Andrew09
12-14-10, 12:10 PM
I leave in just under 3 weeks for Paris Island and just wanted to reflect for a bit so that those who may have just contracted will know not to take the pool for granted.
This month is my 10th month in the RS Canton, GA pool. Here are points I would like to shoot the breeze with:
- 10 months is long enough to see poolees contract, PT, leave for RT, come back, chill with them for 10 days, watch them go to SOI, they come back, chill some more and talk about training and the old DEP days of PT with them, watch them go back off to job school, then they come back and chill some more after that, then they go off and hit the fleet and you talk to them on Facebook about how much they love or hate the job their in. It's motivating to me to see the whole process that we anticipate so much actually take place. Utilize these guys that leave before you or have been in the pool longer to ask questions and get advice, any decent poolee or Marine would be willing to talk to you if you actually have good questions and concerns.
- Yes, waiting 10 months to ship to bootcamp sucks but make the most of it, don't be a lazy poolee that never shows up to PT or only shows up once every 2 weeks because you have "work" or whatever. I understand that a lot of us still have bills and family obligations while we're waiting to leave but just understand that next to God and country, striving for excellence as a future Marine should be high up there on your list of priorities. Make friends in the pool, grab food after PT and talk about stuff -- motivate each other. The pool should be a family of wanna-be-marines and mo-tarded poolees, the sooner you realize this and start working like a team the sooner you'll start motivating yourself/others and preparing yourself to excel in bootcamp.
- Being at the office prepares you more for bootcamp, as well as PT and being around your recruiter. I have not been to bootcamp yet but have had enough friends tell me that often times one of the biggest break-offs to new recruits at RT is the inability to get past the culture shock of Paris Island or San Diego because they BS'd in the DEP and never PT'd or got to know their peers and recruiter. Our office PT's 3 days a week and has 2 pool functions a month, the recruiters teach us, motivate us, break us down, mess with our heads, yell at us, lecture us, and then build us back up again. I've become good friends with my fellow poolees. My PFT/IST blows big chunks of fail but it's because I haven't PT'd as much as I should have. I was doing a high 1st class PFT when I first contracted but now I have a high 2nd class PFT with some odd 30+ points off a 1st class. It's just now starting to come back up because I have fellow poolees who realized I was starting to suck and decided not to let me fail. That's what it's all about and as a result I'm turning right around and helping out the newer poolees the same way the poolees who have already left and become Marines helped me. Don't be worthless, get involved in the pool and don't take the resources that it provides for granted.
- Running, especially in the cold, SUCKS. GET OVER IT. Run everyday or every other day building up over time, because until you see improvement in your run times your not going to be able to motivate yourself effectively and motivate other poolees. This applies to PT in general.
- Referrals. Get them.
- Stay motivated. 10 months is a while, I had times when I second guessed what I was doing and wasn't as motivated to go to PT. Stay focused, it'll all be worth the dedication when your just a couple weeks from your ship date. Befriending your fellow poolees will help with this, I can't tell you how many times I got this text.. "NEAL, where the HELL are you?" from a friend whenever I didn't show up to PT.
- Girls. Ehh, try not to get distracted by girls. Easier said than done but all it does is distract you unless you've actually got a respectable woman who is past all the highschool level bullcrap. Some of you are too ugly to get girlfriends anyway so consider that a blessing in disguise. :beer: On a serious note, don't drop out of the pool over a chick. The right woman will be someone who supports the decisions you make and will be encouraging in them; someone you can also fully trust to stay faithful while your gone.
- Job situations. Look.. you need to decide you want to join the Marines because you want to be a Marine, not for a specific job that would cause you to leave the pool if you weren't able to get it in writing. I'm personally skeptical about my job, it isn't what I initially wanted but people will look up to you in regards to what caliber MARINE you are, not by the job you have. On another note, you never know what's going to happen. I've seen people leave the DEP because an MP job wasn't open, and as soon as they dropped out the job opened up - karma? - so have a good attitude about whatever your doing and don't go through life being worthlessly selfish.
- De-motivation. Everyone get's de-motivated sometimes, usually because of bad IST scores, job availability or second guesses about joining the military. Just cling to your initial decisions for joining, stay focused, keep PTing in a dedicated manner, talk to those around you about it and it'll get better over time. If you can't deal with the trials now how are you going to deal with it in bootcamp?
- Know your crap. Learn the ranks, learn the general orders, learn from your recruiter. If your on this forum then obviously you've taken it upon yourself to go out on your own and educate yourself so that you can do well later on, good on you.
All of this said, I really could babble for paragraphs on end but it all comes back to utilizing the resources available to you and taking the DEP seriously. You'll look back on it and the time you spent preparing for bootcamp and know what you could have done better to prepare yourself.
I'm done rambling now, would be more than happy to answer questions about the pool or get some input from those who have been in the pool for a while as well.
Andrew
This month is my 10th month in the RS Canton, GA pool. Here are points I would like to shoot the breeze with:
- 10 months is long enough to see poolees contract, PT, leave for RT, come back, chill with them for 10 days, watch them go to SOI, they come back, chill some more and talk about training and the old DEP days of PT with them, watch them go back off to job school, then they come back and chill some more after that, then they go off and hit the fleet and you talk to them on Facebook about how much they love or hate the job their in. It's motivating to me to see the whole process that we anticipate so much actually take place. Utilize these guys that leave before you or have been in the pool longer to ask questions and get advice, any decent poolee or Marine would be willing to talk to you if you actually have good questions and concerns.
- Yes, waiting 10 months to ship to bootcamp sucks but make the most of it, don't be a lazy poolee that never shows up to PT or only shows up once every 2 weeks because you have "work" or whatever. I understand that a lot of us still have bills and family obligations while we're waiting to leave but just understand that next to God and country, striving for excellence as a future Marine should be high up there on your list of priorities. Make friends in the pool, grab food after PT and talk about stuff -- motivate each other. The pool should be a family of wanna-be-marines and mo-tarded poolees, the sooner you realize this and start working like a team the sooner you'll start motivating yourself/others and preparing yourself to excel in bootcamp.
- Being at the office prepares you more for bootcamp, as well as PT and being around your recruiter. I have not been to bootcamp yet but have had enough friends tell me that often times one of the biggest break-offs to new recruits at RT is the inability to get past the culture shock of Paris Island or San Diego because they BS'd in the DEP and never PT'd or got to know their peers and recruiter. Our office PT's 3 days a week and has 2 pool functions a month, the recruiters teach us, motivate us, break us down, mess with our heads, yell at us, lecture us, and then build us back up again. I've become good friends with my fellow poolees. My PFT/IST blows big chunks of fail but it's because I haven't PT'd as much as I should have. I was doing a high 1st class PFT when I first contracted but now I have a high 2nd class PFT with some odd 30+ points off a 1st class. It's just now starting to come back up because I have fellow poolees who realized I was starting to suck and decided not to let me fail. That's what it's all about and as a result I'm turning right around and helping out the newer poolees the same way the poolees who have already left and become Marines helped me. Don't be worthless, get involved in the pool and don't take the resources that it provides for granted.
- Running, especially in the cold, SUCKS. GET OVER IT. Run everyday or every other day building up over time, because until you see improvement in your run times your not going to be able to motivate yourself effectively and motivate other poolees. This applies to PT in general.
- Referrals. Get them.
- Stay motivated. 10 months is a while, I had times when I second guessed what I was doing and wasn't as motivated to go to PT. Stay focused, it'll all be worth the dedication when your just a couple weeks from your ship date. Befriending your fellow poolees will help with this, I can't tell you how many times I got this text.. "NEAL, where the HELL are you?" from a friend whenever I didn't show up to PT.
- Girls. Ehh, try not to get distracted by girls. Easier said than done but all it does is distract you unless you've actually got a respectable woman who is past all the highschool level bullcrap. Some of you are too ugly to get girlfriends anyway so consider that a blessing in disguise. :beer: On a serious note, don't drop out of the pool over a chick. The right woman will be someone who supports the decisions you make and will be encouraging in them; someone you can also fully trust to stay faithful while your gone.
- Job situations. Look.. you need to decide you want to join the Marines because you want to be a Marine, not for a specific job that would cause you to leave the pool if you weren't able to get it in writing. I'm personally skeptical about my job, it isn't what I initially wanted but people will look up to you in regards to what caliber MARINE you are, not by the job you have. On another note, you never know what's going to happen. I've seen people leave the DEP because an MP job wasn't open, and as soon as they dropped out the job opened up - karma? - so have a good attitude about whatever your doing and don't go through life being worthlessly selfish.
- De-motivation. Everyone get's de-motivated sometimes, usually because of bad IST scores, job availability or second guesses about joining the military. Just cling to your initial decisions for joining, stay focused, keep PTing in a dedicated manner, talk to those around you about it and it'll get better over time. If you can't deal with the trials now how are you going to deal with it in bootcamp?
- Know your crap. Learn the ranks, learn the general orders, learn from your recruiter. If your on this forum then obviously you've taken it upon yourself to go out on your own and educate yourself so that you can do well later on, good on you.
All of this said, I really could babble for paragraphs on end but it all comes back to utilizing the resources available to you and taking the DEP seriously. You'll look back on it and the time you spent preparing for bootcamp and know what you could have done better to prepare yourself.
I'm done rambling now, would be more than happy to answer questions about the pool or get some input from those who have been in the pool for a while as well.
Andrew