This is a discussion on Marines - I need your help within the Law Enforcement, Military & Homeland Security Discussion forums, part of the Related Topics category; Originally Posted by 2AMomma You guys are so wonderful! No wonder this is the branch he has chosen! To answer a few questions: cagueits: he ...
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If he is 16 and will be a senior next year, you may also look into the United States Naval AcademyOriginally Posted by 2AMomma
You guys are so wonderful! No wonder this is the branch he has chosen!
To answer a few questions:
cagueits: he is 16 (going on 25) but he will graduate high school next year...
USNA Admissions Home
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My Dad was a Marine - he enlisted (at age 17) in 1945, two weeks before the war ended. Did his time and got out.
Eventually, he went to Korea as an Army infantry soldier. He always said that it was his Marine Corps training that kept him alive.
He retired as a full-time Army NG officer (COL). But to his dying day, he was always, first and foremost, a Marine.
I served in the Army, but I have always had the utmost repect for "Devil Dogs".
Please wish your son all the best from this old vet, and thank him for his willingness to serve his country.
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These aren't specifically targeted at me, but I'll answer.
The Basic School is where a new Marine officer learns to lead Marines in the field. It is comparable to School of Infantry for new enlisted Marines.
NROTC will not let a Midshipman (student in NROTC) stay in the program into his junior year unless he gets on a contract; a contract means a scholarship of some sort. There are two options for Officer Candidate School- 2 six week classes OR 1 ten week class. It gets sticky, complicated, and virtually irrelevant when it comes to the difference.
And one will not go to TBS until he receives his commission (or warrant, but that is irrelevant to this situation), which will not happen until he receives his Bachelor's degree.
There is a program called MECEP. Enlisting assuming that he will get this is a large gamble. Do not let a recruiter tell you that your boy has a good chance of getting this program.
The preceding post may contain sarcasm; it's just better that way. However, it is still intended with construction and with the Love of my L-rd Y'shua.
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TBS is a bit more like MCT than SOI, simply because all officers have to do it, whereas currently on enlisted grunts do the full SOI, everyone else foes 3 weeks of MCT.
Most of the PLC Marines I know during college were actually reservists trying to get an AD commission. NROTC will require a lot more during the school year from the Midshipman, with mandatory classes, PT, unit functions, ect..., but its still a good program if you stick it out. You do need some sort of scholarship when your junior year starts.
If you go in with a scholarship and decide you want to disenroll, it must be done before the beginning of your second year, or else you have to pay the gov't back the money, or work it of as an enlisted man.
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MCT?? SOI??? AD commission???
A little help here, please...
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Enlisted = Non Officer
NCO = Non Commisioned Officer (enlisted above E4 paygrade; and at certain paygrades it becomes SNCO [Staff Non Commisiond Officer], then Senior SNCO, etc)
MOS = Military Occupation Specialty; 4 digit number that means what the primary duties of a Marine (primary, because there are alternate, suplemental, etc - semper gummby)
Boot Camp = enlisted Marines basic training
MCT = Marine Corps Training (a real short school for enlisted non infantry Marines, usually 2 weeks long, on how to conduct combat operations). MCT falls under SOI.
SOI = School of Infantry; unbrella school for enlisted Marines that has subschools; all enlisted infantry marines go to SOI ITB (Infantry Training Batallion) while enlisted non infantry Marines go to MCT. ITB for enlisted infantry Marines is about 2-3 months and is pure combat operations training
OCS = Officer Candidate School; also AOCS for Aviation Officer Candidate School; its the officer's equivalent of boot camp (enlisted Marines go to boot camp at initial entry, officers don't; but an enlisted Marine wanting to become an officer must go through an officer training program such as OCS]; usually about 12 weeks long
TBS = is like an officer's MCT/ITB at SOI
PLC = Platoon Leaders Course; OCS in short 2-4 week sections; NROTC and non NROTC officer candidates go through it; there is PLC Aviation and PLC Law right now - guaranteed oportunity (unless you fail the school/some requirement) to a career in aviation/law vs the regular Officer MOS selection process (which is like a mystery)
Academy = 4year resident undergraduate univesity on steroids; serves as an officer training program
NROTC = Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps; officer training program usually found on 4 year undergraduate univesities; candidates drill through 4 years and at the end they go to OCS (they can go durring summer breaks too on 2-4weeks sessions like PLC)
AD = Active Duty (not a reservist; reservists can go into AD but not the other way around)
ADT = Active Duty for Training; reservist drill continuoslly like being on active duty, but are not really on active duty
I suggest you start your 16y/o on the Young Marines, there should be a unit near you on a Marine Reserve Unit or other establishment.
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Not to be a stickler, but I guess all us jarheads are. We don't like to cross "lingo" with the other branches, lol.
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Thats something else your son will learn if he does go into the Marines or any branch of the military: acronyms. MCT=Marine Combat Training, SOI=School of Infantry and AD=active duty. Officers are commissioned and remain officers until they resign their commission. Speaking on some of the previous posts, from my own experience, with few exceptions, you are not guaranteed a SPECIFIC job, but a specific career field, meaning you will get something close to your initial request at a minimum. I was in the BY group when I enlisted(electronics) I got the one job in that group that was avionics.(aviation electronics). I agree with other posters in that he should consider first ROTC. If the high school has ROTC program, that might be a consideration. The military is not for everyone. As far as bootcamp goes, obey orders instantly, sound off loud, pay attention to detail and know that it WILL end.
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt
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And NROTC students don't go through PLC, unless something has drastically changed in the last few years. PLC is a separate program for officer accession. (NROTC= (1) 6-week session at OCS in addition to your NROTC drilling, PLC= (2) 6-week sessions or (1) 10-week session.)
(Not trying to be an ass--you posted a lot of good info--just wanted the facts totally straight.)
To double what cagueits said, officers don't always (don't usually) get a lot of say in what career field they're placed into. That could be a consideration for the prospective Marine.
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Just the stickler in me. LOL.
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt
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Hey people, adjust fire where you need (been a while and I may have gotten a few confused along the way; this is just a short list so a civilian gets a grasp of all the jargon).
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Another outfit that may be of interest, if Young Marines are not available around, is the Sea Cadets. I did a few years with them before enlisting into the Marines; in my opinion the organization is solid and in some areas better than the Young Marines. I've heard their SEAL and Sea Bee trainings are pretty demanding - may serve as good prep for a Marine career.
Now I remember, when we had NCO E3 Corporals. Prior to when Lance Corporals E3 was re-established in the sweeping rank restructuring of 1958, NCOs in the Corps started at E3. Sgt was E4, etc. There was always a hassle in joint (whatever) because of our NCOs vs their whatever.
When they increased the number of enlisted pay-grades they moved everything (not everybody) up a grade and introduced Lance Corporal. then you had to compete for a promotion to the higher E-graded rank for the title you already held. For a while there were two different pay-grades for every enlisted Rank above E3 -- there's the right way, there's wrong way and....
BTW -- Lance Corporals served in the Corps into the 1930s but this unofficial rank became redundant when the rank of private first class was established in 1917. The earlier Lance Corporal fell out of usage prior to World War II.
BTW2 -- In many other countries Lance corporals are NCOs.
No stickler re: current explanation. Just brought back memories.
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Uh oh. I thought I went back to the time of the Little Big Horn......you were in the OLD CORPS....Semper Fi....1963-67
Surrounded and outnumbered, Marine Col Lewis Puller: "Good! We finally got 'em where we want 'em!" (Korea, 1950)
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Well, we've heard from several branches of the service in this thread. I'd like to submit something. If there were a decision maker during or after boot camp in the Marines, I believe a Marine can apply for transfer to other branches of service such as the Army or the Navy, and go up two ranks in doing so. I remember one of the fellows in my platoon was going into the Army after Marine Corps boot camp. Is this still currently the case?
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