re-enlisting, need some advice on security forces duty stations

[tldpro317]

Hey all, I am currently in fallujah, on my second combat tour, and I am up for re enlistment, I am an 0311 and I take pride in being a grunt. to say the least I have not had a great first enlistment, but i have made the best of it and now I would like to move on to something a little more refreshing, I have talked with the career planner and I am considering going to security forces, hopefully getting stationed in rota spain. I would really just like some insight from some that have been there, what is the rotation like, what kind of work do marines do there besides camp guard? if anything. how is it living there(i will have my wife there) and how is it for your spouse/ family. anything will help. I would like to make the best educated decision possible. Is there anything I need to be warned about, or be aware of? all your help is greatly appreciated.

[thewookie]

Hey all, I am currently in fallujah, on my second combat tour, and I am up for re enlistment, I am an 0311 and I take pride in being a grunt. to say the least I have not had a great first enlistment, but i have made the best of it and now I would like to move on to something a little more refreshing, I have talked with the career planner and I am considering going to security forces, hopefully getting stationed in rota spain. I would really just like some insight from some that have been there, what is the rotation like, what kind of work do marines do there besides camp guard? if anything. how is it living there(i will have my wife there) and how is it for your spouse/ family. anything will help. I would like to make the best educated decision possible. Is there anything I need to be warned about, or be aware of? all your help is greatly appreciated.

I would go to Rota in a heartbeat. Bam. I can't tell you about the married aspect of it, but if you want a break from the fleet at a nice remote duty station away from the bump and grind of the fleet, then do it. I was in Greece, never been to Rota, but we trained with guys from Rota and from what I remember they all loved it. I can't speak for the actual duty, but as an NCO coming in with combat time you could really help out the young Marines who will leave there and head to the fleet. Good school opportunities in Security Forces.

[tldpro317]

I would go to Rota in a heartbeat. Bam. I can't tell you about the married aspect of it, but if you want a break from the fleet at a nice remote duty station away from the bump and grind of the fleet, then do it. I was in Greece, never been to Rota, but we trained with guys from Rota and from what I remember they all loved it. I can't speak for the actual duty, but as an NCO coming in with combat time you could really help out the young Marines who will leave there and head to the fleet. Good school opportunities in Security Forces.
thanks a lot Sgt. I have no idea what sec. forces consists of, obviously i will do my best to school up the juniors for the fleet, i know getting a security forces drop in the fleet is almost more dreaded than getting an SOI drop. but I would really like to get a little more SA on sec. forces and the duty stations.

[Enigmatic]

Wookie pretty much touched on almost everything I was gonnd say. When I was in FAST one of our platoons "deployed" to Rota, and they had the time of their lives. It's a Spanish Naval base, right on the Spanish coasts. As you can imagine, lots of beaches and lots of hot european chicks, from what I heard.
As Wookie said, the young grunts in Security Forces really look up to grunts that did their time in the fleet and they could learn a lot from you and you could take the opportunity, while in Security Forces, to attend some really great courses as well.

[Enigmatic]

thanks a lot Sgt. I have no idea what sec. forces consists of, obviously i will do my best to school up the juniors for the fleet, i know getting a security forces drop in the fleet is almost more dreaded than getting an SOI drop. but I would really like to get a little more SA on sec. forces and the duty stations.

As far as duty stations in Security Forces BN there's:

H&S Co
1st FAST Co
3rd FAST Co (all three of these are in Norfolk, VA)
2nd FAST Co (Yorktown, VA)
Training Co (Chesapeake, VA)
Kings Bay, GA
Bangor, WA
Bahrain
GITMO (obviously not for long)
Rota, Spain
Yokuska, Japan

I was in 3rd FAST so I can only speak on what H&S and the FAST Companies are like, and even then I was in the HQ my whole time there, working as the company clerk. Sgt Vernazarro (Wookie) can definitely tell you what Training Company was like. You might have fun in Training Company, schooling the young 03's.

[IronEMT]

I'm currently stationed in Bangor, Wa. If you have any questions regarding PRP I'd be happy to answer them for you.