x2 lol @ ‘omfg i’m going to be special forces’ - we had one dude during ibolc who wouldn’t stfu about how he was totally going ranger batt and to group. dude failed out of land nav and the 12mi ruck, got recycled, failed again, and was forced to rebranch.
[/quote]
This is great stuff here, mostly because it is true and every Officer course has at least one wanna-be SF, pillow biter. Once they get balls deep into some of the training they realize that attempting SF (or special ops) sucks bigger dick than they first thought.
To the OP:
Anyway, lots of good info already given. I’m currently a phag, pencil-pushing Battalion S-1 (Captain). As has been mentioned, you will be a desk jockey once you get some rank. I was an Artillery Officer and XO for almost two years. Guess what I did? Paper work. So just get use to the fact that you too will do the same thing. It’s just part of the job.
If you become an Infantry Officer, you might be able to prolong the inevitable and get a bit more time as a PL and not sit behind a desk.
As for the Marines, I would avoid it, unless you just want the experience.
I’ll also echo an earlier sentiment of looking into the Air Force. If I could do it over again, that is the route I would have taken.
I guess I’m the root of all evil here since I was direct commissioned into the Air Force. Since I’ve only been in for a month, I have no right to comment on jobs or lifestyle. However, I will say that I’ve met a Marine and a few spec ops guys who ended up going to grad school and commissioning back in for law, medicine and dentistry. After talking with these guys, I got the impression that it’s cool to be a rifle carrying, fast lining, drown proofed BAMF, but eventually you might want more promotion potential, earnings or stable living.
I guess what I’m getting at is… What happens if you don’t get what you want? Most spec ops programs have a wash out rate of 90%. I’m not saying that you won’t make the cut. But if you don’t, are you okay with working in logistics, personnel, sanitation, etc.? A large portion of the military doesn’t fight but supports those who are fighting instead. I think if you get your commission, your odds of getting stuck with something you really despise is going to be lower.
Just a suggestion. Go to Air Force ROTC and try to get selected to become a Combat Rescue Officer (CRO). You can go through Phase 2 while you’re still in college and get a good sense of if you can make the cut. Graduate, go to indoc and start leading pararescue teams. A PJ instructor in my OTS class explained how because the PJs never had officers before, they’re now trying to get leaders in. You’d have the chance to do some really awesome spec ops stuff and maybe even integrate with Tier 1 forces. Otherwise you get to live the cushy Chair Force life.
Just remember that there are lots of other factors that contribute to wash outs other than not being able to hack it. I lost my shot at being a STO due to a lung infection and I have friends that didn’t make it due to other injuries. The most undermanned job in the Air Force right now is spec ops navigator. So just make yourself valuable and you can still get into the community without being an actual snake eater. The Air Force as a whole might be downsizing but AFSOC is always hiring experienced officers. Not to mention living in the Florida pan handle is pretty nice for the small amount of time you will spend stateside, especially during spring break. Rated wings will take you further in the Air Force than anything else too, just in case you get old and want money and stability.
You also might want to avoid the advice of COT graduates. . .
[quote]Tyrant wrote:
Firstly I’m a little lost, you’re out of high school, and an adult, and you’re parents aren’t letting you enlist immediately. Why exactly does it matter what they think?
As far as gaining rank in the Corps, like others have said it can be difficult due to size constraints. A few buddies in several MOS’s said that picking up e-5 was easy, and could be done in the minimum amount of time due to most people getting out after 4 years. However, after e-5 it’s tough because most people above you stay for 20+. But regardless, in the Corps you should be e-7 or e-8 after 20 years in.
IMO, go find a grunt, and ask him about his life.[/quote]
No, I’m still in highschool.
Luke[/quote]
Then graduate high school, and do whatever the hell you want. And Holymac is right about the corps, there’s not much difference between them and any other branch. Except that in boot camp, you have an extra month to learn drill. The uniforms are infinitely more bad ass then other branches, and the living conditions are infinitely worse then any other branch.
Seriously though, go live, make your own mistakes. If you want to be a Force Recon Marine, go for it. You might fail, end up as a basic infantry marine and end up seeing more combat. That’s the benefit of the corps and army over the other branches special forces teams. In the navy if you fail out of BUDS, you’re going to be painting a ship for a while. with the corps and army, you can still at least go into a combat MOS, potentially that is.
[quote]quaffloid wrote:
You also might want to avoid the advice of COT graduates. . . [/quote]
It’s true, we’re pretty much worthless. I can’t deny that we had a cushy time. I’m just relaying what I’ve been told by some of my classmates who were priors.
As a SF officer you will get 2 years (maybe 3 if you are REALLY lucky) of team time. After that an officer will spend their career in various staff jobs or maybe they get lucky and get a company or battalion for a year. If you want to spend time on a SF Team then you need to be an NCO or spend some time as an NCO and then drop a warrant packet.
I knew an officer that looked like Opie but one time fired an M-249 in each hand.
This was in training…not in combat by the way. If there was an officer that would fire an M-249 in each hand in combat I’m not sure if I’d suck him off for eternity or kick his ass myself.
I was actually the SAW gunner ( well in Canada we called it the C7) for my platoon and it wasn’t heavy or anything…but it sounded cooler to fire two of them than it looks like in Mac’s video.
Maybe because it was 1993. Though I don’t know why that would matter. Maybe because there were left-over Nazis or something.
OP, I was enlisted in the Army and later became an officer in the Marines so I’ve got experience from both sides. Here’s a few random thoughts…
I’ll say that my experience with the camaraderie in the Corps was considerably higher than in the Army. It might have been a unit thing but that’s how I saw it. I was in an armored Bn in the Army and grunt battalion/regt in the Marines so I can’t speak for how it is in the support units.
sjoconn was right about team time and that can be extrapolated to any unit. As a Platoon Commander you get a lot of face time with your Marines and you get some great experience. That only lasts two or three years then you move up in rank and your job changes. You just have to be OK with that.
You have no guarantees as an officer in the Marine Corps unless you’re going law or aviation. At The Basic School they rank your company in thirds and then that third is also ranked in thirds (confusing isn’t it?). Then they allocate the MOSs in each third. So if you’re in the middle of the top third (which is where I was) you probably won’t get that grunt slot unless there are a lot of openings but that LT who’s in the middle or bottom third will get it. You also have to be OK with that otherwise you’ll be frustrated to no end. I went to a grunt BN so I was fine with it. Had I gone to a support BN I probably would not have been. I don’t know how the Army runs their officer programs.
There is a lot of tradition in the Marines. Does that mean we are better? We like to think so and other branches end up giving us endless grief over it.
We do get second rate gear. No doubt about that and we used to joke about our 46’s being the same ones that our father’s flew in during Vietnam. But you make due with what you have.
I’m extremely glad that I became an officer if for no other reason than to simply say that I did it. A lot of people say “I could do that no problem” but not everyone can. There’s a lot of background checks, a huge physical, OCS, TBS, Mos school (IOC if you’re lucky), etc. It’s a lot of schooling and you’ll be itching to go to the fleet.
I’ll be really interested in hearing what you ultimately decide on. If you want to know anything else in particular then shoot me a PM.
I was in the engineering corps in the army. I was supposed to be a REMF designing stuff.
I ended up in Gaza, in civilian clothes, driving a minivan, as bombs dropped, chiefly marking where on buildings the planes should put their bombs to make them fall down without crushing other buildings (where innocent people were) and then leaving quickly.
(The joys of fighting people who hide behind women and children, and we still caught shit as careful as we were.)
I still do the reserve thing for a month each year.
