Enlisted to Marine Timeframe

[DASicari]

Good evening,

I am soon to be 24 in Nov and graduated college in May. I am very interested in pursuing a career as a Marine officer and have read all about OCS. However, I am thinking that I would like to experience enlistment first and then become an officer, as it would give me a better perspective of the Marines I would lead.

My question that I have not found an answer to is the timeframe of which this could occur. As an elisted Marine, at what time are you eligible for the ECP program? Would it be after your four year contract is up? My concern is that the cutoff to be an officer is listed as 28, and as I am turning 24, I would be pushing it if I was given a 4 year contract. Ideally, I would like to serve for 2 years as an enlisted Marine and then try for officer. Would this be possible?

Thanks in advance,

Dominick

[DASicari]

Sorry, I made a typo in the title. It is supposed to be Enlisted to Officer timeframe, but it appears I can't edit it.

[indygti]

Those officer boards love prior enlisted Marines with degrees, and most Marines really respect mustang officers (aka prior enlisted officers). It's definitely one thing that will set you apart from Joe Blow off the street with a degree in whatever.

If I were you however, I'd go talk to an Officer Selection Officer to see what his take will be. He'll probably tell you to just go officer at the beginning, because let's face it, you don't need to go enlisted. If you think you possess the maturity and natural leadership it takes to be a Marine Officer, go that route instead.

If enlisting is truly what you want to do after speaking with an OSO, don't worry about your age. The cutoff for current enlisted to obtain commission is 32, not 28. Either way, you'd be eligible for an age waiver.

As far as the ECP route goes, I would speak with an OSO during your last year of enlistment to get the ball rolling. Just make sure you do everything you can to be a stellar Marine while serving your time in the enlisted ranks. Ace all of your rifle scores, PFT's, MCI's, complete as many courses as you can, and for the love of god, don't have any legal problems.

Lastly, you can't enlist for two years, it's either four or none, so take that into consideration as well.

[03Mike]

Enlisted Commissioning Programs are extremely competitive - so don't enlist thinking that you can apply in a couple of years and become an officer. If you want to be an officer, go to OCS. If you want to enlist, enlist.

There is no need to enlist in order to be a good officer. I have known many good officers and many lousy ones, and there was no consistency on whether or not they had served as an enlisted Marine before getting their commission. The prior service officers I've known included some damn fine ones and some down right lousy ones. Same goes for officers who commissioned out of the academy, ROTC, and PLC.