Seeking Advice And Experience For Certain Mos's

[pooliemuir]

Marines,

I am a poolie awaiting my ship date of 20111114. I come seeking advice, opinions, and any words of wisdom. I am in the process of selecting my MOS and am having difficulties. When asking advice from others, the number one response is, "Choose something that will benefit you when you get out," or something along those lines. I find myself in a bind: I did not enlist in the Marine Corps in order to prepare for my future plans outside of the Corps. I joined the military out of patriotism. I joined the Marine Corps to be the best. I feel like any job I have in the service will help me when I once again am a civilian. Yet maybe this is naive of me and I am being a bit immature when it comes to planning my future. Well to make a long story not as long, I have narrowed my list of MOS's down to: M1A1 tank crewman, AAV crewmember, or EFV crewman, Aircraft Maintenance, Combat Engineer, or Infantry.

If anyone has any experience in any of these fields or just advice in general I would appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

[thewookie]

You are all over the board with your choices. I suggest that you do or choose what you want to do in the Corps. Not what you think might help you when you get out. Besides the first three MOS' you listed -- M1A1 tank crewman, AAV crewmember or EFV Crewman are not going to help you that much as a civilian, maybe as a civilian contractor, but there aren't too many tanks or AAV's running around the block these days.

Kind of like the old "what if" question, which I tend to respond " what if my sister had a dicke, she would be my brother". You never know what path your life is going to take. But the life you have now, or will have, is the Corps. So if you pick something you don't like, or pick it for the wrong reasons -- you might be miserable for four years.

Any MOS will help you down the road, but it's not really the MOS -- it is the fact that you will (hopefully) someday be a US Marine.

That is what matters.

Good luck

[fl1946]

As the previous poster pointed out and you admitted, "naive" is certainly a correct assessment of you. Not thinking about your future is probably going to be your worse mistake. I suggest you stand before a mirror and be honest with yourself. Life is not a box of chocolate as you soon will see. It is competitive in both the Marine Corps and in civilian life; I suggest you get a grip on yourself and make as an intellgent decision as you can. Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken" is especially appropo to you. Life will not have many shortcuts. Make the best of it while you can.

Semper fi,
SSgt of the Marines
RVN, '67

[ecom]

Your reason for enlisting may be altruistic, but that doesn't mean the relationship cannot be beneficial both ways. Pick something you would like to do even if you don't think it will be beneficial in the future. You can always change your job once you're done. If the MOS ends up doing helping your future and you had fun doing it, then all the better. I liked my comm MOS, but that doesn't mean I cannot move on to better opportunities using the knowledge and experience I gained when my enlistment is up. Such is life.

Don't pick something just because you think it's beneficial to the Marines. There are people lining up for every job available.

[Ice Man]

From my experience AAVs suck, the EFV was never fielded/I believe it was discontinued, not much insight into Combat Engineers, and the Infantry invloves a lot of walking and waiting for word. From the ones you picked, I'd say Tanker would be the best. Also, a similar MOS would be 0313, LAV Crewman. Kind of like the infantry without the aforementioned walking everywhere.

[Hamelink83]

If you want a job that transfers over to the civilian world, out of the ones you listed, Aircraft Maintenance is by far the most marketable.

[advanced]

I would suggest that if available you choose Marine Corps Infantry. With this background, whether you stay in the Corps or not, you will stand out amongst your peers in whatever you do.

Within 100 civilians typically the 2 or 3 Marines of any MOS will stand out. Within 100 Marines, the 1 MC Infantry man will stand out. There is quite a difference.

[MarinesFTW]

Admin, every good business needs someone to push them papers.

[TunTvrnWarrior]

If you want a job that transfers over to the civilian world, out of the ones you listed, Aircraft Maintenance is by far the most marketable.

Of all the choices you have, this is the most marketable. If you do take this path, make sure you take the steps to have an A&P license upon the end of your enlistment.

[LonewolfUSMC]

I was a recruiter and I’ll tell you what I told folks every day. This is also what I know was true to me. If your recruiter gets you the perfect job, an outstanding office with an ocean view and oh let’s not forget the FREE Beer machine! Let say you have this free condo and when you go to bed you crawl into one of them fancy beds you see on Television. Remember this, when the bugle sounds reville in the morning and you crawl out of that fancy T.V. bed and get dressed don’t forget to look in the mirror, now what do you see …
A U.S. MARINE.


I thank you for your patriotism and yes if you can get a job you think you will enjoy go for it. Just remember you have to decide on being a Marine before anything else matters. Because no matter what you get that Marine will be looking back at you every morning.
I hope this helps.
SemperFi,
LonewolfUSMC