Unique Situation

[Poolee McGahan]

Because of a felony misdemeanor when I was younger I needed a felony waiver for the Marine Corp. It was/ still is a unique situation since it was breaking and entering, but never went to court and the charges were dropped after 6 mo of probation. I was told I would never have to tell anybody about it, silly me I did. Because I did my recruiter had to get the waiver, but no type of law enforcement agency had any record and the arresting station had none either. At this point I was a "self confessed criminal" which would have been a difficult process. I apparently was the only one with my criminal record, which I gave to my recruiter and a month later I had my felony waiver signed off on by a Lieutenant General. As my recruiter put it "Someone must want you in the Corp."

Im currently enrolled in college and next summer I am planning on submitting a packet for PLC because I was informed that was the only path that allows waivers to be taken. But I have not been talked to about becoming an officer for anything beyond that. Is it possible to become an officer with a felony waiver, would I be able to get the necessary security clearance to become one? I don't care if its a difficult process, I already went through over 2 months of trouble just to enlist, I just want to know if its possible.

[Zulu 36]

Because of a felony misdemeanor when I was younger I needed a felony waiver for the Marine Corp. It was/ still is a unique situation since it was breaking and entering, but never went to court and the charges were dropped after 6 mo of probation. I was told I would never have to tell anybody about it, silly me I did. Because I did my recruiter had to get the waiver, but no type of law enforcement agency had any record and the arresting station had none either. At this point I was a "self confessed criminal" which would have been a difficult process. I apparently was the only one with my criminal record, which I gave to my recruiter and a month later I had my felony waiver signed off on by a Lieutenant General. As my recruiter put it "Someone must want you in the Corp."

Im currently enrolled in college and next summer I am planning on submitting a packet for PLC because I was informed that was the only path that allows waivers to be taken. But I have not been talked to about becoming an officer for anything beyond that. Is it possible to become an officer with a felony waiver, would I be able to get the necessary security clearance to become one? I don't care if its a difficult process, I already went through over 2 months of trouble just to enlist, I just want to know if its possible.

Never heard of a "felony misdemeanor" before.

But, regarding a waiver for PLC: anything is possible.

[Poolee McGahan]

I wrote that down wrong, in actuallity it was a juvenile misdemeanor but as far as the Marine Corp was concerned it was a felony to them

[TJR1070]

Anything may be possible, but I would hope our Corps would pick more trustworthy individuals to lead our Marines. You also are not telling us the whole story. The charges were dropped but you never went to court and somehow the precinct that arrested you no longer has those records? First of all if the charges were dropped then you would not need a waiver for a felony. Two, even though you may have been a juvenile and the records of your arrest might have been sealed the police agency will still have a record of the arrest(it's called a blotter entry). So if you want to be taken seriously try telling the WHOLE truth, not the selectively telling parts of the story to make yourself look better.

[Poolee McGahan]

The fact that I was arrested was the issue, and even though the charges were dropped it still appears on my record... sort of. I went through a complicated process of attempting to getting it expunged, but the district court had no record of my arrest so I couldn't get it expunged.

At MEPS I revealed that I had been arrested to the Gunny there and from that point my recruiter had to find all the info on it. Except he couldn't from anywhere, not the sheriff's dept, state police, or county. I was told at that point that I was a self proffesed criminal in the eyes of the Corp. Because of that I would need 3 eye witnesses to the crime, the arresting officer's statement, a statement from myself, and any legal counsel.

I apparently have the only copy of my criminal record, which was given to me by the arresting station for the purpose of expungement, which is the copy that my recruiter has now. It took a month for the waiver to come through because even though I was fingerprinted when arrested, they didn't come up in the FBI database. My recruiter said that I had a very unique situaiton, which is another reason why a General had to sign off on my waiver.

[Poolee McGahan]

I do have hope though because when I took my oath of enlistment the USMC Colonel in charge of MEPS there informed me that he had to have 6 waivers.