Switching MOS

[Barnett20110425]

Good Afternoon Marines and any Poolees that may be reading.

Here's my spill.
I'm already a poolee as you can see.
I originally was going to sign in for an AG contract or and Infantry contract. My recruiter told me that I needed to get sworn in
as soon as possible so my slot for those choices would be open, but
by the time that we were looking for MOS slots my choices were
already filled so I went with a Comm slot.

The more I've been thinking about it the more I've realized that
I won't be truly happy with that job.

The only way that I would be able to get the AG contract is if
I pushed my ship date farther down the line.

My question is: Should I tell my recruiter to push my date or what?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Unsure if this should go in the Pool (ee) Hall or ask a Marine forum
so I'll post in both. My apologies if something like this has already
been covered.

[iamspartacus]

Almost every poolee (myself included back in the day) is most concerned with what MOS they will end up with. It’s understandable, but one thing you have to realize is no matter what you plan for, it’s probably not going to work out how you anticipated. If you’re going to join the military, you have to be okay with things not working out like you expected. I’m not saying you shouldn’t pursue a certain MOS. Just think of it this way: are you only going to be happy if you get a certain MOS? If you really want to be a infantryman, but you end up being a Comm guy, are you okay with that? And I’m not talking, “man I wish I was in the infantry”. I’m talking, “man I wish I never would have joined if I knew I wasn’t going to be in the infantry.” If your answer is no, then I would seriously re-consider joining the military. Because chances are, even if you get the MOS you want, it’s not going to be like you expected. It may be good, it may be bad. but I’ll tell you right now, if you have to have things go a certain way for you to be okay with your decision to join the marine corps, you’re in for a rough ride.

I put a lot of thought into what MOS I wanted. To make a long story short, I enlisted thinking I was going to be one MOS and ended up in a completely different MOS (against my choice). To make an even longer story short, I ended up loving my MOS. I did things and ended up places I never could have imagined. If you looked at my resume right now you would say, “wow! That guy has done some awesome things!” I don’t say that to toot my own horn, but to tell you that I never would have done what I’ve been able to do if I did what I originally signed up to do.

So to answer your question, I don’t know what you should do. But my advice to you would be to take it one day at a time. Have goals and pursue what you want to do, of course. But if you join the Marine Corps, be flexible and willing to tweak those goals as you go. Don’t base your happiness on a particular MOS. Just worry about being the best Marine you can be, take advantage of every opportunity and I guarantee you will find yourself miles ahead of where you ever thought possible. Good luck!

And in case you were wondering, I was a 7041 – Aviation Operations.

[Devil1087]

It's up to you dawg, don't believe that "you can just lat move" bullsh*t. The only control you have over what job you get is right now. Any sh*t that happens down the road ain't on you. Do what you can to get the job YOU want now, like spartacus mentioned, yeah you might get f*cked, but that will be out of your hands. A lot of people don't realize that there are several MOS's in each contract, they get told they'll be cannon cockers or tank drivers and end up LAAD or something, you get told that it's a combat engineer contract and end up 1171 water tech, make sure you read the contracts detailed in the enlistment programs MCO.

[afraziaaaa]

It's up to you dawg, don't believe that "you can just lat move" bullsh*t. The only control you have over what job you get is right now. Any sh*t that happens down the road ain't on you. Do what you can to get the job YOU want now, like spartacus mentioned, yeah you might get f*cked, but that will be out of your hands. A lot of people don't realize that there are several MOS's in each contract, they get told they'll be cannon cockers or tank drivers and end up LAAD or something, you get told that it's a combat engineer contract and end up 1171 water tech, make sure you read the contracts detailed in the enlistment programs MCO.

Part of this is true, most of it is a misunderstanding.

You do need to understand that there are several MOSs in each contract when you enlist on active duty. I suspect that this isn't explained very thoroughly and can leave poolees with misunderstandings about their MOSs.

I have a poolee right now who enlisted for the legal/admin option and he goes around telling everyone that he is going to work in the legal field. I have gone over his contract with him three times, and have had to drill in his head that he could be assigned to a wide variety of administrative MOSs and that legal is not a solid guarantee. I think he finally gets it, but that is just one example.

The misunderstanding: You can latmove. It is up to you to make that choice. However, it is not as simple as "just lat move". It involves a detailed paperwork process, release and acceptance authorizations from both MOSs, and more often than not a reenlistment.

My two cents is that no matter what job you go in as, you will always and forever be a United States Marine assuming that you make it through boot camp. You won't know if you like the job you get until you are actually doing it. I had another poolee who would only do infantry. Graduated boot camp, and school of infantry, got to his unit and called me asking to change his MOS.

Jobs are just that; jobs. They come and go. The title is forever. If you are joining for a specific job, then maybe you are joining the wrong service. The way recruiting is tightened down right now, you should be grateful that you even got in.

[iamspartacus]

I have a poolee right now who enlisted for the legal/admin option and he goes around telling everyone that he is going to work in the legal field. I have gone over his contract with him three times, and have had to drill in his head that he could be assigned to a wide variety of administrative MOSs and that legal is not a solid guarantee. I think he finally gets it, but that is just one example.

It’s funny you mentioned this. I actually enlisted under legal admin. When I got to MCT they told me my MOS was 7041 – Aviation Operations. When I hit the fleet I got to talking with the marines in my shop about what they enlisted as. EVERY ONE OF THEM thought they were going to be legal admin. And we came from all over. I was from Indiana, another guy was from Idaho, another from Minnesota and another from Virginia. Feel free to pass on that story to your poolee.

[Barnett20110425]

Thank you Marines very much for your input.
Don't worry I'm not basing my absolute happiness on a certain job, it's just that I feel I could better serve the Marine Corps on my choices.

Whatever job gets assigned to me I'll give it my all. If you don't have that mentality
I believe that you shouldn't even want to be a Marine.

I'll try as hard as I can to get my choice, but if the Corps decides that they need
me somewhere else then so be it.

Once again thank you Marines.
I can't wait for the day that I can call you all my brother.

[Barnett20110425]

Thank you Sgt.
The only that really matters, and was mentioned earlier, is earning that title that can never get taken away.

There just seems to be power in the word Marine.