Motion Sickness?

[Infinitum]

I suffer from motion sickness while on boats. Since the Marine Corps is the department of the Navy, I was curious how much time a marine would typically spend at sea. And if something such as this would require a waiver of somesort to show I can handle it with a medication of some sort.

Thanks Marines!

[thewookie]

Since the Marine Corps is the department of the Navy

THE MEN'S DEPARTMENT.

Carry on.

[DrZ]

This somewhat limits your capability to serve. What about flying? Some of the birds we are put on give the same motion sensation of boats.

I might suggest you think long and hard about joining something that may put you on a ship or may put you on some of the planes the Marine Corps still flies.

[03Mike]

There are some Marines who never set foot aboard a ship their entire time in the Corps, and there are some that will be deployed upon ships numerous times during their time in. Some Marines are assigned to "Sea Duty" - where their duty station is a ship. Many Marines will deploy aboard Navy ships as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). MEU deployments typically last 6 months, but many can extend to 7 or more.

Some folks will tell you that ships don't rock around as much as "boats" - that they are more stable - while that may be true, I've see amphibous ships take waves over the bow and have been deployed when Marines and all non-essential crew were restricted to quarters because of rough seas.

So - don't bet on any waivers. Marines are, by definition, "Soldiers of the Sea" - if sea sickness is an issue, you can either take your chances and if necessary, puke a lot, or join the Army.

To be honest, in my experience, those Marines who get sea sick do so for about the first week or ten days (at worst) and eventually get their "sea legs". Of course, when it's really rough....

[Infinitum]

Thanks for your responses all! I am really hoping I grow out of my motion sickness (I'm a sophmore in high school). I know I could push throught the seasickness but I just wouldn't want to do something to put other Marines in danger. But there is a chance I wouldn't be on a boat, so I guess I should just cross my fingers and hope for the best yeah?

Edit: Wait so if a Marine has motion sickness but does b*tch about it its no big deal?

[Quinbo]

The corpsman can give you dramamine or them little pink bandaids you put behind your ears. The ships store sells ritz crackers. If riding in a ship makes you sick then just imagine yourself crammed in the back of a steel box, with 17 other sweaty dudes, and the only light is a little bitty red light. Smells like disel fuel and bobs around like a cork for an hour at sea before making land then it becomes a carnival ride gone berzerk. They call that a ride in an am-trac.

Just about any mode of transportation the Marines use could cause and often does cause motion sickness.

The only time I really fealt queasy and ready to puke is after hitting land. You get so used to the ship rocking that when you hit land it seems like the whole world is rocking.

[thewookie]

a ride in an am-trac


:sick: Oh, yeah -- came off the back of the USS Debuque once in a trac heading to green beach in the PI. :sick:

[Old Marine]

Just don't rock the boat and stay off of LST's.

If you get sick just go to the rail and puke, but don't stand down wind at the rail.

[Phantom Blooper]

Marines returning to amphibious roots

December 02, 2010 4:59 PM
LINDELL KAY

After 10 years of fighting two land wars, the Marine Corps is returning to its amphibious roots.

The U.S. Navy’s Second Fleet and Marine Corps’ II Marine Expeditionary Force are scheduled beginning Dec. 11 for a series of team up exercises — called Bold Alligator — meant to revitalize the Corps’ amphibious capabilities, II MEF spokesman Capt. Timothy Patrick said.

The return to an amphibious mindset was called for in 2008 by Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps. Amos, who led II MEF in Iraq and is the first Marine aviator to serve as commandant, told Marines and sailors he expected them to reestablish themselves as “fighters from the sea.”

To that end, Bold Alligator is the first installment in what will be regularly scheduled large-scale amphibious exercises involving the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and the Expeditionary Strike Group 2.

Considering nearly 80 percent of Earth’s population lives near the water, and most of the littorals and straits of the world are accessible to large military forces only via sea lanes, a sea-ready military is a necessity, Brig. Gen. Christopher S. Owens, II MEF’s deputy commanding general, said during a media roundtable Thursday to discuss the upcoming exercises.

“These urban areas are beleaguered with poverty, lack of food, water, education and reliable medical care,” he said. “All these factors make these locations the most susceptible to influence of violent extremist ideologies, which spread conflict well beyond their own borders.”

Owens, who has accumulated more than 4,000 flight hours in various types of aircraft, said only amphibious forces can respond with the required speed necessary when one of the world’s hotspots flares up.

The first step of Bold Alligator will be mostly for military planners with actual beach exercises to follow next year. The training scenario includes fighting against insurgents in one country while evacuating refugees from a bordering nation, a situation “indicative of potential conflict situations currently in many parts of the world,” Owens said.

Such a mission, which would require a rapid deployment of troops and the quick evacuation of thousands of non-combatants, could only be accomplished by amphibious forces, he said.

Owens said that there is a common misconception that amphibious operations are synonymous with amphibious assaults and that the U.S. hasn’t conducted amphibious operations since the Battle of Iwo Jima or the invasion of Inchon during the Korean War.

“In the past two decades, our nation has conducted more than 100 amphibious operations in response to international security threats and crises, with the vast majority of these falling into non-combatant evacuations, disaster relief, or similar crisis response operations — a response rate more than double that during the Cold War era,” he said.

Owens pointed to Haiti as a prime example. He said Marines and sailors were based afloat and operated ashore to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti after a devastating earthquake earlier this year.

Bold Alligator, scheduled for Dec. 11-17, has been designed to reacquaint brigades and group level commands with the Marine Corps amphibious doctrine, allow them to brush up on their tactical skill sets and ready logistical requirements.

[Infinitum]

Once again thanks a lot for all of the info! Its really reassuring to know that motion sickness won't make me ineligible to try and become a Marine. As long as the Corpsman can give me some dramamine it would be like I'm not even sick, that stuff works really well on me. So again thanks for all the info Marines!

[sparkie]

Had a friend I would visit in sick bay everyday for 2 weeks. Aboard the Tripoli in 1971. He had to be fed by iv, could hold nothing down. Finally they put him on a chopper and I never saw him again. Extreme case.
We all suffered a little, at least I never puked till I had to spend one nite on an LST. Choppered over to that boat for comm problems and the weather went south. Bad nite.
If you are controllable, you'll do fine.

[revleo]

We are at our best when covered in sea water. Time will make it manageable. But only just. If you are prepared to put up with it. If you are willing to struggle through. Then years down the road you can answer this same question to a young budding Marine in waiting. And yes we all eventually will see some water time. Does not matter what posting you have. We all go back to the sea. If you spend any time in the Corps. You will have some sea time.