View Full Version : Squad leader
sabbs88
11-06-06, 02:46 PM
During bootcamp who picks the squad leader? Is it the D.I.? I would think it is, but I'm not sure. I'm guessing they select them by endurance, dedication, and physical training. Thanks.
-Dan
kovanfleet
11-06-06, 03:19 PM
the SDI picks them on forming day one and they look for some one who has experince with drill, like ROTC .
smjone4
11-06-06, 04:32 PM
I also have a question. I have heard several different stories, but what I wanted to find out was whether they promoted ONLY the guide, or if they promoted the guide and squad leader, or the top ten percent of each graduating class? I have heard all of the above. My recruiter said that it is the top 10 percent of each class but some guys I talked to that just got out said they only promoted the guide. So which is it? I really am going to bust my ass to get a promotion in boot, just trying to see how many they do.
sabbs88
11-06-06, 04:57 PM
Are you talking about graduating top honors? i know my recruiter told me that they pick one person from one company and one person from the batallion. I think thats right, correct me if I'm wrong.
-Dan
proachbass91
11-06-06, 05:22 PM
From what a Marine who was recently in bootcmap told me is that they will make the following promotions. Squad leaders, Guide, Company high PFT, Company high shooter, and Company honor grad. These promotions only occur if the Recruit is a Private being promoted to PFC. The only way to graduate a LCpl would be to be a contract PFC, and the Company honor grad.
Again this is what a Marine recently out of bootcamp told me, so dont shoot me if its wrong.
smjone4
11-06-06, 05:56 PM
How do you get Honor Grad?
sabbs88
11-06-06, 06:44 PM
How do you get Honor Grad?
From what my recruiter told me he said to qualify you just have to do your best. You have to do good on every Physical Fitness Test they give you and basically just be the best recruit in your company. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
-Dan
JoeSzynal
11-06-06, 08:46 PM
Sabb you are correct. Let me add a bit to that.
Each platoon will put forward their top recruit to go in front of the board. If you are selected, you report to the board and an interview takes place. The board decides.
jinelson
11-06-06, 09:39 PM
First things first your mission now is to graduate high school and get yourself in top physical shape while absorbing all pertinent knowlege required. Then just graduating recruit training is a major accomplishment, dont worry about Honor Man or Guide just worry about earning the title. If you happen to get it fine but the title is your target now dont lose that focus.
Jim
christine_06
11-07-06, 06:23 PM
To get honor grad you have to be the best in your platoon, the promotions that recruits can get at boot camp is if you're guide or in the top 10 percent, don't go to boot camp trying to be honor grad or anything like that just go with the goal of earning the title and the rest will fall into place. good luck.
smjone4
11-07-06, 07:10 PM
See there still seems to be some confusion because I am still getting different accounts as to the people that are promoted. Is it only the guide and honor grad, or the top ten percent? Is it both? Is it only the people with the highest rifle and PFT scores? What is it? This is why I posted this in the first place, because every person I ask (ie recruiter, marines fresh from boot, or veterans) gives me a different answer.
FutureMarine630
11-07-06, 07:14 PM
Smjone, i think they just want us to find out for ourselves. Like they said, the rest will fall into place. So we dont even need to be thinking about promotions right now. they dont matter.
drillinstructor
11-07-06, 07:27 PM
Ok forget everything else you have been told. Here is the deal. 5% of the privates will be selected for promotion. Of course if you are a guide, SL or scribe. (I promted all of my scribes but some SDI's may choose not to) you will be in that 5%. The SDI for your platoon will receive the amount of privates he can promote, select them and turn it in to the chiefs. If you are a contract PFC and you become the Honor Grad, you will be selected for LCpl.
Why don't you go recruit some poolees and become a contract PFC. You are wanting to wait until you get to boot camp to challenge yourself. Work hard now..........
smjone4
11-07-06, 08:26 PM
I already am a contract PFC. Thats why I am trying to figure this out
sabbs88
11-07-06, 08:30 PM
The only way you can get a contract PFC is if you refer two or more people into the Marines right?
-Dan
smjone4
11-07-06, 08:31 PM
No I got it through college credit hours. If you have gone to college then you can get it too.
or have 3-4 years of JROTC in highschool...
I think SSgt is correct, focus on earning the title, not earning Honor Grad. Earning the title is hard enough.
Camper51
11-08-06, 09:22 AM
Fact is it does NOT matter. Go in, DO YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST and the rest will work out. If you are in good shape, shoot well, and exhibit good leadership qualities then things will fall in place.
I firmly believe that if you go in with the goal of making honorman and getting promoted you will NOT get it, however if you go in and do your absolute best then good things will happen...
smjone4
11-08-06, 09:23 AM
I am setting my goals as high as possible. I always strive to be the best. I realize how hard this is going to be from talking to people on here as well as friends that are in the Marines now. I realize that by going into the Marines I am surrounding myself with the best, but my goal is not to just graduate, it is to graduate at the top. Back in high school I didn't just play sports to be good, or take tests just to pass, I played sports to win and be the best and I took tests with the goal of getting 100%. You have to set your sights as high as you want and don't lower them for anyone. My goal is to come out of boot as a LCpl. I am just trying to see what is required to do that.
Camper51
11-08-06, 09:53 AM
Then all you need to do is your best. Everything else will fall in place...
BTW your competition will be about 320 other Marines. Good luck...
smjone4
11-08-06, 11:28 AM
Never said it was going to easy. But I'm still goin to give it all I got.
1stRad2671
11-09-06, 11:44 AM
I don't remember anyone in my platoon getting promoted. If anyone did it was only the honor grad. The DIs told me I would've been the honor grad if it weren't for one little outburst. :D
I was the scribe by the way. But I still went from E-nothing to Sgt in one enlistment.
mesaRAT488
11-30-06, 03:48 PM
Or be in Sea Cadets as a minimum E-3 or maybe some other Junior Military things, but I know for sure Sea Cadets.
Jesse
SamJohnston
11-30-06, 04:30 PM
Just curious, say you graduate Recruit Training as a Private, how long does it usually take to earn the rank of Private First Class?
Echo_Four_Bravo
11-30-06, 05:01 PM
It is six months from when you first entered the military, unless you do something that makes them not want you promoted.
Promotions come on the first of the month (except meritorious). You get credit for the month no matter what day you go in. So, if you ship to boot camp on january 30, you will still get credit for the entire month.
Barrette
11-30-06, 06:31 PM
If you have 16 college credits like i have u can get PFC contract to....
If you are an Eagle scout I think you also get premoted.
jackson07
11-30-06, 09:24 PM
Plain and simple for ya'all.
U.S. Marine Corps
Advanced Rank Upon Enlistment
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/marines/l/bladvrank.htm
USMCVet1992
11-30-06, 09:50 PM
You guys should take the advice of those who are offering the knowledge. You havent even made it TO Recruit Training yet...much less ready for a promotion. Get there and do your best. The promotions will come when the time is right and you have EARNED it.
TazMatt
12-01-06, 11:17 AM
As was stated before just do your job whatever it may be and the rest will come in time.I graduated as a private out of boot camp in 1969 and I was A Sgt within three years and none of it was meritorius just doing my job.:usmc:
What the hell are you guys concerned about getting promoted. ****, you should be worried about making it through boot camp. Your time will come. All this exercise and running and **** does help, but nothing can prepare you emotionally:cry: . The DI's will break you down.
SEMPER FI *****es:nerd:
WJason777
12-01-06, 11:40 PM
Ok forget everything else you have been told. Here is the deal. 5% of the privates will be selected for promotion. Of course if you are a guide, SL or scribe. (I promted all of my scribes but some SDI's may choose not to) you will be in that 5%. The SDI for your platoon will receive the amount of privates he can promote, select them and turn it in to the chiefs. If you are a contract PFC and you become the Honor Grad, you will be selected for LCpl.
Why don't you go recruit some poolees and become a contract PFC. You are wanting to wait until you get to boot camp to challenge yourself. Work hard now..........
Lets say i have 2 years of high school ROTC and i am going to boot camp as a E2 ( witch i am) and i go to boot camp and get seleted to be a SL. At the end of boot camp do i get promoted to LCpl?
In Boot Camp they go by your PFT Score, Rifle Range Score, Swim Qual Score, Prac Score and add them all up. Who has the highest scores go in front of a board and then promotions from there. Also you get the fire watch ribbon "NDM".
"He's a Boot Camp Hero with Chevrons in his eyes"
Semper Fi
Sgt. Hoss
Echo_Four_Bravo
12-02-06, 12:30 AM
You will only get LCPL if you are the company honor man and a contract PFC.
Also in Boot Camp, everyone in the Platoon has to work as a team. If one Recruit is have a problem on one thing the others need to help him, or you will keep paying. Don't do no blanket partys or that crap, help each other out. The whole thing is about learning to work as a team, as a Squad Leader your not there to yell and play DI. A true Squad Leader is a NCO and helps his people on everything. Don't look at the Platoon in a training scenes but in the real world out in the Fleet Marine Force. A Platoon works together as one and helps each other, and wins. See the true picture of what it is about.
Semper Fi
Sgt. Hoss
Teufelshunde
08-16-07, 12:08 AM
wrong, also if you have 2 years of JROTC.
kbs95125
08-16-07, 01:20 AM
Don't correct the Marines on this forum, without properly addressing them, and having a complete profile. Yeah, your name is going to be a part of completing your profile.
Even then....don't correct the Marines. IF they give you the wrong answer another Marine will correct them or they will fix it themselves.
If you really really really have to say something.... say something like... "I thought it worked like..."
Echo_Four_Bravo would be correct. He is one of the very many Marines on this forum who knows above and beyond what he is talking about. If he told me poop could grow wings and fly I'd believe him.
Teufelshunde
08-16-07, 01:23 AM
poolee KBS95125, when is your ship date?
JCam0331
08-16-07, 08:24 AM
From what a Marine who was recently in bootcmap told me is that they will make the following promotions. Squad leaders, Guide, Company high PFT, Company high shooter, and Company honor grad. These promotions only occur if the Recruit is a Private being promoted to PFC. The only way to graduate a LCpl would be to be a contract PFC, and the Company honor grad.
Again this is what a Marine recently out of bootcamp told me, so dont shoot me if its wrong.
negative company high shooter does not necessarily get promoted. The one we had shot a 239 and he was a Private.
JCam0331
08-16-07, 08:25 AM
Don't correct the Marines on this forum, without properly addressing them, and having a complete profile. Yeah, your name is going to be a part of completing your profile.
Even then....don't correct the Marines. IF they give you the wrong answer another Marine will correct them or they will fix it themselves.
If you really really really have to say something.... say something like... "I thought it worked like..."
Echo_Four_Bravo would be correct. He is one of the very many Marines on this forum who knows above and beyond what he is talking about. If he told me poop could grow wings and fly I'd believe him.
If you know for sure that a Marine is wrong I don't see anything wrong with correcting them. Marines are human just like you and I, if we make a mistake, point it out.
Echo_Four_Bravo
08-16-07, 11:41 AM
If you know a Marine is wrong, correct them- but do it with tact. If you know I'm wrong, let me have it.
That said, I have never known a single person that was promoted to LCPL for JROTC. PFC, yes- LCPL no. In fact, I know a Marine that had a college degree and four years of ROTC that entered as a PFC. So, if JROTC will get you LCPL it is VERY new.
The subject is covered in MCO P1400.32D, dated MAY 11 2006.
b. LCPL. Those recruits who are under contract to be promoted upon graduation to PFC, per their Statement of Understanding, and are graduating as a platoon honor graduate, may be promoted to LCpl when, in the opinion of the commanding general, they have demonstrated outstanding leadership potential. Promotion to LCpl (USMC or USMCR) will then be effected on the date of graduation to rank from the 2d day of the graduation month, or to rank from the 2d day of the previous month if graduation occurs on the 1st day of the month.
(Emphasis added)
In other words, to graduate as a LCPL you have to have entered with a PFC contract and then proven yourself as an extra ordinary leader. It isn't automatic because you take a few classes.
kbs95125
08-16-07, 12:43 PM
Ship date is in October. Don't know when. As soon as I get it I will be posting it.
An aging thread given new life.
Something that has not been covered on this thread is that if you are a bona fide eagle scout you will get contract PFC. An eagle scout who racks up referrals before boot can probably work something out with the recruiter and get lance while on boot leave.
Here is how it was explained to me :
Yes, good scores count, and are necessary in most cases, but being a strong leader is the most important part of the equation. It baffles me why one would focus on promotions, positions and things of that nature, when one isn't even at bootcamp yet?
Yes, my recruiters informed me of it, and yes they are encouraging me and think I could be an honor man, but not because I did X, Y and Z before I got there! Its because they want me to bust my ass, and try my absolute hardest to be the best recruit/Marine I can possibly be.
Isn't that the point of it? To be a Marine?
In my mind, Eagle Globe and Anchor first... all else is a secondary concern. The title of being a Marine is the most important rank of all, IMHO.
hempstead56
08-16-07, 07:42 PM
Yes or if you are prior service or going into the Marines with a degree like I am.
The only way you can get a contract PFC is if you refer two or more people into the Marines right?
-Dan
Rbatteate
08-18-07, 01:53 AM
In my opinion, you shouldnt worry about being promoted.
dont pursue it, if you have it in you, they will reconize your efforts.