OCS Applicant Considering Enlisting

[mwell008]

I'm a 19 year old junior in college (have one more academic year after this one). I decided to join the Corps about 8 months ago and got in contact with an OSO then.

I've been procrastinating a lot with my application. Not always consciously, but something has been holding me back and I think I'm starting to come to terms with it. I'm pretty sure that I want to enlist instead of commissioning.

My logic is that, I'm only going to be 20 when I graduate, and I know I have a lot of room to mature and grow, and I'll be able to do that on the enlisted side, where as I'm expected to be mature and grown to some extent straight out of OCS / TBS. I believe I can be a great leader, but I don't know if I'm ready to be that leader yet. There's so much experience I could gain from enlisting. And opportunities I can't get if I go straight to commissioning (recruiter's duty not as an OSO, DI, etc.). And, because as an enlisted Marine I don't have as many responsibilities I can still enjoy being young a little bit. And I can always lead from the low levels. I've always felt the best leadership can come from peers so why not start of at the bottom and be that light to peers at my level, and then even if I commission or continue an NCO career I'll have been in their shoes and can related more. Yet, after 4 years enlisted, I can get out if I don't like it, or re-up, or even work towards commissioning then.

I guess it sounds pretty clear that I want to enlist first. So I suppose that's what I'll be doing (answered my own damn question). But my issue now, is how to tell my family / OSO. I told my family a couple months ago I was going to join and go officer, and they're supportive but hesitant (they all worry it's not the right path for me, and most of them suggest Air Force, but I'm dead set on Marines). If I told them I was going to enlist they'd say college and everything academic was a waste. Even my dad would say this, and he's a 20 year Marine Corps veteran ('83-'03 I think, infantry, retired as a GySgt). I half joked that I was considering enlisted and he said, "If you did that you better not come home", which was half joking, too, but half serious just like I was.

I know in the end they'd be supportive, and that, in the end, it doesn't matter what they think, but any tips on how to break the news, or whatever?

Also, will my OSO be mad at me? I've been slacking on him for 8 months (since I came to him) and now I'm leaving him completely... I hate that to be the way I start my relationship with the Corps... tips on approaching him about this?

Thanks for everything - I know my question ended up switching from "what should I do" to "help me do this" but I appreciate any advice / tips / thoughts, and just your time in general. OORAH and Semper Fi!

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[crazymjb]

I don't know that your reasons are great for wanting to enlist first. If you are qualified to be an officer, the USMC will give you every opportunity to be a great officer. Prior enlisted service, while it can help those who are officers, does not necessarily a great officer make. Also, a couple years from now, you'll potentially have just as much responsibility as a 2nd Lt as far as peoples lives are concerned. We had 5 platoons and 2 officers in Afghanistan. We had SSgts and even Sgts acting as platoon commanders on combat patrols regularly.

The leadership at the "lower level" differs from that of an officer, and as a retired Gunnery Sergeant your father should be able to explain all of this to you.

Now if you have your heart set on being a DI or something, yea there is only one way to do that. The other benefit to enlisting is you can guarantee yourself infantry, assuming you want to follow in your fathers foot steps.

As far as your OSO, he probably won't be surprised if you have already kind of dropped off the map.

Mike

[irpat54]

also as a butter bar Lt. you will have plenty of NCO's and SNCO's to lean on while you learn and grow, if you're smart you will use them they can be a very valuable asset for you.

[Tennessee Top]

It's pretty obvious to me, your heart is not in being an officer. Knowing that, why put yourself through the application, OCS, and TBS gauntlets (just to make your parents proud)?

Stay in college and get your degree. Whatever happens, you'll always have that in your back pocket. Any academic achievements will never be in vain as a Marine. I finished both my AA and BS degrees on active duty. That gave me an additional MOS of 8015 (enlisted with college degree) and I am convinced it helped at promotion time - I was always promoted on time which is not always the case in the staff NCO ranks.

Don't be concerned about your OSO. They have many more fish to fry and will get over the loss.

Commissioning programs for enlisted Marines are few (there are two) and the selection process is extremely competitive. Last year, only 19 enlisted Marines were selected for the MECEP commissioning program. This year, the one selectee I know is a Gunnery Sergeant with 14 years service and former senior drill instructor at Parris Island Recruit Depot. He'll be going to OCS this fall, where he is quailed to be an instructor pushing candidates. Just to give you an idea who you would be competing against. The other option is the Warrant Officer Program - must be at least a sergeant to be eligible. Not as competitive as the commissioning programs, only because they take more bodies.

Good luck.

[crazymjb]

He could also get out/go reserve side and apply as prior service, but he would of course need a civilian job to keep him afloat in the interim. It also would not be a guarantee that he get selected. Of all the prior enlisted officers I've met, I think all of them came from the reserves or prior active duty and got out and went back in that way. I can think of 4 enlisted Marines I was in the reserves with who are now officers who went this route, 2 had deployed 2 had not. I also know a couple who are now Army officers.

Mike

[mwell008]

It's not that I don't think the officer programs would prepare me enough or that I think I'm incapable. I think I could be a great officer as is. I just don't know that it's the path I want to take. It's more hands off with the "work" side of things. As well as the fact that I want the opportunity to make a career out of my service, and after a certain point officer promotions become political and I don't necessarily want that. And I know once you hit NCO ranks you have more responsibility, but by then I'd be around 23 and I think I'd be more open and desiring of the responsibilities then than I am now.

Also, Tennessee Top, I've recently been considering Warrant Officer as a potential option too.

Also, the GySgt in my OSOs office mentioned reserves and then going officer from there, but the point of enlisting would be to get hand on experience with the "dirty work" (although not necessarily dirty if I end up a POG) and eith reserves you don't get that.

And, it's irrelevant really, but I'm a female.

[djj34]

I'm late to the party but I'll add my input anyway. Definitely finish college while you're here now. You have no crystal ball that will tell you if you will easily get back into it if you leave.

That said, only go officer if you 100% think you want to do that. Do not have any "mental reservations" as it says during the oath, or you will be hurting. So, on the same note, don't enlist if you think you "should" because it may make you a "more capable leader." Only enlist if that is something you absolutely want to do. If you take either side without being 100% in on it, you will waste your time, the time of the Marines around you, and the assets the Marine Corps is spending on you to make you into a Marine, enlisted or commissioned.

From where you stand, it sounds like you don't want to be an officer, and that's ok.

[crazymjb]

To be fair, the idea of that level of responsibility can be daunting to a 19 year old. That doesn't mean they cant excel in it. Id be shocked if there were many good officers who never had a doubt in their mind that they were right where they needed to be when leading Marines. I know as an NCO that when given a fireteam or squad for the first time the enormous weight of that can be nerve racking at first, and that is after deploying as a lance. The Marine Corps entrusts even its most junior Marines with a lot, having reservations about hopping right into the shiny side seems normal. Maybe I'm wrong, but I dont think so.

Also, no matter how well informed, perspectives from the outside are often skewed.

I'd continue to caution the OP that their perceived youth can be a strength as recognition of self is important in growing as a leader. Most officers start out new to the military and fresh out of school. Many of them do exceptionally. None of them knew everything they needed to know or were magically gifted experience by virtue of getting their butter bars.

Mike

[djj34]

I might not have been very clear with my last post. I know there have been doubts about ability to serve well as a commissioned or enlisted Marine. My point meant to illustrate the idea that it's a bad route to go if you aren't sure you want to do it, doubts be disregarded.

If you're not sure you want it, don't go for it. That's all I meant.

[mwell008]

Thank you all for your input.

I definitely know I want to join. That's for sure. I've just been struggling with figuring out and deciding the right path for myself.

I think part of my struggle is that when I hear my dad talk about when he was in, and the kind of leader and NCO/SNCO he was, I want to be that, too. I think part of me wants to follow my dads footsteps so much so that I want to enlist. And maybe I'll decide to stay enlisted, or maybe I'll see that the Marine Corps isn't a good fit (as a lot of people do only after they join), or maybe I'll end up commissioning later (would probably just EAS and go to an OSO the next day rather than hope to get selected for MECEP).

I guess I really just need to lay out the pros and cons of each route (including enlisting in the reserves and possibly commissioning from there which I've been considering lately, as well) and decide what's the best fit for me.

[Kurt Loadeater]

It's not that I think enlistment is a step backwards in life, but if you have a degree, in my opinion you should try to move forward with something that leverages all the work you've put into it. It's fine wanting to be young for a bit, but that's what you should be doing now while in school. Most of your peers (junior Marines) will not have had the college experience, and they will be years behind you in terms of experiencing freedom from their parents for the first time. That's not going to be as fun to be around as you might think (imagine hanging out with a bunch of high school seniors or college freshmen). And what happens if you just don't pick up rank/billets for whatever reason? Maybe your leadership just doesn't like you because you went to college, or whatever? You may have corporals in your ass that are years younger than you.

IMO I'd graduate, and try to get a civilian job, or join the reserves if it's just an itch you have to scratch. You can always apply to OCS after a few more years of life experience.