New Marine

[postman8]

Hello there,

This is my first time back to this board since shipping to OCS on June 2nd. I was commissioned on Aug 9th and am currently enjoying some leave before reporting to TBS on Aug 30th. For all of you on here who are still on the civilian side of things trying to get your questions answered and doing soul searching about going or not, let me just say that while the word "awesome" is immensely over used in our society, the time at OCS and becoming an actual Marine are just that- AWESOME, in the true sense of the word. It is not for everyone, our platoon started with 41 and finished with 28. Attrition for the whole company was about 50%. I'm not saying that to brag, I'm saying it to let people thinking about this now that: 1) It is hard 2) It is doable, if give it a 100% and don't quit. As a 2nd Lt, I don't know much of anything about anything except for OCS, but feel free ask any questions you have, and I'll do my best to answer. Here's some advice I received before shipping to OCS from a Marine friend and boy was it true: Never miss an opportunity to eat, sleep, or change your socks. For the most part they take care of eating for you, but be sure to sleep as much as possible as soon as lights go out- don't stay up late studying- the rest is most important and take care of your feet the vast majority of injuries which sent people home were of the feet, so break in your boots good before going and keep your feet clean and dry as much as possible down there. Oorah.

 

[spidrwmn]

Congrats! I know that there are vast differences between Marine and Navy OCS, but any advice when it comes to dealing with Marine DIs?

- spider

 

[Raptor2216]

There is no such thing as "dealing with Marine DI's" when you are at OCS. Just do what they say and don't lose your bearing. If they tell you to do something then do it fast. It will probbaly take a week or so to get used to the yelling and friendly treatment but then you will be just fine. One way to look at it is that they are just doing their job and they don't hate you. If you can keep that in mind then you should have no trouble at all. Good luck.

 

[DBLang]

Hi Postman,
I went in to talk to a marine recruiter (not an OSO) about PLC last week. He seems pretty intent getting me into a reserve unit and says it will get me into and prepared for PLC without a doubt. Once Im in the PLC program he says I will no longer have any obligation to my reserve unit. Im a little timid about this because it doesnt seem worth it to send a marine through Boot then relieve him of his commitment after a semester of college. Do you know anything about this?

Thanks and Congrats

 

[cman]

DB, I'd check with an OSO before you go and sign up for a Paris Island vacation. Something about what this recruiter is doing seems a little shifty to me. I checked in to PLC at one time and no where did I ever read or hear anything about an enlisted commitment in order to get to PLC. Actually, I believe the point of PLC is to give you (and the Corps) a chance to see if you both would make a good match, and without any obligation.

C

 

[JayManC]

DB
As far as I know there is no enlisted commitment to the program. My cousin was thinking about PLC for a while, and this past summer he even went to their version of Boot. From what he told me if he chose to get involved with the program then he would get his commission and so on, and if he backed off, then he had to repay it like a loan. Well after his experience at boot, when they stuck him with the sandbag of the group whom he was responsible for getting through the program, he decided it wasn't for him, so he withdrew following his return....moral of the story he doesn't owe them anything.

<insert something witty here:>

 

[DMan]

DBLang,

I think what your Marine Recruiter is talking about is getting you to enlist in the Reserve first. You still sign a Reserve enlisted contract, go through boot camp, MCT (Marine Combat Training), and MOS trainings. (That's at least 9 months, could be a lot longer depending on your MOS, so you'll have to miss at least a year of school). After you're done with all these, you will report to your Reserve unit and go back to college.

Then, you can apply to the PLC program (PLC-Air I assume since this is the Airwarrior forum). This is probably what your Recruiter meant: by being an enlisted Marine already, your chance of getting into the PLC program is greatly improved. However, there's no guarantee and it can actually work against your favor: e.g. if you don't meet the weight-height standard while you're in the Reserve (being too fat, i.e.); you got into trouble (NJP- Non-judicial punishment or worse, UCMJ); or you have a low PFT score.

Finally on ending your obligation to your Reserve unit, I'm not sure about that. I know that once you get into ROTC, you are detached from your reserve unit. Not sure about PLC but from what I heard (I know several Marines from my squadron who're doing ROTC and some going for PLC-Air), you're still attached to your Reserve unit until you're commissioned. Might want to check with your OSO on this one.

My advice is, if flying and getting your degree are your top priorities, apply for the PLC right away (talk to an OSO, your Enlisted Recruiter will of course get you to enlist first). If for some reason you get turned down and being a Marine is what you really want, then go for enlist route in the Reserve. That way, you can be a Marine, improve your chances of getting into PLC-Air or OCC later on, AND it will make you a better officer. This is sort of what I'm doing, just waiting to put in my package for Summer' 03 OCC class.

Hope it helps.

DMan

 

[DBLang]

Hey thanks again guys.

 

[Tessone]

Just so you know, there is a split program which allows you to go to boot camp for one summer, then get some OTJ training and stuff with your reserve unit, after which you go to MOS school the following summer. It's designed for college students. However, if you're graduating soon, it doesn't make sense to do this program just to turn around and do OCS. In that case, apply to PLC, and if you get rejected and being a Marine is your top priority, enlist.

 

[jason12]

yea i know its an old post but still.....finally i look back in the forum and see someone with a similar situation....i too made the mistake of going to the enlisted office and almost signed the damn papers to go reserves/PLC in the Marines without even knowing it....something seemed a little odd at the time and the way the recruiter made it out was that you couldn't do PLC without going reserves, very far from the truth, he also told me i'd have to miss this fall in college if i wanted to do that program, something i'm not willing to compromise on, so yesterday i went to the OSO and he told me specifically NOT to do the reserve program if school is my main priority and that you do not need to go reserves to get into the PLC program wow was i relieved, glad i didn't sign anything, now i'm not coming down on the enlisted guys...not buy a long shot but i just didn't really appreciate not even being told that the reserves was an OPTION and not a requirement for PLC....Needless to say i my particular situation i found the OSO to be more helpful

"IF ONE ADVANCES CONFIDENTLY IN THE DIRECTION OF HIS DREAMS,
AND ENDEAVORS TO LIVE THE LIFE WHICH HE HAS IMAGINED, HE WILL MEET WITH A SUCCESS UNEXPECTED IN COMMON HOURS."

 

[Taxman2A]

A long time ago (back when I was in High School), I had a similar pitch come to me from an enlisted recruiter. He didn't say you had to go enlisted reserves to go to OCS, but he strongly recommended it. He said that the civilian candidates drop like flies, and he had never heard of a prior enlisted candidate dropping. It was a good strategy to sell the program, as it seemed like it could be true, but in the end the same percentage of prior enlisted candidates were dropped as compared to civilians (at least in my platoon). In retrospect, I don't know if I would have had the energy to go to Parris Island, and THEN go to 10 weeks of OCS.

Regarding needing to enlist in the reserves to go to OCS- while your recruiter was probably saying this to you in a misleading way, he is not entirely incorrect. When you sign the papers with your OSO to go to OCS, their is a strange anomaly in the contract where during your time at OCS, you are technically a member of the USMCR. The reserve contract voids itself immediately if you either do not go to OCS, get dropped from OCS, go UA, or even if you stay the whole time and graduate. There are several reasons why they put you into the USMCR as a technicality- 1)so you are subject to the UCMJ during your time at OCS (in other words, if you break the law on libo you can be tried in military court, so don't do that ****), and 2) for the purpose of giving you a pay rate for your payroll at OCS. This USMCR contract doesn't incur any true enlisted service time, no matter what happens.

 

[Banjo33]

Not exactly true about not incurring enlisted service time. You do get the "Time in Service" bonus which comes in very handy once you go on active duty (TBS/flight school). Also, you've also got to think about the plus of getting the Reserve GI Bill (I think it's like $275 a month while you're in school) plus drill pay for your weekend drills (I think it was around $250 a weekend). You may also qualify for the tuition assistance once you've finished PLC Jr's which is almost $1000 per semester -- including the E5 pay you get at OCS and your 2 week drill during the summer for the enlisted side. What I'm saying is this all adds up to some pretty good cash -- just to miss your first semester of school. I still qualified for all of my scholarships and grants when I returned -- so I didn't have to work my first two years in college (until I got married -- you women are expensive!!). I think my enlisted time was invaluable to me for college, OCS, TBS, and also hear at Primary. I believe it gave me a head up on my civilian counterparts and therefore everything was less "new" to me during each different program. Sure, you can do fine without enlisting, but don't think it's a bad idea to go that route! Besides, you know the selection board isn't going to frown upon a prior enlisted with letters of recommendation from your CO and Platoon commander --- not to mention all of the fitreps you'll acquire throughout your reserve time (which will only serve to solidify the comments your CO and Platoon Commander will submit in your package). Just something to think about!