Reserve to Officer
A lot of good points have already been established, but I wanted to add a few as well.
The life as an enlisted man is very EASY in the sense that everything you need to do to be successful has already been mapped for you. When you are a young Marine at a reserve unit, it is easy to get motivated by senior men because they feel it is their place to tell you what's going on, or try to get you jacked up in good humor. The motivation as an enlisted reservist will undoubtedly fade over a period of time as you mature and get used to your fellow reservists. This is a simple fact of life in the reserves. Not everyone is as motivated as you and sometimes, Marines fail to make it to muster in time if at all.
As a Lance Corporal, I was paving a path to being a Marine Officer. Everything I did from boot camp to MOS school was from a leadership billet. I KNEW I was going to be a Marine Officer and nobody was going to talk me out of it. I checked in to the reserve unit and was "indoctrinated" to reserve life and being a fleet Marine and I grew to love being a Marine more than the thought of being a Marine Officer. After a few ass-chewings for the faults of others and missing score for Corporal by less than 20 points for a year straight (the damn score kept rising), I was invigorated to step up. My motivation to be a god Officer was at the expense of seeing leadership of Officers that were not known to be great.
When you make it to Corporal, you are welcome to a club of NCO's whom bring you into their circle and rely on you to square things away. If you get to lead a squad, you will enhance your leadership abilities and confidence to get things accomplished with other Marines hands. Keep in mind that every Marine fills a slot in a T/O (look it up). If a lesser qualified Marine can fill your slot, and you qualify to be a great officer in a higher slot, who is it that you are really "screwing over"? If you can finish in the middle of the field at OCS, that is one less guy at the bottom "slipping through the cracks" (which does happen, but gets addressed when they screw up in the fleet).
In terms of leading Marines the transformation from NCO to Officer is...awkward and very humbling. You can't say the usual stuff you say as an NCO or rest on your prior success. You are constantly bettering yourself to "distance yourself from the pack" and lead by example. The joking cuts down a bit and gets cleaner, the "d*cking around" almost ceases and the pranks no longer exist. Your judgment is now subject to the scrutiny of those above and below you and there is no excuse for a lapse in that.
I'll just say that I planned to go active duty after college be it as an NCO, or a Commissioned Officer. The fact that I'm an officer now is truly a dream come true, and the fact that I make twice as much as I did before with a Career out of college is an accomplishment few can claim.
I am an American. I am a Marine. I am an Officer. It is in that order that express my allegiance, and I don't give a flaming crap if someone calls that gay, dorky, or motarded. Anyone that questions this should examine their own principles.
S/F
(I apologize for that final pontification)
A lot of good points have already been established, but I wanted to add a few as well.
The life as an enlisted man is very EASY in the sense that everything you need to do to be successful has already been mapped for you. When you are a young Marine at a reserve unit, it is easy to get motivated by senior men because they feel it is their place to tell you what's going on, or try to get you jacked up in good humor. The motivation as an enlisted reservist will undoubtedly fade over a period of time as you mature and get used to your fellow reservists. This is a simple fact of life in the reserves. Not everyone is as motivated as you and sometimes, Marines fail to make it to muster in time if at all.
As a Lance Corporal, I was paving a path to being a Marine Officer. Everything I did from boot camp to MOS school was from a leadership billet. I KNEW I was going to be a Marine Officer and nobody was going to talk me out of it. I checked in to the reserve unit and was "indoctrinated" to reserve life and being a fleet Marine and I grew to love being a Marine more than the thought of being a Marine Officer. After a few ass-chewings for the faults of others and missing score for Corporal by less than 20 points for a year straight (the damn score kept rising), I was invigorated to step up. My motivation to be a god Officer was at the expense of seeing leadership of Officers that were not known to be great.
When you make it to Corporal, you are welcome to a club of NCO's whom bring you into their circle and rely on you to square things away. If you get to lead a squad, you will enhance your leadership abilities and confidence to get things accomplished with other Marines hands. Keep in mind that every Marine fills a slot in a T/O (look it up). If a lesser qualified Marine can fill your slot, and you qualify to be a great officer in a higher slot, who is it that you are really "screwing over"? If you can finish in the middle of the field at OCS, that is one less guy at the bottom "slipping through the cracks" (which does happen, but gets addressed when they screw up in the fleet).
In terms of leading Marines the transformation from NCO to Officer is...awkward and very humbling. You can't say the usual stuff you say as an NCO or rest on your prior success. You are constantly bettering yourself to "distance yourself from the pack" and lead by example. The joking cuts down a bit and gets cleaner, the "d*cking around" almost ceases and the pranks no longer exist. Your judgment is now subject to the scrutiny of those above and below you and there is no excuse for a lapse in that.
I'll just say that I planned to go active duty after college be it as an NCO, or a Commissioned Officer. The fact that I'm an officer now is truly a dream come true, and the fact that I make twice as much as I did before with a Career out of college is an accomplishment few can claim.
I am an American. I am a Marine. I am an Officer. It is in that order that express my allegiance, and I don't give a flaming crap if someone calls that gay, dorky, or motarded. Anyone that questions this should examine their own principles.
S/F
(I apologize for that final pontification)
