Marines in my opinion was deffinantly the best decision I ever made. People think if you were never in a sport, or activity, you'd fail. I not once signed up for an athletic sport, or any organization. I went to school, just for my classes, and that was it. Sure if your more athletic your in shape, but a lot of it is about mentality. As long as you can tell yourself to push, you wont have a problem. Those people are there to help you, not too kill you. The Marines have always been known to be the greatest hard chargers. And its a great experience at the least. If your really considering, I'd have to say its not a mistake. Contact a recruiter or an RSS, they'll be able to inform you about job opprotunities, and the experience in the Marines a lot better. They dont baby anybody in the marines. Your all treated the same. But that makes everything, that much more interesting, and in my case, comforting.

 

Officer programs are generally 6 to 8 year contracts if I'm not mistaken. If you do get that kind of gig and decide not to make it a 20 year career, consider staying in the Reserves out to the end. This can be a heck of a supplemental retirement at age 60.

I did 8 years active and 16 years reserve - I only retired from the reserves as an E-6 and my check is going to be about a grand a month. An officer could conceivably get twice or 3 times that.

 

Did you do your 8 years right after high school? Also, I've always been a 'hard charger' and I find myself succeeding where I apply myself.

1) Music. Growing up as soon as I started applying myself to playing, I made it to all-state band, drum major, and made the drum major cut in college (wasn't a music major so I couldnt see it through)

2) School. I started college a non-motivated C student that never wanted to go to grad school-just get the 4 year degree and get out. No planning whatsoever. When I finally started enjoying school and applying myself, all the sudden Ive been President/VP of more an 1 school organization, I'm finishing grad school in May, I've met a lot of important people and enjoyed school a lot more than I used to

3) Athletics. I was cut from the baseball team senior year in high school and I quit wrestling my junior year. Now, I can bench 300 pounds and I love the heck out of some college rugby. Best team-sport out there.

Basically, Ive learned that I really want to succeed in business and I"ve got the ability to do so. For some reason, the Marines is one of these areas (like music, school,etc) that I absoutely know I could conquor, and I"d look and feel dam good dressed up in the uniform afterwards.

Are there any big reasons why I shouldnt join as a 24 year old MBA grad?

 

The best advice that I can offer is for you to start with your end goal in mind.

You mentioned that your ambition is to achieve the level of CEO, CFO, etc. So start there and work backwards. Have you completed any internships that put you in front of one of these executives? What path did they follow to reach their current position? What attributes do they possess that led to their success?

I served 8+ years active duty in the US Army. Deployed to several theater of operations where our units led the charge (not clean up like a previous poster suggested). Kept my nose clean, attended all schools and leadership courses that I could. Gained acknowledgment from my superiors and was appropriately awarded medals and citations. Separated, remained in the reserves, and attended university. My groundwork then has prepared me well for current position in a state agency.

Leadership is not something that can be learned. The military will not develop a leader from someone who is not prepared to lead. Leadership is an innate quality that one must possess. There are programs and courses that you may nominated to attended if you position yourself correctly. These courses may help you develop the skills needed to be a leader. Attending these programs, however, is not automatic.

I will tell you that the military life is not for everyone. There are immense pressures that people who have never served, may never understand. It forces you to change life's priorities. It requires tremendous sacrifice. I've seen many soldiers fail to achieve their best and get penalized for it. These penalties are often detrimental for a lifetime.

If one of the questions in your mind is whether or not you can get out of your commitment, then you seriously need to reconsider this course of action.

Everyone who signs a contract with any military branch does so with a commitment of 8 years. It breaks down to active duty service and individual ready reserve. If your active duty commitment is 2 years, then your IRR is 6 years.

The length of your active duty contract is associated with the type and amount of training you receive. As an enlisted, you may be required to serve as little as 2 years active duty or up to 6 years active duty. Once again this is dependent on the amount of training that your chosen MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) requires.

As an officer, you can resign your commission anytime after your initial service obligation. This is not true with the enlisted. As an enlisted member, if you re-enlist you are required to serve the entire length of your re-enlisted contract. As an officer you may resign your commission at will after your initial service obligation is fulfilled. As an officer however, you can be subject to RIF (Reduction in Force) which is an involuntary separation for not achieving performance goals. Once again, separation from the armed forces by this action may be detrimental for future career opportunities.

The US military doesn't cross hairs and all actions are well documented. Your time in service, your training, your conduct, your awards, your punishments, and your type of separation are all part of your permanent military record and are subject to review in a background inquiry.

Hope this helps,

ox

 

You can join the Coast Guard for 2,4 or 6 years since you have a degree you are a candidate for OCS, or you could be an E-3 "enlisted" after boot camp , the Coast Guard is a great service I have been in for 5 years and I love it.


.... and we dont sleep in tents

 

Officers can get as little as 4 years active, or as many as 10.

 

How long does it typically take a college grad to make Officer?

 

To clarify things a bit.

In each of the Armed Forces (Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard) there are two clearly defined sets of ranks.

There are the officer ranks and there are the enlisted ranks.

The two are completely separate.

Typically you will join either as an enlisted or you will join as an officer candidate.

You do not however join as an enlisted and get promoted over and over till you become an officer.

If you join as an enlisted you may reach a point where you decide to become an officer. In the Army the program is called "Green-to-Gold". This is for soldiers that do not hold a bachelor degree. You complete a OCS packet and submit it for approval. If approved, you leave the enlisted ranks, attend college, gain your degree, then undergo OCS training to become a commissioned officer.

As a person whom already has a college degree you can apply directly for an officer commission. If accepted, you will go through OCS and receive training consisting of various military courses, including a basic training equivalent for officers, leadership development, tactics and strategy for your MOS, etc. Upon completion you will be a commissioned officer.

In the Army, for instance, OCS with BLOC I and BLOC II lasts a total of 24 weeks. Upon successful completion of OCS, an officer in the Army will be assigned to one of the 16 branches. I believe in the USMC you have 3 branches (Ground, Aviation, and Law).

Hope this gives you some insight.

ox

 

If you already have your degree, then upon completion of OCS you will recieve a commission. That will make you a 2nd. Leiutenant or an Ensign.

Not sure how it works in other services but as far as the Corps works, you can enlist, and through an enlisted commissioning program you can become an officer. I do know that if you enlist I can guarantee that you will do one, probably 2 active duty deployments (doesn't mean a combat deployment), before they will consider you for a commissionig program, and you better be one **** hot Marine.

 

Pretty sure they did away with the 2 year enlistments some years ago.

 

If you really want to develop leadership skills, join the Marine Corps. We are the only service that makes sure you are fit to be a leader before you can do anything else (The Basic School). Leadership in the other services is probably like a day job from what I hear. Marine Officers are devoted to leading Marines 24/7, no exceptions. That is definitely a unique quality.

And FYI, I'm a 2ndLt at The Basic School right now. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

cpaggie I want your phone number! I need to get as much advice about this as possible. Email me: rpn23@msstate.edu

 

a lot of officer jobs in the AF are 4yr commitments but the commitment starts after all your training. For example, a Navigator that i know signed up for 4 yrs and shes been in a little over a year but shes still in training, which means her 4 yrs hasnt started yet.

 

I'm not looking forward to a winter TBS. I'm still in school right now, but should be going to OCC this summer. Graduate in may of 2010, with the current wait for TBS that air contracts are going through, That would probably put me in TBS for the winter.

What is your prefered MOS? Contracted air/law?

 

Yeah, it's going to be tough. All the instructors call us "Arctic Alpha." OCC graduates get priority for TBS over PLC, NROTC, and maybe even USNA, so hopefully you'll start around the end of summer. But since it's six months, you'll get the best of Quantico's worst weather no matter what company you're in!