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kbs95125
04-24-07, 05:32 PM
Hi,
Hopefully I am posting this in the right forum.

I am in the process of joining the Marine Reserves.
I had a meeting with my recruiter the other night to fill out forms for MEPS and we were discussing ship dates. To get to the point he told me that Reserve jobs are few and far between right now, and that he wants me to go to MEPS and enlist active duty and DEP with a ship date of June and that he'd just push my ship date back until October(when the Marine year starts according to him) or later and then he'd switch my enlistment to Reserves so I have a larger group of MOS's to choose from.

Is this possible at all?

I am fully committed to joining as a Reserve. I really don't want to think that this will work and end up shipping out in June active duty. Nor am I comfortable with what I feel is lying at MEPS.
I don't want to dick my recruiter around at all or have him feel unsure about my commitment, but I don't want to deal with the bs behind dropping from DEP because of an enlistment misunderstanding. I'm just wondering if I should maybe put this on pause until October instead and join as a Reserve then....
Any help would be appreciated.

davblay
04-24-07, 05:46 PM
Let your heart be your guide! But beware of promises if they are not in writing! He is right about the MOS availability, it depends on your local, or nearest, reserve unit. Most of them are 0300's now a days, or so I understand. The reserves has to have a slot for you, in that MOS, or you won't be in that unit! PERIOD!

Just food for thought! Good luck and I know you will make the right decision.

kbs95125
04-24-07, 05:56 PM
Thank you for the response. He told me he would look into what the nearest units have open now, and what is "supposed" to open in October.

I am trying to ship out this winter, so thats why I am worried about following through with this.

I really wanted to go 5811 with a secondary in 5812 but thats not going to happen unless I go active duty (no units within my 150 miles radius) and thats no promises either. I could handle doing a few 03 jobs. Basically I don't want to get stuck turning wrenches or loading boxes or behind a desk for an MOS, no offense to anybody out there, but its just really not for me.

I know my recruiters going to be ****ed if I "back out" now (I'm supposed to go to MEPS next monday/tuesday), but I want to do this right. The commitment is there. Which is why this decision is bothering me so much.

Echo_Four_Bravo
04-24-07, 06:18 PM
The fiscal year starts in October and the jobs will open up then. By being in the DEP already it would be easier to get you into that slot. If you would have read the rules and followed them before you posted you would have a completed profile so we may be able to see what units are you your area. As it is, there is no way for me to know what possible jobs you could have.

I would advise you to do as your recruiter says. There is nothing to worry about unless he tries to get you to ship to boot camp with the active duty contract that you have.

kbs95125
04-24-07, 06:29 PM
Sorry about the profile. I fixed it.

I am just worried he won't be able to push out the shipping date and I'll ship out enlisted active duty 5 months before we talked about. As of right now I don't have any contract nor am I even in the DEP program because I haven't gone to MEPS yet. I know that I can drop from the DEP program before my ship date if it does end up getting screwed up but I don't want to do that.

I am also worried that I couldnt switch from active duty to reserves after signing a contract to DEP.

I also believe that what I would be doing would be lying. Am I correct in thinking that?

I like doing things right the first time, and not disrespect any service members by turning the recruiting process into a circus.

kbs95125
04-26-07, 05:32 PM
I would like to thank everyone for the help. Through discussion with my recruiter as well as the help I recieved here I've figured everything out. I'm going to MEPS Friday to take the ASVAB and the physical. Then I've just got to wait for waivers to go through and I'll be swearing in.