the former service members tend to be more dependable and better employees in the civilian world. The ones I've hired show up early, stay late, don't bitch, do what is required + some, are respectful, appreciate being treated fairly, and generally show up the other employees without being asked to do any more. Maybe I got all the blue flamers?

In reply to Osterkraut:

I'm certain there were Marines on the naval vessels present!

SVreX wrote: They have enormous advantages in employment opportunities and connectedness in the community.

Just about every job I have gotten since getting out, this has helped without question.

Also, when I was asked to help pick between two applicants that were going to replace me at a previous job, I went with an Army soldier. I can't remember what the MOS was in Army nomenclature, but he was infantry. I defer to military guys anytime when it comes to work. I know, for the most part, they can get the job done. The work ethic is instilled in all branches, something I can appreciate without my USMC blinders on.

triumphcorvair wrote: ...but to me it helped define who I was and what I wanted to be. Everything from problem solving to how I interacted with people throughout my civilian career is from what I learned from the Marines. The Marine Corps impacted my life on a daily basis. I would not have traded those experiences for anything in the world. Even today in dealing with former Marines there is an unexplainable bond among us.

Well put! I feel the same way. I attribute much of my success, hard work, and respect from the Marine Corps. I can't help but believe my attention to detail and proficiency on my daily task are a direct result of my enlistment.

Secretariata wrote: In reply to Osterkraut: I'm certain there were Marines on the naval vessels present!

In the rear with the gear!

Osterkraut wrote:

Secretariata wrote: In reply to Osterkraut: I'm certain there were Marines on the naval vessels present!

In the rear with the gear!

Hey! That's the air winger motto!

Anti-stance wrote:

Osterkraut wrote:

Secretariata wrote: In reply to Osterkraut: I'm certain there were Marines on the naval vessels present!

In the rear with the gear!

Hey! That's the air winger motto!

I prefer Semper Per Diem, myself.