People from other branches who think they know everything about the Marines
I just got home from my gym, I was working out in my poolee shirt as usual and this one guy who is a personal trainer at the gym comes up to me and he's like "USMC, huh? What's your MOS?" And I said that I proudly said that I was going infantry, and then he repeats "No, I mean what is your MOS? 11 Bravo?" And I said no, you don't get to choose you don't get to pick your specific MOS until you get to the School of Infantry and he tells me in this voice kind of talking down to me "I was in, that's not true at all, it should be right there in your contract when you go to MEPS."
Well he told me that he was "in" so I didn't want to correct him or anything even though I knew what he was saying wasn't right, just because I have a lot of respect for him, but then he it hits me... he said "11 Bravo" which is Army. He wasn't a Marine, he was in the Army. Well he kept talking to me like he was an expert on the Marine Corps and he asked me what rank i'm going in as and I said I have contract PFC which is E-2 and he tells me that PFC isn't E-2, PFC is E-1! WTF!?!? I just told him that I know what the Marine Corps rank structure is and he gets combative with me saying things like "Don't tell me that, I was in, I know what i'm talking about." I tried to explain that the Marines and the Army are different and he would hear none of it.
He asked me what I scored on my ASVAB and I told him and he thought I was stupid for going infantry when I could have had any job I wanted, he kept telling me to get a deskjob and get an education and I told him i'm not interested in doing that. He asked me how many college credits I had and I told him I currently have about 20 and he said I could get a $50,000 dollar signing bonus and go in as an E-4, and I explained to him that the Marine Corps does not offer bonuses like that and they don't give away rank like that and he just goes "Trust me, I know what i'm talking about, if you're firm with your recruiter you'll get the 50 grand and E-4 in your contract." Then he goes on to tell me that infantry are the ones who are homeless on the street corners which is just such a friggen joke and not true at all, but any legitimate response or argument I tried to make was written off by him with a "I was in, I know what i'm talking about."
He tells me that in 4 years i'll get out of the Marines as infantry with no job skill and nothing to fall back on, i'll have no money, etc. and I explained to him that I will be a Marine and have all the intangibles that go along with being a Marine, but he just did not understand any of this.
He keeps digging deeper and asking why I want to be in the infantry so badly, and I told him that nobody ever wrote a history book about a postal clerk. After I said that he just basically told me that I don't know what i'm getting myself into and i'm making a huge mistake and walked away. He doesn't know I lost 80 pounds and that this has been a dream of my for 5 years, I guess "serving your country" isn't a good reply for some people.
The worst part about it is that my two friends were with me at the time listening to all of these things were are just so blatantly wrong and not true and they were believing him.
He was in the Army and he served his country honorably so I absolutely have the most respect in the world for him, but it's just ridiculous that he assumes everything in the Marine Corps is the same as the Army (50k signing bonus, E-4 in contract, etc.) and then tries to talk me out of it essentially telling me i'm stupid for going infantry. Why doesn't he focus his time chewing out some POS anti-war protestor who hates the military... not someone who wants to join and serve their country?
I can't wait until earn my place among the brotherhood of all Marines, because nobody else except Marines understands these things.