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Infantry vs. naval mechanic

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Shaggy

Registered User
Heya,

I am a freshman at embry riddle. January 19th I am going into the usmc reserves. My job is an f18 mechanic. How long is mos and mechanic school for a naval mechanic? someone told me with confidence that they think it is 18 months?

If its too long I will go infantry which is my second choice. I heard infantry mos is 8 months. is this correct?
 

Taxman2A

War were declared.
The 18 months (AFTER the three months for recruit training) sounds about right for a highly technical MOS like F18 mechanic.

If you went to recruit training in January and went Infantry, you would be back from training in plenty of time to start up school again the next fall (you'd probably even get to enjoy a good amount of the summer too). If you go F18 mechanic you probably won't be starting up school again until the NEXT fall (2005)... so keep that in mind when making your decision.
 

Crowbar

New Member
None
18 months is probably a little long (but not by much) if you count start of boot camp to completion of all MOS training.
Recruit trng-3 mos
School of Infantry-1 mo
Basic AD School (or whatever it's called now)-a few months
Advanced F-18 mech trng-a few more months

Each of those stands to have a waiting period in between. For me, I was an avionics tech (comm/nav) and from the time I went to boot camp until the time I finished all my entry-level training was 15 months. I also had minimal wait periods in starting all my classes.
 

Shaggy

Registered User
Well Ill call my recruiter and ask them to change me to infantry. Ill be applying for a plc pilot slot and hope to graduate early anway.

Many thanks!!!
 

Pat1USMC

Enroute to VMAQ-1
Just curious, why did you enlist while in college knowing that you were going to apply for PLC? Sounds a little crazy to me. Thats a lot of work, especially if you have hopes to graduate early!
 

Shaggy

Registered User
Yeah, I know it does. First is the money would be a big help. This school is costing me 40k a year and im getting very little help. I wanna be an OE (mustang). A lot of other reasons with the main one being it feels so right to do.

Just following my instincts.
 

Shaggy

Registered User
Alright...I called my recruiter. He looked it up and said pensicola training is 14 weeks for an f18 mechanic. He gave me a few sites to further check it out. I was able to come up with this for my training...

Basic...13 weeks
Infantry...5 week
formal "A" school at NATTC, NAS Pensacola, FL...I'm guessing this is the 14 weeks he saw in one of his books
formal "C" school at VFA-125 FREST, NAS Lemoore, CA...This is new to me

Can someone please verify, add, or subtract from the above and add any other training I will go through?
 

E5B

Lineholder
pilot
Super Moderator
Don't forget the 10 days of leave after boot camp, which is well deserved, and any travel time in-between schools

Originally posted by mrtheshaggy
. I wanna be an OE (mustang).

You won't get 0-1E pay as a prior reservist, but you will be considered a Mustang.

A lot of other reasons with the main one being it feels so right to do.

Just following my instincts.

Awesome! Thats what its all about.
 

Pat1USMC

Enroute to VMAQ-1
I'm still curious...if you don't care answering my questions...
You're gonna go through boot camp the summer after freshman year, and go through all the training for your MOS during the summer too or whenever. Then you'll go back to school. You'll do your weekend a month, and two weeks a year for reserve. This will probably be waived since you're in school, especially when you apply for PLC. Then you'll go to PLC JR the summer after sophomore year, and PLC SR the summer after Junior year. AND graduate early?
Are you doing this just to say you were enlisted or what? Because the time you'll actually train as an enlisted Marine is going to be very slim. I'm just trying to help you figure out if this is really what you want to do. We had several Marines at TBS who were "prior enlisted" but everyone knew all they did was go to boot camp.
Just make sure this will really get you, realistically, to your final goal of getting a pilot slot. And trust me on this one, don't do anything for the money. I'm sure college is expensive, but getting a waitering job will take care of the bills a lot better than enlisted in the reserves for a couple months will.
Good luck.
 

airwinger

Member
pilot
Pat1, I'm curious so going to boot camp doesn't make you a "prior enlisted" Marine? Or is it just the reserves. What about those reservists coming back home with Combat Action Ribbons?
Mrtheshaggy-Reserves are a very useful time. I certainly had some contempt for enlisted guys, then I realized just how hard they work and how much the Corps relies on the backs of those PFC's and the skill of the NCO's. This is true whether reserve or active. Plus believe me, there's a certain attitude that disappears when Marines find out you were once enlisted.
Then again, remember you are in the military, and they don't care that you're going to school. So if it's off to Iraq for a year then it's off you go.
airwinger
 

FrogFly

Knibb High Football Rules!
Let's not blur the distinction between a regular reservist and a reservist who got called to war. Look, I can certainly relate to what Pat1 said. There IS a difference between the one weekend a year/two weeks a month guy vs. the individual who spent the whole time on active duty. However, let's not blow this out of proportion and attempt to say I have no respect for a regular reservist. Nevertheless, start talking about the fleet and time on deployments and all you'll see is a blank stare. The real-world experience just isn't there...
 

Pat1USMC

Enroute to VMAQ-1
I wasn't even touching on the reserve vs active thing. I was trying to say that since he'll be at college AND PLC, he won't even do reserve training. I've seen a guy go to boot camp for reserves, and then not even do MOS training because he was in school and applied for PLC.
Airwinger - besides misunderstanding me, you made a good point. If they need you over in Iraq, your college and PLC will be put on hold and you'll be activated for as long as they want. Think about that.
 

Banjo33

AV-8 Type
pilot
Patrick, I think you're talking way over your head. If he wants to go enlisted/reserves, he should be encouraged to, not have someone with ZERO experience try and steer him away. Not only will it be an invaluable asset to him with his career as an officer, give him experiences a lot of the "non-priors" have none of (that WILL allow him to relate better with the enlisted as an officer), but it'll also limit that uncertainty YOU felt throughout most of YOUR initial training (OCS AND TBS).

If you want to go enlisted as a reservist, then by all means, DO IT! I was a grunt reservist (went in two weeks after graduating high school), spent 13 weeks in San Diego, two weeks of leave, then 9 weeks in SOI/MOS school (also at Pendleton). I started college in January, vice September and felt I was BETTER prepared (not to mention more disciplined) than my fellow classmates. YOU'LL NOT REGRET IT! You'll drill once a month and if not at OCS, you'll train for two weeks in the summer. You'll meet a lot of great people, get a VERY good understanding of how things work in the fleet (without having to live in it 7 days a week), you'll have an awesome time, and the pay comes in VERY handy. Airwinger has done it, as well as many of the guys you'll meet at OCS, TBS, and wherever you go from there.
 

EA-6B1

PLC Jrs 1st Inc. Kilo-3
I'm applying for PLC-C, and I wish I would have gone after high school and then onto college in the fall. My roomate did this: went to Boot Camp at PI, came to school in the fall and spring, then went SOI (his MOS is 0311) in the summer after his freshman year. then that leaves two summers for PLC. I, personally, didn't look into. I was the guy that ignored the Marines calling me after school twice a week. I honestly didnt know about the reserves to PLC thing in high school. Do what you want, man. Thats my story.
 
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