Infantry Reserves?

[PenguinPuncherr]

Well ever since I can remember I've been wanting to be a Marine, maybe my dad brainwashed me, who knows? But I have worked hard to get into the position I am in today, I am an E-5 in YM's which mean's I get bumped to a PFC when i enlist =] anyways I am definitely joining the Marine Corps I just cant figure out an MOS!!!! I've done a bit of research and haven't found any real information, but I did find this site, I hope you guys can help... I did search your site and found some helpful information. I know I am asking some of the same questions as others have before me, but from what I can gather the Corps is changing a lot now-a-days, and I want the most accurate up to date information available.

So I've already decided I want to be reserves for a couple years while I attend some college classes, I'm not looking to get any sort of degree or anything. How are drill days with an Infantry unit? Is there certain training criteria the CO has to follow? Or are the NCO's doing most of planning? What is the likely hood of getting deployed? I have lost one friend and one mentor since this war began, I DO want to get my feet wet. Would it be hard to get out of Infantry and find another MOS after my contract is up? Would I even have to wait until my contract is over? And just to be sure Reservist can get free base housing, correct?

Thanks in advance for the help, -Wannabe Anthony

[CQB0316]

So I've already decided I want to be reserves for a couple years while I attend some college classes, I'm not looking to get any sort of degree or anything. How are drill days with an Infantry unit? Is there certain training criteria the CO has to follow? Or are the NCO's doing most of planning? What is the likely hood of getting deployed? I have lost one friend and one mentor since this war began, I DO want to get my feet wet. Would it be hard to get out of Infantry and find another MOS after my contract is up? Would I even have to wait until my contract is over? And just to be sure Reservist can get free base housing, correct?

Thanks in advance for the help, -Wannabe Anthony

Why the hell would you want to go to college and not get a degree? You will be deployed. No Reservists do not get base housing. So basically you will get nothing out of your plan...No degree and no real job. :banana:

[PenguinPuncherr]

Why the hell would you want to go to college and not get a degree? You will be deployed. No Reservists do not get base housing. So basically you will get nothing out of your plan...No degree and no real job. :banana:

I just want to get basic classes out of the way until I figure out a long term civie life plan and then go Active asap.

[CQB0316]

Get your degree and then go active. It will be better for you long term trust me.

[PenguinPuncherr]

Sometimes the best advice comes from strangers. Thank you sir, I'll definitely put more thought into it.

[Warcrazy]

Is there certain training criteria the CO has to follow? Or are the NCO's doing most of planning? What is the likely hood of getting deployed?
We do everything an infantryman has to do (humps, ranges, land nav., PT, sit around and wait.) The CO has a schedule to follow but also has some leeway in how he follows it. Our unit deploys on average every 3 years. Feel free to PM me for more information.

[hussaf]

Reserves;

You are going to spend much of your time doing administrative and medical requirements during drill weekends. You will also spend a lot of time doing training such as annual classes on a wide variety of subjects, as well as random "hip-pocket" classes pertaining to infantry subjects. This will compromise much of your time for normal drill periods. You will also be doing field exercises on longer drill periods, say fri-sund or thursd-sun. Here you will go to an offsite location and do a variety of ranges for weapons qualifications, patrolling...all the stuff Warcrazy spoke of. A lot of sitting around and waiting...no matter what you do in the Marine Corps. The question you have to ask yourself is do you feel comfortable being a forward deployed infantryman and only training once a month? The tricky thing with the reserves is job proficiency can suffer if its not something you do on the civilian side. That being said, you will do an extensive "work up" for a few months before deployment so you can polish up on infantryman skills and build unit cohesion.

-Drill weekends you will get billeting taken care of; whether a hotel or barracks....maybe that is what you meant by base housing?

College;
It took me a very long time to get my general education credits (GEC) out of the way while in the reserves...much longer than if I wasn't. However, I was on active duty a lot. The life of a reservist is one where your military and civilian life will often clash with each other.

Other options to consider:
*If you don't want a career in the military, but just want to serve for a bit, maybe consider a 4 and out on AD. Do four years, get out, go to college. You will be older, more mature, wiser, and have a harder work ethic than you do now.

*Like previously mentioned; go to college first, then go active duty. This is good in that, if you decide to stay in the Corps, you've already got the degree thing taken care of. On the other hand, its easy to get caught up in college. You could get in some trouble that would prevent you from getting in, or just lose interest and become an American-hating hippy like many college kids as you are young and impressionable (if you go to college after being in the military you will likely demand those around you change to suit you...not the other way around).

*Join AD and do college online. There are reputable colleges like the American Public University System (American Military University) that offer quality degrees that are both regionally and nationally accredited and are very reasonably priced ($250 a credit hour). This is an economical way to get you "unimportant" classes out of the way. Downsides; online coursework demands personal initiative and responsibility. You have all the available distractions in your life surrounding you with your young fellow Marines wanting you to hang out and express their joy at not being in Bootcamp, SOI, High School, living with mom, etc. You would have to be able to say no to friends and focus on work when you need to. There will also be distractions from training requirements of your unit. You can't do online classes from the field. Best would be to try only one or two classes to start off and see how it works out. I graduated from APUS and my teachers were very accommodating to my military eccentricities.

Just some ideas to consider. Best of luck.

[GYSGT RUBIO]

i have created a MC Reserve website to help Marines understand the whole Reserve thing

www.marinereserverecruiter.com (http://www.marinereserverecruiter.com)

check it out

[Failuredrill]

I've hated reservists ever since graduation from SOI. I remember looking at all of them in civvies getting hugs and kisses from their families getting ready to head home, while we were all getting our asses chewed by a ****ed of Gunny. Not to mention we were all wearing jacked up Alphas on our way to the fleet, and most likely to a combat zone shortly after.

Do the real Marine Corps experience and go active duty 0300 for 4 years, get out if you don't like it and use your GI Bill. Can't go wrong.