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millmarc92
10-04-15, 05:38 PM
Hello All,

I am currently in the process of reenlisting and trying to figure out what I want to do in my next term in the Marine Corps. One thing I am really considering is doing a tour of MSG/Embassy duty. I've been looking around at other forums on this topic, but I would like to know more. So anyone that has served on MSG duty, please answer these questions:

1. Apparently the school has a high attrition rate. What really is the reason for this? What are the big disqualifiers?

2. I hear that this duty is a really great opportunity and is a great experience. I know that there are pros and cons to just about anything. I rarely hear bad things, but what are things that you disliked about the duty?

3. As far as duty preferences, how do the requests work and what are the chances of getting where you want?

4. What are things that you loved about the duty? What are some of the best experiences you've had?

5. With the push of more MSGs on posts, has the school become more lenient on the selection of Marines?

Tennessee Top
10-05-15, 08:05 PM
Step #1 is to go talk to your Career Planner. Step #2 is to be screened by the MSG Screening Team. Everyone must be screened and your CP can tell you next time the Screening Team will be in your area.

1. True. MSG school has one of the highest attrition rates of any formal school for myriad reasons. The school has 2 missions - training and screening. One can be the best grunt in an infantry unit and not who they're looking for. Students must pass 2 formal screening boards to graduate. Besides members of the school staff, there is a Navy psychiatrist and a State Department representative on the boards (they both look for different characteristics than the Marines do). The #1 leadership trait they screen for is integrity (doing the right thing when nobody is around because the MSG on duty after hours is entrusted with the "keys to the kingdom" so to speak). #2 is decisiveness because people's lives may depend on the decisions the MSG on duty makes in an emergency. Students are put in escalating type training scenarios and graded on their ability to make correct/timely decisions. Their tattoo policy is also stricter than the USMC policy.

2. I agree the duty can be a great opportunity and experience. Other than Marines relieved for cause (usually alcohol/female related), I never met a MSG who regretted doing it. Greatest opportunity is travel to exotic posts such as Paris, Sydney, Madrid, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Beijing, Singapore, Rome, etc (roughly 120 diplomatic posts but DOS keeps asking for more MSG's so the number fluctuates). Remember, it's interior guard duty on steroids. 8 hour rotating shifts; mostly static posts but can be a roving patrol inside the chancery as well. This is not your duty NCO. There is no TV to watch, no working on a MCI lesson, reading magazines, etc. CONS: 8 hour midwatches in an empty embassy staring at closed-circuit camera monitors, liberty may not actually mean liberty - there is weekly guard school, mandatory language training, organized PT, mandatory attendance at formal receptions, additional duties such as Bar NCO/mess NCO/special services NCO/birthday ball committee, etc. Another CON can be working with DOS employees (they can be some weird individuals). MSG's have 2 chain of commands: admin (USMC) and operational (DOS).

3. Students submit a wishlist of 3 posts. Assignments are based on the needs of the program at that time obviously. Posts are divided in hardship and non hardship posts
If one goes to a hardship post out of school, they try to send you to a non hardship post as your second post (but does not always happen). Or, vice-versa...nonhardship post out of school and then a hardship post. Hardship posts are 3rd world countries like Haiti, most Muslim countries for obvious reasons, and communist bloc countries like Russia, North Korea, etc (MSG's do not fraternize with the locals).

4. Brazilian women (I lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil for 18 months). Visited Rio de Janeiro,
Sugar Loaf mountain, Christ the Redeemer Statue, Ipanema beach. Never would've had that experience without MSG duty.

5. Can't say how the demand for more MSG's at the schoolhouse has affected the selection process or graduation rate. You'll have to be screened by the screening team anyway so they may be able to shed some light on that.

In case you're interested. There is a book about the MSG Program available from amazon.com titled "Ambassadors in Blue the Marine Security Guard Program" by Andy Buffalo.

Tennessee Top
10-05-15, 08:32 PM
Note. You extend/reenlist for orders to school. Once you're there, the USMC has met it's part of the agreement. If you don't graduate, the extension/reenlistment is still binding (most are sent back to their unit).

millmarc92
10-05-15, 08:35 PM
Thank you for the quick and detailed response. I will be checking that book out.

Tennessee Top
10-05-15, 08:45 PM
Go to their website at www.mcesg.marines.mil and click on the "Become a MSG" tab at the top of the page.