Meritorious Promotions

[MunkyVsRobot]

I was wondering what the Marines take on these were? I guess I technically got one for my Associates because I got PFC with my DEP contract, and at the mini boot camp that I went to a couple of weeks ago the Sgt Major stated that we needed to find out replacements in the DEP and that if we could find 2 after Recruit Training we could get Lance Cooley.

I understand being a higher rank would be pretty good pay wise but is ranking up quickly typically a bad thing? I was thinking about trying to get 2 replacements to hit MCT or at least MOS school as Lance Cooley (I just found out about recruiters assistance hoping i could do some of that while in holding for MOS school)

[Zulu 36]

I was wondering what the Marines take on these were? I guess I technically got one for my Associates because I got PFC with my DEP contract, and at the mini boot camp that I went to a couple of weeks ago the Sgt Major stated that we needed to find out replacements in the DEP and that if we could find 2 after Recruit Training we could get Lance Cooley.

I understand being a higher rank would be pretty good pay wise but is ranking up quickly typically a bad thing? I was thinking about trying to get 2 replacements to hit MCT or at least MOS school as Lance Cooley (I just found out about recruiters assistance hoping i could do some of that while in holding for MOS school)

No, you won't be considered a Meritorious PFC. You will go in as a contract PFC. Likely, the only way you'll see meritorious LCpl out of boot camp is to be the Company Honorman. Meritorious promotions have to be earned by meritorious deeds. Not just enlisting a few extra guys. You have to prove you're ready to move up a rank early.

Getting rank fast can hurt you several ways. First, you aren't getting the training, and most importantly, the experience in your job. Second, people will think you don't know your job worth beans, and they might be right. So you've got to learn harder and work harder to prove your rank isn't an accident.

Just so you don't think I'm a bitter, passed over meritorious something, I did make meritorious PFC out of boot camp and meritorious Cpl in Vietnam.

[MunkyVsRobot]

No, you won't be considered a Meritorious PFC. You will go in as a contract PFC. Likely, the only way you'll see meritorious LCpl out of boot camp is to be the Company Honorman. Meritorious promotions have to be earned by meritorious deeds. Not just enlisting a few extra guys. You have to prove you're ready to move up a rank early.

Getting rank fast can hurt you several ways. First, you aren't getting the training, and most importantly, the experience in your job. Second, people will think you don't know your job worth beans, and they might be right. So you've got to learn harder and work harder to prove your rank isn't an accident.

Just so you don't think I'm a bitter, passed over meritorious something, I did make meritorious PFC out of boot camp and meritorious Cpl in Vietnam.

Im hoping the Sgt Major wasnt lying to us about that. He claims that if you get 2 referrals then after being in the Marine Corps for 4 months you can get LCPL (I believe he was using RT as inclusion for TIS and TIG)

I know I plan on trying to get 2 referrals, if it works I'll let you gentlemen know how it worked out for me.

[Marine3451]

I hated when people Got Meritorious Lance Corporal by recruiting 2 people. In all reality I would treat them the same as a pfc or Pvt out of MOS school. By the way it is Not Lance Coolie as you do not rate to use those terms amoungst Marines yet.

[IHaveEGA843]

This is a good question because if I can I'd like to hit LCpl in my first year in.

I have the college credits for PFC but would love to earn LCpl either it be by recruiting others or becoming company honor grad.

[SSgt Lamie]

Getting promoted quickly isn't such a bad thing. I never had an issue with someone checking into my shop right out of MOS school as a LCpl. Depending on the route that they took to get there it would tell me a lot about them. If they were a person who got time to help out their Recruiter and actually found individuals to enlist instead of sitting in the office watching movies all day, I knew that I could give them a task and it would get done quickly without question.

If it was someone who had RA and did nothing, and only picked up LCpl based on TIS TIG then I would have to question that Marine.

If you have the opprotunity to get promoted go for it. Otherwise sit on your *** and wait for the Marine Corps to promote you.

The people that tell you it's a bad idea to try and get promoted quickly are probaly those who sat around and waited for the Marine Corps to promote them.

[MunkyVsRobot]

I hated when people Got Meritorious Lance Corporal by recruiting 2 people. In all reality I would treat them the same as a pfc or Pvt out of MOS school. By the way it is Not Lance Coolie as you do not rate to use those terms amoungst Marines yet.

My apologies for referring to it as lance cooley, but in reality the only thing that stands between me and the title is death or if I become real dumb a felony.

so far before I have even become a recruit this journey has already cost me my life and my marriage, this is how dedicated I am to earning the title.

I know i may not rate on this site but when I asked my recruiter how he felt when poolees said ooorah he tells me this is what we are supposed to say. Meant in no way to start an arguement. Just ment as a basis as to where I stand as a poolee and a future Marine. DONT **** on us as your future Marines and poolees.

Please forgive my outburst as I am presently going through the D no disrespect intended I respect you Marines the utmost and I hope to make you proud when I get my time to play in the sand.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Walking right up to the line here. But so noted. I will respond to your PM tonite.

Meritorous is a GOOD thing. I made Meritorous Corporal, probably the hardest rank to make that way, waaaaay back in '85.

Keep chargin.

[Quinbo]

I can't make this chit up. I hit the fleet as a private and was treated like one. A snafu in paperwork delayed my promotion to PFC. I just went with the flow and really had no idea of how the whole system worked. I was getting paid every two weeks and had 3 hots and a cot so didn't complain. Morning formation on Dec 1 I was promoted to PFC at company formation. Later that day I found myself standing in line for a meritorious promotion board. The company gunny called his wife and she came in and sewed PFC cheverons on my shirt while I stood in lin in my t-shirt. The next day Dec 2 I was meritoriously promoted to Lcpl. Admin in their stellar skills just went ahead and back paid me Lcpl pay all the way back to ITS.

I wore PFC for exactly 1 day

[Marine3451]

Meritorious is a good thing I'm Just a bit jaded in my view of meritorious LCpl from recruiting because of some of my experiances in the Marine Corps. When I was a LCpl I held a Chief Billet in my shop. I had been there over a year when a fresh boot LCpl came in and tried challenging my authority to give him orders work wise to get the job done. I took care of it and now me and the Marine are good friends but it seemed to me because this kid got promoted too quickly he didnt understand that even as a Lance Corporal you might be getting supervised by another Lance Corporal

[3043pog]

Never for a second did I feel bad for earning meritorious Corporal.I worked my ass off,absolutely loved my job,and tried to rise above those that didn't want the responsibility. I did alot of OJT,but had outstanding NCO's and SNCO's showing me the way!

[MarinesFTW]

Im hoping the Sgt Major wasnt lying to us about that. He claims that if you get 2 referrals then after being in the Marine Corps for 4 months you can get LCPL (I believe he was using RT as inclusion for TIS and TIG)

I know I plan on trying to get 2 referrals, if it works I'll let you gentlemen know how it worked out for me.

This is actually correct. If you are a PFC and graduated boot camp, and get 2 more referrals you will get LCpl, but not before boot camp. You have to of earned your title and be a PFC. Hope this clears it up for everyone. The only way to get lance out of boot is to be the Company Honorman, no other way.

[MunkyVsRobot]

Meritorious is a good thing I'm Just a bit jaded in my view of meritorious LCpl from recruiting because of some of my experiances in the Marine Corps. When I was a LCpl I held a Chief Billet in my shop. I had been there over a year when a fresh boot LCpl came in and tried challenging my authority to give him orders work wise to get the job done. I took care of it and now me and the Marine are good friends but it seemed to me because this kid got promoted too quickly he didnt understand that even as a Lance Corporal you might be getting supervised by another Lance Corporal

At RSS concord there is a Ssgt that is the SNCOIC and has a Gunnery Sgt under him. So that makes sense.

[Beltayn]

Meritorious LCpl from Recruiters Assistance or MOS school doesn't mean a thing. Pipeline Schools are so ridiculously easy that it's more a function of having a small class size and a stupider than average composition of that class in order to get top class rank. In my MOS school my class of 70 had about 10 people who got near perfect on every test, and the final ranking among them was completely arbitrary because it was based on who was unlucky enough to have gotten the test versions with incorrectly formatted questions among the near dozen of us who could have taken it.

As for Recruiter's Assistance, that is beyond meaningless as well. Sure, some Marines work hard on RA, but most do not, and working hard has no correlation at all with actually getting credit for recruits. I saw more PFCs come back from RA having done nothing the entire time but receive LCpl "meritoriously" because their recruiter hooked them up than I ever saw Marines who felt they had earned it.

I myself went on RA as a PFC, worked my butt off for 30 days typing phone rosters and paperwork and cleaning the office and driving around town delivering packages to poolees and taking poolees to MEPS. And I didn't get a damn thing for it. On top of that, for the time period I did RA, the recruiting command got a National Unit Citation which I should have rated as a ribbon, but my orders subsequently got lost by admin and I never got my award to this day.


Meritorious promotions don't mean a thing until Cpl. If you get one, good for you, enjoy the extra money and the head start on TiG towards your cutting score over your peers. But meritorious promotions up through LCpl say very little about the Marine in reality.

[cucinae5]

I think they are great as long as you can handle the responsibility that comes with them.

I was promoted to meritorious lance by Lt. colonel during inspection for deployment and then was meritoriously promoted to Cpl. A year later. I made Sgt. In less than a year.

If you are confident you cM lead then go for it. Keep your stuff in line, do all the schools you can, do your MCI's and the sky is the limit. You could end up being a SNCO before half the guys you went to boot with because they are lazy and just wait their time like others have stated.