Meritorious Cpl Board

[Cellinheim]

I was curious as to whether or not there was any information laying around about preparations for a Board. I'm currently being considered for a LCpl to Cpl board at the moment.

[Cellinheim]

Found this on another thread relating to the same thing; what is the "EST book?"

[FoxtrotOscar]

Rather simple really.. Have your Head and Ass wired...

:scared:

[lamanognr86]

Do you even rate a score? I have a guy in my shop back in the rear who picked up cpl without even rating a score.

[YLDNDN6]

EST book is what we called "Prac" or practical knowledge. What every Marine should know. It was issued in Boot and was the basis for testing out of Boot, aside from the physical aspect. The actual "EST" was what was known as the Essential Subjects Test, or some variation of that.....

[weapons124]

you dont need to rate a score for meritorious

[FaDeD]

you dont need to rate a score for meritorious

but it shows you how fkd up things get, some mos's/units promote
i am 300pftr, 1st class swim, 2comba deployments when i was a lance black belt mcmap and won MOQ boards still was a e3 for 18 months.

all that being said, can you really know how to lead Marine's and or expect jr Marines to trust in your abilities and experiences when you havnt done anything.

You will pick up when it happens, you will either be ready or you will think you will be ready but when **** goes sideways make sure you make a decision. its what your Marines will expect of you

[iamspartacus]

A lot of the boards I went on, the panel informed everyone beforehand of the general areas they were going to drill you on. That way you weren't trying to memorize the entire Guidebook for Marines, NCO handbook and any random order, directive or bulletin the Commandant ever put out. But if they didn't do that, I'd at least make sure you know anything you ever learned in boot camp, from Marine Corps history to weapons specs and uniform regs.

[vets rep]

I found that the way a board is conducted really depends on two things. (1) What level is the board, is it platoon level, company, batallion? ect. They can go all the way up to a divisional board. (2) What rank is the board for-- Obviously, yours is an e-3 board.

Basically, you want to learn as many facts from your "green knowledge" (I'm not sure if they still call it that, that's what they called it when I was in boot camp). You will have to get in a particular uniform, do some basic drill, and then answer questions from the board. They will also look at your pros and cons (depending on what level the board is). They might even look at letters of recommendation from your chain of command.

I did a lcpl board, and I was asked what I thought the most important leadership skill was. "Know yourself and seek self improvement." Was the answer I gave.

Good luck on your board.

[MOS4429]

Boards typically ask questions about general Marine Corps knowledge and history.

You need to have your general orders memorized front and backwards and recite in any order.

I saw a post earlier about EST book. I don't know what they issue you in boot camp now, but we were issued the EST book and Guidebook for Marines. The EST was like the Bible and you needed to know everything in it. The Guidebook was not an official Marine publication but just like it sounds, a guide, and you had best know what is in it. So, whatever publications you were issued out of boot camp, study them.

If you are not in the 0300 field, it does not matter. Every board I was on had 0300 questions, and I was not 0300. This totally stumped some Marines. At the time a new EST book came out with a separate section in the back pertaining to maps and azimuths, and infantry material. I studied it like crazy. And here's the thing. We were told prior to the board not to worry about the new section, no questions would come out of it. That was total baloney.

Read newspapers and watch the news and be totally up on current world affairs.

Get your uniform in the absolute best condition you can and make sure it is perfect. No Irish pendants (if they use that term anymore), no double creases, web belt clean, brass polished, shoes inspection ready and fresh edge dressing. Make sure you are ready as though it were a CG or IG inspection.

Know trivia, like what is inside the ball on the top of a flag pole? And you better know where the Marine Corps was born and those taken for granted questions, like what is the Marine Corps birthday? You would be surprised how many get stumped on that. Know the rank structure and...the Navy rank structure. Uh-huh, was asked that one. Before 1871, what was the Marine Corps motto? What does Teufelhunden mean and where did it come from? What are the three Marine Corps values?

Here is a little history quiz for you. Some of these are just no-brainers, but you never know... http://www.chadduck.com/ymarines/quiz/quiz1_history.html

Here is a site that you can get some facts and knowledge from, but I will not attest to the accuracy of everything.

http://www.usmchangout.com/usmc/facts/index.html

Here is another, same disclaimer.

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/world/us_military/us_marines.html

AND...talk to other Marines who appeared before boards, whether meritorious promotion or NCO of the Quarter. Same type of questions at both and similar process.

Be a bit careful of your competition, though. At my Sgt board, I was ready to go in, and a Cpl I knew in my MOS but a different area came out of the board. He was red faced, let out a monstrous sigh of relief. I don't think he did well. But he came over to talk to me and as I walked away, he said, oh, wait, you have an Irish pendant on your back. I said, I do? I was surprised because I went over it with a fine tooth comb. Anyway, he proceeded to remove it. I went in before the board. They had me do an about face, and one of the board members said, Corporal, you have a Russian Rope on the black of your blouse. I tried to reach around to remove it and he said don't worry about it. But I kept trying until I located it and pulled it off. The fricken' corporal stuck to my back about a 4 inch long string. I pulled it off, looked at it, was really ticked off and threw it to the ground. Anyway...must not have harmed because I still scored #1 out of 30 Cpls.

Good luck.

[MOS4429]

but it shows you how fkd up things get, some mos's/units promote
i am 300pftr, 1st class swim, 2comba deployments when i was a lance black belt mcmap and won MOQ boards still was a e3 for 18 months.

all that being said, can you really know how to lead Marine's and or expect jr Marines to trust in your abilities and experiences when you havnt done anything.

You will pick up when it happens, you will either be ready or you will think you will be ready but when **** goes sideways make sure you make a decision. its what your Marines will expect of you

I know what you are saying, and in theory, it makes sense, but in reality, it simply is not always the case. You can be one H of a physical specimen, but weak in other areas. I am not saying you are/were, but that can be the case. Fact is, when I was in back in the 80s if a Marine was 300 in his PFT, 1st Class Swimming, it was viewed he/she might be more concerned about himself than his Marines. Kind of a stupid theory, but I know a LtCol who started scoring less just because of that.

I knew plenty of Marines who were promoted time in grade and had the scores. They were total S***birds. And I knew some who were meritoriously promoted who fell into that category. It's not a perfect system but it usually works. I had an outstanding LCpl who worked for me, and I put him up for meritorious Cpl three times. He never did get it. Was it because he was a bad Marine. No. He just didn't do well in front of boards.

"can you really know how to lead Marine's and or expect jr Marines to trust in your abilities and experiences when you havnt done anything."

Can we ever really know if any Marine can lead, can handle pressures, can make decisions in combat until they are put in the position to do it? No. I've heard this argument many times before. But what percentage of Marines will never "do anything" because they may never be there? Does that mean they are not leaders?

Yes, there are unworthy nominees for meritorious boards. Like I said, it's not perfect. Funny thing is I knew some who weren't even worthy to wear the uniform. We can only hope the Marines we put up for meritorious promotion truly are meritorious.