Things you don't like about your life as a Marine

[Littlegraybook]

Hi all,

I am a college graduate considering to enlist as a Marine. As soon as I get my citizenship through naturalization, I want to apply to OCS and become a Marine officer. I am joining because I think being a Marine officer is one of the most honorable calling one can have as an American. I am a legal permanent resident of this great country and I want to earn my citizenship through honorable means and at the same time be proud of who I might become. I chose the Marines because it's the best and the toughest - this only makes it more attractive to me because I always believe that honor with any value is earned through hard work.

My question to you all is: what are things that you don't/didn't like about being a Marine? I can see that a lot of you are very proud to be Marines (and most certainly should be), but I am sure that it's not a perfect life and there's always things that might trouble you from time to time. Please share some so that I might be mentally prepared if I do enlist. Things I've been thinking about are:

Racism (I am Asian), politics (dealings with promotion, job distribution, etc), injustice done by the government to its own Marines, etc.

Please remember that I am ready for the toughest and these things will ultimately not affect my decision. I am asking for mental preparedness.

Thank you all very much and God bless America.

[Lisa 23]

Try filling out your profile, so the Marines who are going to answer your questions, know who they are talking to.
You may also want to read the site rules in the poolee and Ask A Marine forums.......


[Poolee Rules] Attention New Poolee & Wannabe Members

Rule Ten there will no political threads or posts of any kind in the recruit forums, you are here to concentrate on the yellow foot steps not politics!

This rule is in reference to your questions about"politics (dealings with promotion, job distribution, etc), injustice done by the government to its own Marines, etc."

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28989&page=2



Forum Rules! Read Before Posting!
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59447

[Littlegraybook]

What I meant by politics was dealings within the military. Like how certain professors were not hired into my university because they didn't want to participate in the politics (power struggle, favoritism) within the faculty. Do I make sense?

If this still applies then I am willing to remove or rephrase. I apologize for any confusion.

[DrZ]

I can tell you what pi$$ed me off then and still pi$$e$ me off today. That is someone who is looking for negatives before anything else.

The Marine Corps is like every other job in the world with all the normal issues.

Want to know the bad parts? Join and decide for yourself because they are different for everyone!

Fill out your profile as is the requirement here....and then perhaps we will answer you.

[Lisa 23]

I can tell you what pi$$ed me off then and still pi$$e$ me off today. That is someone who is looking for negatives before anything else.

The Marine Corps is like every other job in the world with all the normal issues.

Want to know the bad parts? Join and decide for yourself because they are different for everyone!

Fill out your profile as is the requirement here....and then perhaps we will answer you.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:




Littlegraybook.... politics is poiltics no matter how you spin it.
You want to talk politics, then I suggest you try a different line of work and not join the military.

[Littlegraybook]

I just filled out my personal info.

I don't think I am looking for negative stuff before anything else. The only reason why I am asking is because I've already seen all the positive stuff and have decided to seriously consider enlisting. I am simply trying to be responsible with my decision.

[Brianhipwell]

Buffalo Grove!! I was a rugrat and we lived there in the early 50's. My old man was a MSGT stationed at Glenview NAS. The town had two constables, St. Mary's Elementary School attatched to the church, a small General Store, and 'Buffalo Bill's' Tavern. We moved to Wheeling to an old tentament house across from the train station and gravel company. There was a dog food processing plant down the road. I'd watch all the poor livestock being pushed, pulled, and shoved off the trucks. There was a new housing development being built...Dunhearst Heights I think. I'm sure that's all gone now.

HIP

[ggyoung]

My 1st wife the *****.

[DrZ]

Teyu,
The Marine Corps is a huge company. We have a defined job and we train continuously to be ready to do that job on a moments notice. We have our issues like any other company.

We have racists but they tend to be few and far in-between. Barracks life sucks...or did when I was in because you shared this big a$$ed opened squad bay with lots of others. You have your 10% sh!tbirds who are lazy and just waiting to get out. They are the people who make it hard on everyone else. Field day sucks because you can't get 100% of of everyone so it takes way too long to get everything clean for inspection. Deployment is always at the WRONG TIME for someone and often for you. Peacetime Marine Corps sucks because there are way too damn many inspections, IGs, and various other pain in the butt time burners.

The rest of the day to day life is a normally run business. You do your best to make sure everything works properly and smoothly.

If you felt attacked, I am sorry but as a group we get tired of some of the people here (10%ers, visitors, trolls, and just plain a$$holes) who want to stir up problems and put a negative light on everything. If you want to ask a question of this nature, I suggest you preface it with, 'I want to learn' as opposed to statements like, 'Racism (I am Asian), politics (dealings with promotion, job distribution, etc), injustice done by the government to its own Marines, etc.' because that smacks of a troll or a troublemaker.

Potentially you will get other answers...those are mine.

[Littlegraybook]

Thank you DrZ! Yeah I definitely have seen a lot of hateful writings but I am glad you realized that it wasn't my intention. I apologize if my initial question was misleading. I would edit it out if I could but I think it's locked...

Enlisting is such a big decision you know, and honestly I know everyone's experience with it is different and there are so many factors... but I want to do my best by receiving as much information as possible. Thank you very much for being honest and helpful DrZ.

[Littlegraybook]

Yes! BG is quite a suburb now and the very little farms that are left look awfully awkward next to office complexes.

[Tennessee Top]

Squadbay life defenitely sucked. Everything we owned had to fit in one footlocker and one double wall locker. Barracks life today is different (you share a room with a room mate). Staff NCO quarters are an upgrade and of course, officer housing is the best. Once you become an NCO, you can request to live off base if the enlisted housing on base is inadequate which it usually always is. But, as mentioned, sharing enlisted quarters and dealing with field days (cleaning everything) every Thursday night and not being able to leave until it passes inspection is a big pain.

[TinDragon]

I find formations pointless. If you become an officer, try to just gather your Marines up in a group instead of forming them up all the time, haha.

Field days suck. Pro/con system is terrible. A lot of other little stuff I could complain about but won't because it doesn't really matter. The good will usually outweigh the bad.