should i joining the marines

[rngrnewbie]

I was in the army if you are going to join, the Delayed Entry Program is a good thing. No matter what branch it helps if you decide to get out, the time you spend on DEP counts towards your 8 years of contract. So if you decide to get out after 4 years and you spent a year on DEP you would only have 3 years in Inactive Ready Reserve to have a chance of getting called back.

 

[Will]

I joined the marines 22+ years ago--I was in MEPS 2 days after my 17th birthday. Back then you didn't need a highschool diploma.

Best thing is, you are so young that it doesn't really matter if you do or you don't. Seems like a big decision now, but in the scheme grande, who gives a shit? As long as you don't get shot, you'll soon forget about it. I did 10 years, been out for more than 12 years and its the furthest thing from my mind unless someone reminds me of it. I don't have anything from it I don't think. The main reason is that my dad, a Vietnam vet, was Director of Veterans Affairs for his county for a number of years and all these guys would come in wearing medals and limping and all claiming to be snipers and bayonet killers and he would look them up and they were truck mechanics or supply stockmen. So for me, it's more fitting to just let the past live in itself. I always thought I would have some stories to tell my kids, but I don't want to be lumped with the frauds.

But f you do want to join, start having some pride in yourself and puncuate and spell properly. You don't need to do pushups or run to get ready for bootcamp. It starts out pathetically easy. It's mental toughness that is required. Not a lot of it, but enough that it bothers some people. You just need two words running through your head to get through anything--Don't Quit. Your brain might start rationalizing reasons why it's not your fault and why you are getting it worse than anyone ever got it before you. And it will be complete crap. Don't Quit.

If you can take being treated like dirt, and you do that by understanding that YOU, formerly an intelligent and self reliant person that doesn't need anyone for anything, are now part of a machine that for the moment requires you NOT to think, you will be okay. After bootcamp you will suddenly be required to think again. During bootcamp you are just a piece of meat. You need to be a tough piece of meat, mentally. When you arrive, no matter how many people you've talked to, you don't know what is going on. You will be disoriented the entire time. There is no routine. All your personal belongings--including your hair--are gone. Your identity is gone. You are just a naked dude in a row of 60 other naked dudes and whatever you are is what you do. For 3 months you won't have a single thought but what you are going to do in the next 30 seconds. You'll feel like a tree that was just pulled up by the roots. You won't ever feel completely replanted again. After bootcamp you get 10 days and then you are off to your occupational school which is harder than bootcamp. And they treat your worse and much more is expected of you and everything moves at a faster pace--except you sometimes get weekends off. And you can smoke.

And then you get to your unit eventually--I spent a month on working parties at Pendleton waiting for a plane to Okinawa. And in your unit you are probably going to be shipped to Iraq or Afganistan. We went to Desert Shield with about 40% strength back in Aug '90. When the newly trained arrivals showed up in December I remember their eyes as big as dinner plates as we eagerly lumbered, disheveled, toward the trucks to divide them up. You'll feel like fresh meat again wherever you end up. Unless Obama fixes the world in the next year.

And then there is the issue of getting shot. A combat zone is a place you won't be able to avoid in the marines. The rules hover out of sight. They may pounce on you at any time, but they don't protect you like they do anywhere else. Anytime you engage the enemy you are at risk of being attacked by the rules afterwards. Also, you may find yourself with a moral dilema you may find hard to sort out. I personally have 3 or 4 events I wish had not have happened as they did. I guess killing people that you think don't really want to kill you and are going through the motions is different than killing people that are actively engaged in trying to kill you. Either way, you'll have some baggage somewhere.

I hope this lengthy discourse has been of some value. Like I said, you don't get shot, it doesn't really matter. Maybe join something where you get money for college. I joined the marines because of all the years I spent flipping through the Time Life World War II series. Those pictures in the Island Fighting book--nobody has bigger balls than someone that will jump out of a landing craft that has bullets drumming against the sides. I could not stand thinking someone was tougher than me on this planet. I did get to do landings, but not with people shooting at me. I didn't end up feeling disappointment.

 

[Deamers87ford]

thank you i think ill join the day after my 17th birthday.

 

[oldjohnny]

Have you though about joining some type of ROTC program in college? A Senior Military College is a great option. Here at Texas A&M, we have the Corps of Cadets. I have met many people in the Corps and they plan on serving after college. A Senior Military College offers great advantages.

http://www.amcsus.org/ Give it a look, most of the cadets I've met will more than likely come out as officers. Also, if you don't want a long term commitment, you can join without a military contract. This means that you can drop the military/school life and continue with your major career path. You should call one of the Senior Military Colleges for more info. I know Texas A&M must have some type of Scholarships for out of state students.

 

[4x4fun]

i would ask you to think of it this way, dont go in any one branch just to be in the branch, get your asvab score and shop around, 4,8, 10 years is a drop in the hat compared to life, you are a tool in the military. so make the military a tool for you, get the best deal the most money the most school right out of the get go, and suck every benny out of the service, schooling college, everything, its suck in the short but amazing in the long.

 

[4x4fun]

side note, idk were you are in Pa, but the UofD is handing out roct scholarships, there begging people, just some thin else to suck from the service

 

[Grunizzle]

My advice would be to wait untill your out of high school for 1-2 years. The military is a huge commitment. I am the DEP program for the air force right now and I graduated in 2007. I almost enlisted the day after graduation when I was 17, but I thought there would be to many things I would miss. Basically life after public education is way differnt in 2 years your going to be different, so jusy wait IMO.

 

[Mac]

Got some kind of plan of what you want to end up doing for a lively hood? They can promise you a lot but don't have to deliever. You want to go into a more high tech field, I'd look somewhere else, another branch of service. Check them all out. You can get some really good benifits, education from all of them. Almost signed up in '66' but sure glad I didn't, that war got ugly. Marines always get the hot spots first.
Dave

 

[fastpakr]

Got some kind of plan of what you want to end up doing for a lively hood? They can promise you a lot but don't have to deliever. You want to go into a more high tech field, I'd look somewhere else, another branch of service. Check them all out. You can get some really good benifits, education from all of them. Almost signed up in '66' but sure glad I didn't, that war got ugly. Marines always get the hot spots first.
Dave

All of the branches have tech fields. Some more than others, of course, but as long as you know what MOS you're looking for, you'll find something that interests you everywhere. Just have to make sure you qualify. You also have to be SURE that what gets put on paper is the MOS you requested. We had a few kids in boot that didn't keep an eye on things and found out they'd been put in the wrong MOS. Nightmare to fix then (not possible sometimes).

Pretend you're shopping for a car. Make sure you get the best deal, and don't hesitate to shop around. If they are short on numbers, they'll dig for everything they can come up with to sweeten the deal and get you to sign.

 

[Defective]

We had an ROTC program (or was it JROTC) in high school. Do you have anything like that at any of your local schools?

 

[Deamers87ford]

well i talked to some people and i am considering goin to wyotech for diesel and automotive techs i think i will be better there since im love workin on my truck why not do it for a living

 

[JeepRecoveryTeam]

Yeap i did best and worst 5 years of my life so far

 

[tpking]

see how just over night you changed your mind? like i said always better to wait till after high school and then see what your options are. as of right now you have every option you could imagine.

 

[Joey Stacks]

alright first off like homey said GET ALL PROMISES IN WRITING they told my buddy he could get twenty thousand cash instead of 50 thousand for college and never gave it to him he even went out and bought a nissan 350z when they told him that and got stuck with the payments.

dont watch an army movie and think its all fun and cool killing and stuff people like RAMBO die in real life

make that decision after talking to some army veterans and some people currently enlisted the military is not right for everyone and it dosent pay very well

the 3 R's RESEARCH RESEARCH AND RESEARCH

 

[Deamers87ford]

well thanks to everyone but i dont think i want to join anymore. i thought it would be great but it not what i thought so im goin to have to start saving for wyotech