Enlisting In the Marines & College

[00SoldierofFortune00]

Originally Posted by swiftdraw

Go to college, join ROTC, graduate, join he USMC, get a commission, get paid more.

Everyone in my family who was in the marines said its better to go to college first and be eligible to become an officer since you get better pay and benefits. Also you don't get the 'shit grunt jobs' (not my words) as an officer. That said, no one in my family has made to an officer rank

Don't join ROTC. You can do OCS/PLC while you are in college, even if you are not in the Marine Reserves or even a Marine and become an officer. And you will get paid the same amount as an Officer if you have ROTC or not. In fact, if you go from enlisted to Officer(even in the reserves), you get E-whatever your rank is, over O-1 pay, which pays you more.

And unless you go to Annapolis, you HAVE to go to OCS anyway, which is all about PT from what I hear. So you cannot go straight from ROTC to Officer. You still have to go to OCS. OCS=1 10week course, PLC=2 6 week courses. They both make you an Officer, though PLC would be a little easier.

O, and the pay and benefits are no different if you have a degree or not as I believe. But in the end, the Officer's still get paid more then I do and higher ranked enlisted.

[[R-CON]Desertfox]

Host the video on youtube :P

[The_motivator]

Originally Posted by 00SoldierofFortune00

And unless you go to Annapolis, you HAVE to go to OCS anyway, which is all about PT from what I hear.

I've heard that it's more of a mental/school challenge type ordeal, and PT is emphasized as much as it is in the Grunt's Corps.

[solodude23]

Egh. I'm not even sure what the differences between ROTC/OCS/PLC are..

I never thought about actually becoming an Officer - just Enlisting while studying in college towards my future career. (Still working on the part..eh)

[DOAW]

ROTC/OCS/PLC are all designed to screen potential officer candidates. ROTC is generally done during your entire 4 year college course, Platoon Leaders Class in 1 or 2 big chunks during school (over the summer), and Officer Candidate School is for people who have already graduated (ie: have their degree). Once completed, all programs lead to The Basic School (even Naval Academy graduates attend), a 6 month training regimen for newly commissioned officers before they go to their MOS school. If you're on the fence at all about being an officer, then don't bother. The last thing The Corps needs is officer candidates who aren't serious.

Since you're looking at enlisting, you basically have 3 options:

1. enlist active duty, do 4 years, then get out and go to school (assuming you don't love it so much that you stay in). You can get your degree while you're active duty, but it takes a while. It tends to be night classes and correspondence courses, and with the deployment schedule it would be sporadic. But $48k in GI Bill money is better than $0 in GI Bill money.

2. Go to school then enlist. If your parents are anything like mine were, then this is what they want you to do, in the hopes that school will satisfy your desire for adventure and freedom and cause you to not enlist. I won't question your motivation or motivations, but 4 years in school will likely not make you harder or prepare you in any way for the military.

3. Enlist in the reserves while going to school. This does seem like the best of both worlds, but theres one catch: I can almost guarantee that there will be at least one 7 month deployment right in the middle of your schooling.

Now, you want my opinion? If you're really serious, then I would suggest enlisting first. If you find the military to be right for you, then you have your entire career to get a degree. If you do your 4 years and get out, then you will be much more disciplined and focused while you go to school.

But thats just my opinion, you need to do what you think is right for you. Good luck!

Semper Fi!

[EagleEyeLG]

Originally Posted by DOAW

2. Go to school then enlist. If your parents are anything like mine were, then this is what they want you to do, in the hopes that school will satisfy your desire for adventure and freedom and cause you to not enlist. I won't question your motivation or motivations, but 4 years in school will likely not make you harder or prepare you in any way for the military.

Indeed, it would probably make you "softer".

I am in Army ROTC and on our recent FTX, we have a guy doing the Marine OCS thing where he meets with the Marine guys once or twice during the week, then during the summer he goes and trains. In the end, he is an officer.

Honestly, in my opinion, enlisting with a college education is not a good idea. Take advantage of your college education and apply it to your military career and OCS would be the best way of doing that. You will get paid more and you will get to lead.

[00SoldierofFortune00]

Originally Posted by DOAW

ROTC/OCS/PLC are all designed to screen potential officer candidates. ROTC is generally done during your entire 4 year college course, Platoon Leaders Class in 1 or 2 big chunks during school (over the summer), and Officer Candidate School is for people who have already graduated (ie: have their degree). Once completed, all programs lead to The Basic School (even Naval Academy graduates attend), a 6 month training regimen for newly commissioned officers before they go to their MOS school. If you're on the fence at all about being an officer, then don't bother. The last thing The Corps needs is officer candidates who aren't serious.

You cannot get a commission for just going to ROTC in the Marine Corps. You still gave to attend OCS in the end unless you are at the naval academy Annapolis. And OCS is no joke. Also, you can go to the 10 week course if you are a junior in college, you don't have to be out yet.

3. Enlist in the reserves while going to school. This does seem like the best of both worlds, but theres one catch: I can almost guarantee that there will be at least one 7 month deployment right in the middle of your schooling.

I already gave him the 92 day reservist breakdown which should make you untouchable for the first 1-2 years unless they find a way to put you through MOS school or MCT. Yes, the deployment this will always be there until the war ends, but as he said, he wanted to see the world.

Now, you want my opinion? If you're really serious, then I would suggest enlisting first. If you find the military to be right for you, then you have your entire career to get a degree. If you do your 4 years and get out, then you will be much more disciplined and focused while you go to school.

The thing is, if he is a reservists, then he can see what the military is all about without having to be there 365. So if he likes it, then he can go active. If he doesn't, then he can just serve out his time which can be either 4x4(4reserve, 4 inactive ready reserve), 6x2, and maybe even 2x6.

Here's a video too. Couldn't get the Osprey video up yet.

qualities crap anyway though.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9XN7m9O5GBA

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

Get the degree first.
If you don't make the Marines a career it will get you a better job.
If you do make it a career then the degree will help you get better jobs in Corps and you can go for more advanced degrees on the gov's dime.

I also don't want to question your motivations but some real world experience away from home will help you make a wiser decision, IMHO.

[00SoldierofFortune00]

Originally Posted by ArmedDrunk&Angry

Get the degree first.
If you don't make the Marines a career it will get you a better job.

Wrong, this is a huge sterotype. It really depends on what job you are doing in the Marine Corps. If you are doing computers, logistics, supply, or aircraft for example, you have a chance of getting a good job when you get out. With logistics, I have heard of jobs around 50-70+ thousand if you can get one at a port or loading things onto ships etc.

Now if your job is grunt or tanker, then that is different and would get you a job in law enforcement more then anything else.

If you do make it a career then the degree will help you get better jobs in Corps and you can go for more advanced degrees on the gov's dime.

No it won't. A degree has nothing to do with jobs in the Corps. If you are enlisted, you choose your job based on your ASVAB scores and if you are Officer, you get your job depending on how well you do in The Basic School. You basically compete for it amongst other Officers, but any job is open and the guy who gets first in his class and on down gets to choose. You usually get 1 of your top 5 jobs.

I also don't want to question your motivations but some real world experience away from home will help you make a wiser decision, IMHO.

I guess I agree. Try a year out in College first if you want, then go from there. At least you will see if College is your thing before you join.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

I wasn't specific about the first part and if you are enlisted then it won't matter much but I would think that having a degree would help a lot when you look to move up in the ranks as an officer.
If nothing else the study skills will help you as you progress in rank even if you are in the infantry or armor branches.

I don't know any officers in the Corps but I knew a few in the Army and there is a lot of paperwork and administrative skills needed to be a good commander and I think college would help develop those.

On the other hand, isn't the current head guy in the Corp someone who came up from the enlisted ?