A few questions from a civi

[FNG Civilian]

Again thank you all for help and advice!

[Tennessee Top]

Good start...now the real work begins. It's called "committment" and it's one of our three core values (honor, courage, and committment). You will find out if you have the level of committment it actually takes to earn the title.

[FNG Civilian]

I fully intend on earning the title and not only making my country proud, but soon to be fellow Marines and my self!

[PNW2011]

I have no doubt that recruiter is going to help you make weight, but don't once mistake him for your buddy. You two can BS with each other AFTER you're back from the depot. Recruiters drop the day to day formalities that are common among Marines in order to build that relationship with their applicants, simply because if you think he's your friend, he can sell you a contract much easier.

I'm not saying he will, but he might, be on the look out for that.

[FNG Civilian]

When I was talking with him he made the comment like, you're obviously more mature than the typical high school kids, and you came in here knowing exactly what you wanted, so now I'm going to help you get there.

Which for me set him apart from the other recruiters I've dealt with in the past, the whole time we were talking it was a mutual understanding that I'm not here to waste your time, and I can tell you're not here to waste mine.

Although I did disagree with him on the point that he wanted to get me in and enlisted at 220 lbs (minimum weight for DEP) and not take it down to below USMC standards.

[PvtShane]

I went through boot with a guy who was really overweight. He dropped a ton of it through the traning, something like 80 pounds? He made it, but it wasn't easy. The DI's slayed him, but that also gave him such dramatic results. They would punish us all with him though, he was my rackmate, a lot of the other guys didn't like him because of it, but he was a good man. You'll have to be tougher then most in a way. I suggest you lose more then the minimum standard before joining. Being a fat body is hated throughout the Marine Corps and the promotion system works mainly on physical fitness. If you start out at an average weight I think it would prove to be the better choice, right from the get-go you could get promoted to squad leader, and earn a promotion out of it. I went in with the opposite way, too light. I was also out of shape, running wise. I paid for it hard. If I could have gone back I would have worked out more. My Senior DI made me scribe, housemouse(housemoose at the end because I wasn't really short and I put on 30 pnds), knowledge, he said I would have been a squad leader if I hadn't gotten broken. I made it through but like I said, I paid for going in before I was ready. Your fitness needs to match your motivation, if you can pull that off, you're golden. Keep in mind that wont come easy, and you'll have to slay yourself. You recruiter might have a point because you won't have the choice, you will become skinny. I had a lot of heart, I never gave up. That's what's important. And once my ability matched the heart I had, well I've been successful ever since. You never just want to make the cut in the USMC. That's not what we are about.