29 Palms

[CplFly]

Good Morning Marines,
Not sure if this is the right spot for this topic, but here goes. I just graduated from San Diego. I have Mct in a couple weeks, and after that i'm going to 29 Palms for my school. My mos is 0651 Data Networking. I was told 29 palms is not the best place to be at. What can i expect from my school, and what are the average day like? Does the weather/ Sand really kill your car?

I was there for 3 years [78-81] I didn't mind the place. YES it get's hot!!, its the Mojave Dessert!! we didn't think it was hot till it was 105+. Nice weather most of the time,70-80's.saw snow once. You will get a nice tan. It gets cold at night in the field. Yes it will sand blast your windshield/bumper/hood[small pits all on the front of car] If you go the the field for a week and its real hot,when you come back your car might be stuck in the asphalt!!![been there!!] Go to Joshua Tree Monument, Big Bear is a nice place to get away[cooler,trees], the tram in Palm Springs, go to Parker,Az,Lake Havazu [sp], There used to be a floating bar,in Parker,that had wet tee-shirt contests You get out of it what you put in it, If your looking for Night life/action wrong place. I was there along time ago ,so the base has changed so can't speak about that. It sucks at times, but its also nice.

[SgtThrasher]

I was there 17 months in 66-67-68 before I went to Vietnam.When we arrived, it looked like the moonscape,but was the best duty station.You're 65 miles from Palm Springs,Big Bear, close to LA and the beaches,Las Vegas.We used to rent cars and go to San Luis,Mexico for the weekend,Probably too dangerous to go there now,but the place grows on you and was my favorite duty station ,Gitmo was the worst duty station of my era .It gets cold out in the field,don't forget the sleeping bag ,if you go afield.

[SniperBait0621]

I was Permanent at your MOS school, and believe me, it's no picnic at first. Once you finally settle into the place and start making friend, though, it gets a lot better. Hell, I miss the Stumps.

[JoshLittle]

Alright, most of the posts here, except a select few, are all talking about it as if it were going to be your duty station. I was there from November of 2009 to January of 2010. As a student, there are a lot of restrictions that they tell you, but you normally won't listen to... Not being able to ride with any of the Alpha or Charlie students. With you being Data, you'll be in the Bravo platoon when you first get there, it's not that bad... Working parties all the time, as well as firewatch and security events. 29 is not that bad of a place. You have the single marine program that will keep you entertained. You have a pretty big PX down there, not too bad, and your barracks, as a student, are close to the chow hall, it's nice. (29 has one of the nicest chow halls I've ever seen, honest) Since you are going to be there late winter, early spring time frame, and may not leave there until beginning of Summer. You'll enjoy it for the time you're there, there will be bad days, but just deal with them. Oh, and a lot of briefs, ALOT of briefs-.- Just enjoy it.

[MintusMaximus]

Good Morning Marines,
Not sure if this is the right spot for this topic, but here goes. I just graduated from San Diego. I have Mct in a couple weeks, and after that i'm going to 29 Palms for my school. My mos is 0651 Data Networking. I was told 29 palms is not the best place to be at. What can i expect from my school, and what are the average day like? Does the weather/ Sand really kill your car?

Sorry I'm a "johhny come lately' to this thread but...
Being a Sgt in the 0651 field and have been to the School house as a PFC and LCpl for the 0651 course, and again as a Cpl for the supervisors course... I've had my fair share of MCCES.

They'll bus you to 29 palms. There you will spend some time in SRC, then MAT(marine awaiting training) platoon. Eventually you'll pick up with a class and start your typical day. PT in the morning, chow, school time, break at lunch, more classes, and then get out around 1630 ish each day pending what is taught.

You won't have a car there. 29 is... interesting. I found being in the schoolhouse is kinda sucky over all. Was sort of fun though the second time around. Kids from Alpha company think they're special because they are in school so long they assume everyone in Bravo is a boot. Had a few times an Alpha Company guy tried to "devil dog" me in civvies... only to turn pale as a ghost when I asked for his ID and showed him mine >

Anyway as far as the fleet goes... our job is very very very different depending on where you go. Basically most elements of a unit are broken down into numbers.. 1 is your admin, 2 being your Intel, 3 training 4 supply...etc

We are the 6. S-6 at Bn lvl G6 at division and up ... J6 being joint.

I've worked in a Comm company Data Platoon, BN S6, and the highest echelon of Marfor.

In garrison your job is to be working party for your Bn's daily needs. You do 'training' sometimes in your bay, sit back and joke, PT... yaddi yadda. In the field on exercises, operations, and in country, that's when you actually have a job.

Now in our field it's all about WHAT YOU KNOW. You can be a **** hot LCpl and run stuff. In my first platoon whichever gear you worked on pretty defined our caste system. Boots worked the helpdesk, senior lances the servers, Cpls the routers and switches, and Sgt/senior Cpls DSIDS,DDSR,SWAN...etc

However here at MFE we don't have field gear and there is no NMCI so we support our own network. I work the helpdesk for the MITSC. So here everyone works the helpdesk and it's not the lower echelon billet.

Anyway there's lots I can share and if you have any questions feel free to hit me up or email my USMC email.

[Casedizzy2821]

Sorry I'm a "johhny come lately' to this thread but...
Being a Sgt in the 0651 field and have been to the School house as a PFC and LCpl for the 0651 course, and again as a Cpl for the supervisors course... I've had my fair share of MCCES.

They'll bus you to 29 palms. There you will spend some time in SRC, then MAT(marine awaiting training) platoon. Eventually you'll pick up with a class and start your typical day. PT in the morning, chow, school time, break at lunch, more classes, and then get out around 1630 ish each day pending what is taught.

You won't have a car there. 29 is... interesting. I found being in the schoolhouse is kinda sucky over all. Was sort of fun though the second time around. Kids from Alpha company think they're special because they are in school so long they assume everyone in Bravo is a boot. Had a few times an Alpha Company guy tried to "devil dog" me in civvies... only to turn pale as a ghost when I asked for his ID and showed him mine >

Anyway as far as the fleet goes... our job is very very very different depending on where you go. Basically most elements of a unit are broken down into numbers.. 1 is your admin, 2 being your Intel, 3 training 4 supply...etc

We are the 6. S-6 at Bn lvl G6 at division and up ... J6 being joint.

I've worked in a Comm company Data Platoon, BN S6, and the highest echelon of Marfor.

In garrison your job is to be working party for your Bn's daily needs. You do 'training' sometimes in your bay, sit back and joke, PT... yaddi yadda. In the field on exercises, operations, and in country, that's when you actually have a job.

Now in our field it's all about WHAT YOU KNOW. You can be a **** hot LCpl and run stuff. In my first platoon whichever gear you worked on pretty defined our caste system. Boots worked the helpdesk, senior lances the servers, Cpls the routers and switches, and Sgt/senior Cpls DSIDS,DDSR,SWAN...etc

However here at MFE we don't have field gear and there is no NMCI so we support our own network. I work the helpdesk for the MITSC. So here everyone works the helpdesk and it's not the lower echelon billet.

Anyway there's lots I can share and if you have any questions feel free to hit me up or email my USMC email.

And then me Techcon comes over to you and asks why you're jacked up.

Don't forget about watching movies constantly in the field once your gear is up.

[MintusMaximus]

And then me Techcon comes over to you and asks why you're jacked up.

Don't forget about watching movies constantly in the field once your gear is up.

Hahaha oh lord.

ME:Techcon ...hey what do yall do again?
Controler: Uh we sit between you guys and MUX.
ME: Riiight... so your basically useless because anyone can flip a switch on a card?
Controler: Yuuuup!

^ gospel. lol

The movies thing... >.< maybe if your SYSCON is cool, your shift supervisor is cool, and you are on night shift.

IE: you're on my shift and it's night time. It's a party.