Future Marine with A Few Q's

[ikill]

im shipping out june 1st for basic training as a reservist and i want to switch my mos & go active duty. im interested in becoming a sniper or air traffic controller.
what is required to become a USMC sniper?
i was reading up on becoming a air traffic controller and it says ill have to be given a security clearence. but i have a past of speeding tickets & i over drafted my account when i was younger & didnt understand the art of banking. nothing past that on my record. would this stop me from reaching my goal?

[BR34]

1.Fill out your profile.
2.Do a search.
3.Who have you killed?

[JWDevilDog]

1.Fill out your profile.
2.Do a search.
3.Who have you killed?

4. Proper grammar
5. You must want to join the army, because I know nothing about USMC Recruit Training is "basic" in any capacity.

[sparkie]

OK,,, Bros,,,,,, Give the nympth a shot.

[Wyoming]

With all due respect, 1st, you get a broomstick.

And since you are in Atlanta, keep your eyes open, 84 is just around the corner.

[PaidinBlood]

wun day when i grow up i want 2 b qewl like you....r u relly a killur? that iz a sweet pic of a killer on your page there...

http://dontdatethatdude.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/idiot2.jpg

[Marine84]

Oh Lord! Here we go again........................popping the popcorn now. Ya'll got to bring your own booze this time cause last time ya'll drank me out of my house!

[sparkie]

He's gone,,,,,,, But 84 ,,,,,, You ain't. Can I pop over????????

[ikill]

With all due respect, 1st, you get a broomstick.

And since you are in Atlanta, keep your eyes open, 84 is just around the corner.
i actually read that thread pretty funny.


but thanks you all "helped" alot...

[Supersquishy]

Marines have Boot Camp
Army has Basic Training......lol

[WalkingMan]

im shipping out june 1st for basic training as a reservist and i want to switch my mos & go active duty. im interested in becoming a sniper or air traffic controller.
what is required to become a USMC sniper?
i was reading up on becoming a air traffic controller and it says ill have to be given a security clearence. but i have a past of speeding tickets & i over drafted my account when i was younger & didnt understand the art of banking. nothing past that on my record. would this stop me from reaching my goal?

The difference between a sniper and an air traffic controller is huge, like the difference between being an 'extreme sports fighter' and a brain surgeon.

Being an old salt from the 1960's, I am still amazed, seeing young people who have not yet entered training, attempting to decide what MOS they want to choose.

I remember having been tested many different ways in boot camp (mental aptitude, skill with a rifle, and all the other fun stuff they taught us), and then I remember that on graduation day, when we were finally Marines, our Platoon Commander informed us what our MOS's would be, and that was the end of it, at least for the time being.

It did seem sensible to me then, and still does now... that my very experienced instructors, and the Marines who tested me in many various ways, would almost certainly know better than I would, both what my aptitudes were, what work I was best suited for doing, and WHAT THE MARINE CORPS ACTUALLY NEEDED ME TO DO.

Later, during my first combat tour, I began to acquire more skills, and that process continued over my time in the Corps, through OJT and various schools.

But the prevailing attitude was always 'what can I do, to serve the Corps better', and at the same time, a healthy respect for the acquired wisdom of (mostly) the noncoms with a lot of hash marks on their sleeves.

Me, as a raw recruit, telling the Marine Corps what I thought I was best suited for, would have been sort of bass-ackwards... like having the engine crew telling the Captain where to steer the ship.

As far as security clearances go, I did require a security clearance, and I was assigned a security clearance... it was just done, and then I was informed that I had passed, and had the necessary clearance to do my job... I don't even think I was aware that my job required a security clearance, before I was informed that I had one.

[sparkie]

WalkingMan,,,,,, You made more sense than I've seen in a long time. That was exactly the way it was.

Kids nowadays must think their MOS can be chosen by Playstation.

[Wyoming]

I remember having been tested many different ways in boot camp (mental aptitude, skill with a rifle, and all the other fun stuff they taught us), and then I remember that on graduation day, when we were finally Marines, our Platoon Commander informed us what our MOS's would be, and that was the end of it, at least for the time being.

Kinda the way I remember it is that I signed up for the Wing. Me and a Buddy. Went to Boot, etc., etc., took tests and all that stuff. He ended up as 'Arresting Gear' and me a Crew Chief.

All of this took place at ITR. As I recall, there was a lot of teeth grinding and gnashing, whining and all, when some of the MOS's were passed out.

I don't recall anyone thinking Recon or Sniper or whatever.

If you had not signed up, for the Wing, as I did, and I suppose went 'open contract', you took what you got. No offence here, but those that became cooks were divided in their emotions. Some were dumbfounded, some really pizzed, and some crying.

[WalkingMan]

Kinda the way I remember it is that I signed up for the Wing. Me and a Buddy. Went to Boot, etc., etc., took tests and all that stuff. He ended up as 'Arresting Gear' and me a Crew Chief.

All of this took place at ITR. As I recall, there was a lot of teeth grinding and gnashing, whining and all, when some of the MOS's were passed out.

I don't recall anyone thinking Recon or Sniper or whatever.

If you had not signed up, for the Wing, as I did, and I suppose went 'open contract', you took what you got. No offence here, but those that became cooks were divided in their emotions. Some were dumbfounded, some really pizzed, and some crying.

Yeah, it might have been ITR when the MOS's were passed out... it's a little fuzzy... over 40 years. :)

You came in two years before me, so it may have been a bit tougher to request specific MOS when I arrived... don't know.

My primary MOS is 2533... radio-telegraph operator... Morse Code, Crypto Gear, and all the comms stuff. This did not thrill me, but it did not occur to me to complain, because 1) I was finally a Marine, and felt really good about making the cut, and 2) I was still mentally a recruit, and too intimidated to question anything.

My career did become quite interesting, though, because I was one of those people who volunteered for stuff.

First I volunteered for Counter-Guerrilla Warfare School, which was really fun. Then myself and a buddy volunteered for Vietnam... it was my buddy's second tour, and he knew the ropes, and that got me as far as the Fire Direction Center for 1/12 Artillery.

I got bored with fire direction, so when the radio operator for the Bravo 1/3 FO team got killed, I volunteered to fill that slot, and off I went, into the bush, and learned how to be a Forward Observer and run snoop and poop, and when a Recon Team up near Con Tien needed an FO team that knew how to work with ANGLICO, firing the big Navy Guns on New Jersey, the whole point FO team volunteered, and off we went to Recon.

After that we wound up working with Navy Riverine, LDNN and a few other small-force units, observing, directing arty and air support, and doing snoop and poop.

I think there may have been more than a few former cooks and office pogues out in the bush.

I don't know how the Corps operates where this stuff is concerned today... may be a lot tighter than in the 1960's, during that war.

Now I'm 60 years old, but I'm still the same dumbass where volunteering is concerned... if it looks to be fun and scary, and risks life and limb, I'm nutty enough to want to give it a shot.

Some kids just never grow up completely. :)

[Supersquishy]

HAHA, I remember in MCT they gathered the Open contract Marines up and handed them their MOS, the Sgt that was handing them out made up an MOS some generic number something like 0969 made up, and said that the MOS was "Head Tech or something" sucking Sh1it out of the Porta-Johns around Camp Pendleton, he gave those to the sh1t bags in our platoon( as a joke) and you should have seen their faces, most were crying.....lol then they got there real MOS later that day....funny as hell, still laughing.