So, you want to be a Marine?

Not me, but my middle son is seriously considering it.

He spent a hour or so talking to a friend of the family, who is a soon to retire Colonel. Not a 100% Ooh Rah! conversation, but it may have been close.

He will also be spending some time with a Captain in the Corps, and visiting Parris Island. I expect that to be 100% Ooh Rah.

I have a pretty good idea what a recruiter would have to say. Ooh Rah!!!

He would probably join soon after high school, as a grunt. He's in pretty good shape physically, though he would need to work on his stamina some.

Any Marines out there that would like to share the bad as well as the good and awesome.

I'm fine with whatever he decides. To be perfectly honest, he could use some direction in his life that the military may be better at providing than I am. I do want him to have all the information in advance, so he can make the best decision possible. I think he's looking at this through some slightly rose colored glasses.

Any thought and advice would be helpful.

Thanks.

I'd always heard join the AF if you want in on the armed forces--always from vets, too. In all seriousness, I don't know that I'd join the marines with the recent election outcome.

I have a lot of respect for Marines (I did my 20 years in the Navy) and think that joining would be a good move for anyone young and in good enough shape. It is truly something he could make a career out of or do one stint and get out and use the GI Bill to go to college. Lots of options.

The only thing I would say is to realize a Colonel and a Captain will have different points of view than if he talked to a Sergeant or Corporal and I would encourage him to talk to some enlisted Marines as well. Also realize that the recruiter has a job to do and may be facing some serious quotas. When I enlisted in the Navy my strategy was to not ask my recruiter that many questions that way he wouldn't tell me any lies. If the recruiter makes any kind of promises, realize they mean absolutely nothing if not in writing.

I'm short on time but wanted to respond:

I've worked with all 4 branches. I think there are personality types that are drawn to each branch. I loved being enlisted in the Navy. I loved to drink to excess and oblivion, I like to travel and I dont like marching or pushups. I couldn't imagine being enlisted in the AF, I'd go crazy. (I guess I'm saying if he wants to be a Marine, then he probably has a pretty good idea of where he fits in)

Ok, the other thing I wanted to say: Please find a job that is going to benefit him AFTER he separates form the Marines. I know looking in we all think "recon, ooh-rah, and kill kill kill" but there are some seriously good jobs you can get training for as a Marine.

Take "Avionics Technician": Still a Marine, but you'll troubleshoot and repair comm, nav, radar, and weapons delivery systems on aircraft. Might even deploy with the navy aboard a carrier.

I've been in the aerospace industry for about 15 years now (using my Navy training) and have made between $50k and $150k annually depending on where I was working (not just what company, but where in the world). It's a job that's always in demand somewhere.

There are others of course, but I have to get back to work

If he likes the field it's also a pretty good foundation for electrical engineering (see: GI Bill)

Cheers!

All Marines are riflemen. Don't forget that.

Also, stop-loss is a thing. If you sign up for 4 years, it might wind up being longer than 4 years, when all is said and done.

I considered joining the Marines out of high school. I sort of regret not, but in retrospect would have failed the physical (the military likes good feet. I've broken mine 4 times). I've met plenty of people that have served in all branches. Marines are some bad motherberkeleyers but there's something about them that changes. Swmbo put it as "if marines were meant to have wives and family, they'd have one issued to them". I don't want to disparage any armed forces veteran or active member, but my experience follows this.

I went in the Marines voluntarily (Vietnam Era). Boot camp was as tough mentally as it was physically, but was a defining life experience for me. As a teenager I was a rebel and boot camp took that right out of me. As was mentioned, if he can get guaranteed training that would be a real plus. In boot camp he will get tested for any aptitudes he may have and be assigned that way if he doesn't have a guarantee. When I was discharged some 3 years later, I had gone from a raw kid to a mature, responsible man. It will test his limits, but I think it was well worth it for me.

As E36 M3ty as life in the marines can be, I'm glad I went that route as opposed to any other branch. I am not a grunt so I can't speak to that but I did pick a job that has next to no marketability outside of the service (amphibious assault).

I have mixed feelings about this as well. Not my cup of tea to join the military just to do a job you can do in the civilian world, but at the same time having a high security clearance or a marketable skill afterwords is a definite plus. If I were to do it again I would pick a job that requires a high security clearance since I had always planned on college after. Otherwise I think something in the air wing has great after corps potential.

Source: I am currently in as a SGT

I just hired a guy who was a marine aviation mechanic. He worked for Boeing on the f18 assembly line and then did a few other hops before joining my team. He gets good money and his experience in the marines is very welcome in my world. He's a program manager now and if he keeps up the hard work he will be running that wing of my group in 3 years. I don't doubt his leadership skills for a second.

Nice thing about the service is that the longer you stay the nicer it gets.

Rank and pay and other goodies come along.

I was in the Air Force for four years, ended up S/SGT living off base with help from the AF.

If it hadn't been for a family business involvement I might have stayed for the 20.

Just think, retiring at 48 yrs. old on a nice pension.

Navy vet here, nuclear electrician. Nothing he has heard from officers translates to how his life would be as enlisted. It's like asking a plantation owner his thoughts on growing cotton. If he wants that lifestyle he needs to get a degree before joining or go ROTC.

Hungary Bill wrote: I've worked with all 4 branches.

Hi, 5th branch here checking in. My family had previous experience in the aforementioned 4 and all tried to talk me out of it, so I went Coast Guard. Then I got sent overseas (Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama), then cam back and got shot at (drug runners from Russia). It was amazing and I loved nearly every minute of it. That said, the veterans are all right, if you want a real career in the military, go to college first and go in as an officer. The enlisted ranks get shafted while they are in, and after they get out, in all branches. I have a close friend that recently retired from the Marines as a Gunny with 5 deployments to the middle east that would be happy to have a conversation with your son.

if I could have gone in.. I would have gone Coast Guard. Not as Glamorous as the Navy, and the ships are smaller, but I prefer their reason for being over the true "armed forces"

and in times of war, they switch over from DHS to Navy

The Colonel he was talking to started off as a grunt, at the bottom, busted his ass and got a degree, then worked his way up to OCS. He is definitely a can do guy.

I can't offer any insight into the American military, but by the sounds of things, it has its similarities to the Australian armed forces.

I did a 4 year stint in the army, part of my training was done in a joint training environment with RAAF(air force) guys. That's where I realised id made a mistake, should have joined the air force. I tried for a service transfer and was denied, so that was pretty much the end of my time in the military.

A good mate of mine joined the air force about 18 months after I joined the army, he's still serving just over a decade later.

We still joke about how the army sleeps under are stars, the Navy navigates by the stars and the airforce chooses their hotels by the stars.

My advice to anyone, anywhere is don't sign up as a grunt unless your aptitude caters to nothing else, I've ment to many grunts with bad knees, bad back and very limited employment options post service.

In reply to daeman:

FWIW, in my opinion all Marine Colonels are can do guys (or gals as the case may be). Marinrs are different than the other branches that is for sure.

Air Force has the best food. And if you can't fly there, you ain't going.

My experience with Marines:

On one ship, we dealt with all the branches except the Air Force. We needed something done. Forget what, something big moved. I asked an Army Captain or something. I got "I'm gonna have to ask the Colonel and...." I asked a Marine Lance Corporal. "Johnson, Smith, ..., move this over there NOW!" and it was done.

My friend, a lifer in the Navy, said the Marines would kill you (USN) if told to. He had direct experience with that involving the Democrat President Carter's "Hostage Rescue" fiasco, which we are still paying for and dealing with.

In Okinawa, which the Marines took "a few years ago" and it seems don't particularly care to give back, sitting at the bar on the base, the bartender was a Marine medic. All the Marines in the bar wanted to be his buddy so he would go to save them when they were shot and he made it a point to not be friends with anyone so he wouldn't feel obligate to go save them when they were shot. I'm not making that up. That was the topic of discussion at the bar.

daeman wrote: We still joke about how the army sleeps under are stars, the Navy navigates by the stars and the airforce chooses their hotels by the stars.

Quote of the damn year, right there

Ok, I have a little more time but not much to add:

If he's interested, I'm buddies with an active duty Recon member and a retired Avionics troop that would be more than willing to share their experiences and advice with anyone who wants. Just send me a PM.

A little off topic, here's my favorite Navy recruiting video (pretty accurate aside from the co-ed shower bit)

NSFW

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wZsERX844Tg

iceracer wrote: Just think, retiring at 48 yrs. old on a nice pension.

I retired at 38 yrs. old from the army. Get what I call my guaranteed house payment. And young enough to start another career. Again army but as a civilian. Less than 3 years to go with house payments, then it will go to a detached garage.

Oh, you get out what you put in with any branch of service. And I believe that each is different enough to suite and mold a person into an adult. Have friends from all branches.

In reply to Hungary Bill:

I like this one: it's not just a job, it's $96.78 a week

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jhioeOeOHsA

I have some strong opinions & some ambivalent ones about this...

I think most young folks would gain an awful lot from military service and think that our nation should implement a mandatory 2 year obligation of service. Not limited to military service, options for community service, etc. seem like a good idea for those not inclined for military service.

I've been a civilian for 25 years, so some of my opinions are probably outdated or irrelevant, but I think that military service is a defining aspect of a young person's life. This is not always a good/great thing. If the individual is not a good fit for the branch of service or job assignment it can be a limiting situation that holds the person back from success. On the other hand, if the individual is at least cognizant of the situation and performs adequately enough to get an honorable discharge it will probably help them in future endeavors.

That being said, my experience was that the USMC was probably the best decision/opportunity that I dumbed my way into. I dropped out of college and decided that I needed to be self supporting so the military was an instant version of 3 hots & a cot without MOM to harass me daily. I talked to all of the 4 main branches (sorry CG...) and got the best opportunity from the Corps.

I was not prepared for what boot camp entailed, but luckily I was given advice from a friends father. He told me the day before I left for boot camp "never be first, never be last, and never volunteer." There was no further explanation, but it became clear very quickly...

Additionally, I realized within the first week of boot camp that it was essentially a mental game. Their goal was to decide which recruits were able to withstand extreme pressures and which were not. If you were unable to take the mental pressure of boot camp, you would be a liability in combat. I was pretty fit physically and so I found the physical aspects were relatively inconsequential compared to the mental aspects. But once I figured out that it was a mental "game" it became very easy to deal with.

As stated by others in this thread, there is a "mentality" involved in joining any branch of the military and nearly everybody that joins the Corps is a Type A personality (whether they know it or not)...so Marines are always competing. This is one of the great things about the Corps and also one of the reasons that some don't succeed.

All that being said, in my experiences the USAF had the best facilities and living conditions, followed by the USN, and then the USA. The USMC had the worst facilities and living conditions...

So, although I harass my friends that are not Marines, I respect them and think highly of all people that have served in any branch of the military.

I was probably the last person my friends in high school expected would join the military, but I would not trade my experience serving in the military for anything. It made me the individual I am as an adult and has made my life better for the past 30 years.

Edit to add: My signature line probably describes it best. That was the case prior to my becoming a Marine, but it accurately describes all the Marines that I know...

A few years ago I read a book called "Making the Corps" (IIRC) which I thought was pretty good. See if you can lay hands on a copy. Prolly at Amazon but try Ebay or the library.

In reply to Hungary Bill:

Hahaha, thanks mate. Though neither my mate or I can lay claim to it, its been rattling around the adf for God knows how long.

In reply to Hungary Bill:

When were you in the Coast Guard?

There are Five.

I'm a Coast Guard Herk pilot, and knowing several Marines, I would have loved to start over and have 10 years with them before the CG. But the CG is where my heart is. The Herk and ships have taken me nearly all the way around the world, and I'm proud of my service.

Teh E36 M3 wrote: In reply to Hungary Bill: When were you in the Coast Guard? There are Five.

Ah, ya got me

Actually I was only enlisted in the Navy. I worked with the marines there, and have worked as a contractor for the Air Force and Army since my discharge

Oddly enough I've never worked with the coast guard... Might have to change that