Joining Military Police or Aerial Observer/Gunner help?

[AnotherUsername]

I'm in college and planning on joining the reserves and have narrowed down my MOS to either Military Police or Aerial Observer/Gunner. Does anyone have any experience with either that they could talk about how the day to day work feels, the kind of people who generally go with either MOS (for instance for the MP side I've known a lot of cops growing up because the job runs in friends' families and my own family along with being a firefighter so I run into them on scenes and I've met more than a few who are arrogant and let the badge go to their head. I know I'll end up working with those kinds of people sooner or later but I'd like them to be a minority not majority), and the opportunities for advancement in each?

I'll be competing for PLC/OCS slots when I come back from my training and I'd like a potential officer MOS to be tied back to whatever I sign up for now. But even if I don't make it into PLC/OCS I'd like to try and build from whichever MOS I choose.

On the MP side I'd like to one day be a Marine Security Guard or possibly Special Reaction Team member (not sure how that would fit with officer side though). On aviation if I became an officer I would want to pilot something like an Osprey or Huey, but if I didn't make officer then I'd like to be a crew chief (which from what I understand I could actually possibly be right from the get go as a Pfc?)

Any advice/input welcome, thanks.

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[josephd]

My first question for you, are those MOS' available at a local reserve unit?....if not then forget about getting into either of them...

Secondly....you don't get to pick your MOS as an officer so the MOS you have as an enlisted Marine really won't matter.

You can be MSG, with FAST(Fleet anti terrorism security team), or similar as an officer but FAST you'd have to be infantry. MSG is open to any and all MOS'.

Being a crew chief is possible as a PFC but if you're joining the reserves, like I stated before, that MOS would have to be available at a reserve unit local to you. You don't get to pick whatever MOS you want.

[AnotherUsername]

Hm. I hadn't thought about whether or not they had those spots or not, I'll ask my recruiter tomorrow and find out. While on the topic though I've been looking up as much stuff as I can find on Marine MP's and most people say they're really hated by Marines because MP's tend to be arrogant/nit pick laws (i.e. give speeding tickets for going 28 in a 25) and are really lazy (a few stories about MP's not wanting to file reports for break-ins/robberies and once even trying to convince a Marine not to try and file a report), do you have any experience with that? I realize I wouldn't be popular for trying to keep laws going, but if arrogance and laziness are really as common as other people are making it sound then that doesn't sound like something I want to be a part of.

I also realize that this is a moot point if I can't even get the MOS, but until I know for sure it's not an option I want to keep treating it like it is so I can learn more about it.

So if I tried for FAST I'd have to be an infantry officer? Would it make any kind of difference to becoming an MSG if I was already some law enforcement related MOS?

I'll ask my recruiter about the aviation stuff too. Oh and I was reading a post here about a former marine crew chief and I think he said part of his job was being the door gunner (?) I was under the impression that door gunner would be by definition the aerial gunner. Though I also read the crew chief needs to be a mechanic too which might be tricky since I'm not much of a mechanic though it might not be too hard to learn.

Thanks josephd! I appreciate the prompt feedback.

[AnotherUsername]

Also: I just saw a post from last August where you mentioned that there are 3 MP companies in the reserves and one of them is right next to where I am. While I don't think this guarantees there will be a spot, I imagine this at least improves my odds (?)

[josephd]

I deployed with a reserve MP Company, great group of guys. I am not going to speculate and shine a negative light on MP's, they have a job to do like very other Marine. They get a bad rep because they have that job to do that gets Marines into trouble with their command's.

And yes, in order to be eligible for a FAST unit you'd have to be a regular infantry officer first. And then you'd put in for FAST selection after spending some time in the fleet first.

No, having military police background has no bearing on becoming MSG. Everything you would need to know for MSG duty would come from MSG school, having prior knowledge won't help. In fact I'd go far as to say it may hinder. They want to train MSG Marines fresh to the tactics and protocol to learn properly, not someone that claims to know what they are doing and have bad habits.

[AnotherUsername]

Well I managed to talk to my recruiter yesterday and apparently out of all of the stations in the entire half of the state there's only really supply related MOS' left and I'll need to wait and see the 2015 list which would mean boot camp in October at the earliest. At that point it feels kind of pointless because I'll be in training for at least a year when there's only another year and a half of college left and it doesn't look like it would really be a possibility to get in on the officer side with that little time left either so I'm not sure if, assuming I find a MOS I want, I should take October and go into the reserves or just be patient and enlist after college. Any opinion?

He also confirmed that from what he saw when he was temporarily made an MP for a few months when there was a shortage at his base MPs generally deserve the reputation they have (he said he saw things like letting their buddies slide for drunk driving while coming down on people for driving a couple miles over the speed limit) and if I wanted to be an MSG than being an MP would probably hurt those chances instead of help. Also found out that being a crew chief in the reserves is really impractical and he recommends I look around for another MOS. But after scrolling around through all of the different options it looks like I'm back to square one with rifleman.

[josephd]

FINISH SCHOOL!!!!!

The Marine Corps will still be around when you graduate, and having a college degree will open up many more doors/opportunities for you. Be patient young grasshopper!

[AnotherUsername]

Haha I know I know! It's like this massive irritating itch that I gotta scratch though. I definitely want to graduate college, I just also want to find a way to do both.

[josephd]

Haha I know I know! It's like this massive irritating itch that I gotta scratch though. I definitely want to graduate college, I just also want to find a way to do both.

there is no way to do to both. take it from me, I'm a reservist, when I tell you that joining the reserves will not "scratch that itch".