Intel MOS

[Rub2014]

I would like to know if anyone knows the pass/fail rate for intel school? My son is swearing in on Monday and is torn between infantry and intel. He wants that physical challenge but thinks intel might be better for his future. Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.

Marine Wife & soon to be Marine Mom

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[EastofWest18]

If he is going active duty then he may go to one of a number of different intelligence schools.

When you join active duty you sign up for the occupational field instead of the MOS. So anyone who joins for intel will get a 02XX contract. The xx will be decided after Marine Combat Training or Recruit Training when he gets his assignment to a specific Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). Some schools are harder than others for different people. Geospatial analysts, intelligence analysts, and signals intelligence analysts all get different training. At the same time, depending on what Infantry MOS he gets (that would be a 03XX contract) he might be assigned to a Mortar or Machinegun MOS. Those schools focus more on carrying heavy things long distances than a 0311 MOS that (while involving carrying heavy things) focuses more on different aspects.

Here is my advice. He your son is looking to do 4 and get out, push him to do Intelligence. Even if he hates it, it will provide him with a better path post-Marines. If he even has an inkling that he may want to make the Marine Corps his career, sit him down and make him do research with you on the Marine Corps career paths for the 2 MOS. It is much harder to become a career enlisted infantry Marine than intelligence Marine due to manning requirements and promotion rates. If he goes 02XX he will likely be a Sergeant by the time his first contract is up. If he goes 03XX he might not hit Corporal until well into his second enlistment.

Either way, good luck to him.

[USMC 2571]

Good advice. You should consider going to the Ask A Marine section more often and helping out those folks in there.

Folks like me who joined up 50 years ago are no help except when dealing with generalities like "What Should I expect in boot camp?"---anything "technical" like most of these questions, are best answered by you younger Marines.

[William Hardy]

I am not sure of the pass/fail rate, but it is a long, long school. If he qualified for the MOS, he had to have scored very high on his tests. It would be a good MOS for him. I worked as an Senior Intelligence Analyst for a long time and loved every minute of it.

[BGW]

Tell him to go intel, seriously that grunt **** is just **** **** games all day, specially now since the wars are ending. Intel is most likely a challenging school but folks still get through it. He just needs to put in the effort, any how once he does one enlistment and gets out he would be set for career opportunities in the private sector.

[Rub2014]

Thank you for such a detailed response. It was very helpful. I will pass this along to him. He said he wants to do intel and go into law enforcement after the Marines. He will most likely sign the contract this week. Thanks again

[Rub2014]

I think he realizes that now ( I hope). He signs his contract this week and I hope he doesn't change his mind. I just didn't want him to fail his MOS for some reason (not that he wouldn't give it his all, just looking at the big picture) and he ends up a cook. Thanks for the response, it was helpful.

[EastofWest18]

Thank you for such a detailed response. It was very helpful. I will pass this along to him. He said he wants to do intel and go into law enforcement after the Marines. He will most likely sign the contract this week. Thanks again

This is a good idea. As an intelligence Marine he will have many more opportunities to do much more interesting stuff than a grunt will in peace time. It will also help him more with getting a law enforcement job. In both positions he is a Marine, but in one he will be an expert in digging trenches and shooting machine guns while the other will teach him about complex reasoning and other skills similar to the investigative resources a cop needs.

[Baker1971]

The infantry Marine is the backbone of the Marine Corps.
Boots on the ground !!!

[EastofWest18]

The infantry Marine is the backbone of the Marine Corps.
Boots on the ground !!!

Agreed. It is not meant to be a knock on the Infantry. They do an important job, and everyone else is just there to support them (including me). That being said, an enlisted 03XX lance corporal does not do much that translates into the real world. Being in the 02XX (intel) field will give him more opportunities to develop skills that are useful once his 4 are up.

[MunkyVsRobot]

Which MOS is he hoping to get or which one was he sent to? The atrition rate of some are higher than others.

Speaking strictly for ther 0261 community the failure rate is pretty low but that is also taking into consideration the time and effort the instructors as well as the students put forth into the school. You only get out what you put in.

for the 0261 field it is a 7 month school with 2 parts 1 where you learn geodetic survey and ther 2nd half you learn GIS ie map making portion and satellite imagery portion of the school. Most of the failures and drops occur in the 1st half because you need to learn Trig, but it is doable I was out of school for over 10 years before i got to the school house the highest math i took was algebra 2 and i was pretty close to honor grad upon completion.

so as long as your Marine puts forth the effort and really wants to learn his mos and his skill he will pass.

[MunkyVsRobot]

If he is going active duty then he may go to one of a number of different intelligence schools.

When you join active duty you sign up for the occupational field instead of the MOS. So anyone who joins for intel will get a 02XX contract. The xx will be decided after Marine Combat Training or Recruit Training when he gets his assignment to a specific Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). Some schools are harder than others for different people. Geospatial analysts, intelligence analysts, and signals intelligence analysts all get different training. At the same time, depending on what Infantry MOS he gets (that would be a 03XX contract) he might be assigned to a Mortar or Machinegun MOS. Those schools focus more on carrying heavy things long distances than a 0311 MOS that (while involving carrying heavy things) focuses more on different aspects.

Here is my advice. He your son is looking to do 4 and get out, push him to do Intelligence. Even if he hates it, it will provide him with a better path post-Marines. If he even has an inkling that he may want to make the Marine Corps his career, sit him down and make him do research with you on the Marine Corps career paths for the 2 MOS. It is much harder to become a career enlisted infantry Marine than intelligence Marine due to manning requirements and promotion rates. If he goes 02XX he will likely be a Sergeant by the time his first contract is up. If he goes 03XX he might not hit Corporal until well into his second enlistment.

Either way, good luck to him.

If hes only looking to do 4 intel isnt for him actually a lot of MOS' aren't for him a lot of people I meet are on 5 year contracts. Intel is one of those that are a 5 year contract.

[Baker1971]

I wish him good luck whatever the outcome and hope he does 20,them make some serious money in the outside world plus his pension.

[29palms]

I took Intro to Combat Intelligence on an MCI course. I learned more about that course than any other course I took. I think every Marine should have a little INTEL knowledge. Intel is quite varied. Lots of different positions within INTEL. Photographers, analyst, info gathering, a lot requires college background working INTEL in the Federal positions of government like CIA, NSA, FBI,, ect.....but on the field experience, especially those in combat may fit right into those jobs. I think I would have liked the intelligence field. Would be quite interesting but you gotta think too, that you may be in the "THICK" of it too. Intelligence gathering requires you to be where the ENEMY is and that is usually up in the front lines. You may have to be that type of INTEL where you have to interrogate the prisoners and they aint in McDonalds back stateside. Infantry guys are told to gather any material found on enemy for intel to be send back for further analysis of the raw data. Intel pieces bits of raw data to get a bigger picture for determining troop strength, troop movement, their will generally. What will they do next?

[William Hardy]

It takes a lot of other MOSs to keep the grunt going. Having been to intel school and working the on the job, I can say that it was a very interesting field. There was hardly a time when I was "in the rear with the gear." Most of the time I was in a 113 or GP medium out in the field. If Rub2014's son wants to be with the grunts but not as an 03, intel with a grunt unit could provide him with that experience. I was a Senior Intel Sergeant and worked the map boards and OB (order of battle). It was interesting to keep track of enemy officers and the tactics they used. I really enjoyed working with the maps. After a while you get to where you read maps like other people read words. You can see the terrain and the slope of hills and mountains.

I am prejudiced, but I would tell him to go intel.