Hi Lord Doog,
Thank you for the information you have provided, Sir. I understand the age limit for the commission and am certain I will be able to earn my commission before that day.
My appologies about saying rate instead of MOS. The honest to god truth is I have been researching the Navy for a while and decided on the Corps just recently. I like the lifestyle in the Corps and I like how much pride there is in the Corps as well. Plus, I am a big fan of The Basic School and like that it is tough and that it is six months of leadership training, I want that when I get my commission.
I understand what you mean about how it does not help my situation and I am aware of that, but something seems to be drawing me toward enlisting and its not just my financial situation. I don't know why but I want that enlisted-person's perspective. I feel it will truly teach me how to be an effective leader.
Also, regarding the PLC program. Thank you for that information as well and I have looked into that. I found out the program will pay me about $3000 each summer for two summers. But what I don't understand though is, if I got my commission before my senior year, would that mean I would actually get an O-1 pay each month while in college?
I tried Google'ing that question but came up short on an exact answer.
Before I give any advice I'll let it be known that I am niether an Officer or a Pilot. I spent four years as an Enlisted Marine and found myself in a very similar position to where you are now. With college acceptances in hand and the 90 day reservist option pushed at me, I decided to drop everything and enlist active duty for four years. For me this was the right choice. Two deployments to OIF and a lot of "tough love" experience matured me in many ways. At 18 I was nowhere near where I needed to be in terms of maturity to be an Officer. That said, my decision may not be the right one for you. You may have the maturity and dedication that I lacked back then.
I will tell you right off the bat that life as a Junior Enlisted Marine would quite likely frustrate someone who already has the qualifications and maturity to be an Officer. For most of your enlistment you'll be treated quite like a child, getting herded from one place to the next, usually without anyone bothering to tell you whats going on, or asking for your opinion. For someone like me who likes to think big picture this can be very frustrating. After the first year or two the machinegun shoots, MOUT, helicopter rides, and excitment of deployment will wear off while the "hurry up and wait", field days, and ass chewings will begin to come front and center in your brain. Once you become an NCO life will improve a bit and you'll experience your fairshare of leadership. This leadership will be completely different than the leadership an Officer excersises though. To sum it up, my enlisted time in the Marine Corps made me realize that I liked the Marine Corps but that I didn't particularly like being an enlisted Marine. After my first deployment, I felt I had gotten all I wanted out of my experience and that an enlisted career wasn't in my future. I was simply waiting for the clock to run down. A two year enlistment would have been perfect for me.
Less than a year from the end of my contract I'm sitting here in college very seriously considering OCS and a career as a Marine Corps Officer. Many of my friends, who swore up and down they'd never consider the Marine Corps again, are also looking into OCS. My point being, we all feel that a career as an Officer would be very different and more rewarding than the 1st term enlisted experience that we often loathed.
I hope am not out of line putting my two cents in here but I felt I had something to offer. Remember that my perspective is only from a one-term infantry Marine, airwingers may have it better. This modicum of experience is no way representative of the entire career of an enlisted Marine....it's just representative of what your first four years will likely be.
