7011 skills & how to make the absolute most of Basic

[loganhcormier]

TL;DR: Male, 22, 99 asvab, sick of being a loser, want to develop self as effectively as possible in training. Questions at bottom.

After going through MEPS with the Navy a couple times in previous years, finally decided to actually enlist. Reason for enlisting is mostly that I've never been able to truly get my ass into gear for longer than a couple weeks, which I've been trying to do since very young, and I think it's a combination of being raised in a pretty weak environment and getting stuck in my head (that damn 99 asvab). Marines were the last branch that I spoke with this time, and after finally giving it a genuine look, I love what I'm seeing. I'm going reserves for now (I need to stick around here for a couple years for several reasons) but plan to volunteer/involve myself in any ways possible and will likely go for OCS in a couple years, taking that time to get a degree and expand my experience in my current career (contracting/roofing sales).
I plan on completely dedicating myself in Basic and testing where my limits are and how far I'm capable of pushing them - but I want to develop myself as much as I possibly can while in training. I really see this as my final opportunity to step into myself, into real life. Discipline, motivation, beliefs; Any and all psychological habits that I can train and use to my advantage to ensure that I get. ****. done. I'd also like to compete for leadership positions but I've heard some negative things about bothering with it and about standing out in general.

So, questions:

Considering my motives, what should I be most focused on during Basic? How can I spend my mental energy to develop psychological habits that put me more in control of myself? What should I be aware of?

I want to start my military record off impressively. What should I volunteer for or be aware of in training? What should I really, really not **** up? Is there any extra **** I just shouldn't bother with?

My main interests are sales, teaching, business, electrical systems, and construction. Would also like anything medical, psychological, or goal-/structure-/planning-/execution-oriented as personal skills. What are the best MOS's for these that translate well to civilian, train well for personal skill in related areas, or at least look impressive to employers/etc?

MOS on my contract right now is 7011, sounds neat but I think I could find a better fit. Anyone have experience with this job?


Thanks for your time, guys.

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[loganhcormier]

Forgot to put in the post, MOS 7011 is Expeditionary Airfield Systems Tech.

[m14ed]

TL;DR: Male,
22,
99 asvab,
sick of being a loser,
want to develop self as effectively as possible in training.

Questions at bottom.

I'm going reserves for now
(I need to stick around here for a couple years for several reasons)

but plan to volunteer
/involve myself in any ways possible
and will likely go for OCS in a couple years,

taking that time to get a degree
and expand my experience in my current career
(contracting/roofing sales).

I plan on completely dedicating myself in Basic and testing where my limits are and how far I'm capable of pushing them -

but I want to develop myself as much as I
possibly can while in training.

I really see this as my final opportunity
to step into myself, into real life.
Discipline,
motivation,
beliefs;
Any and all psychological habits that I can train
and use to my advantage to ensure that I get. $hit done.

I'd also like to compete for leadership positions
but I've heard some negative things about bothering with it
and about standing out in general.

So, questions:

Considering my motives, what should I be most focused on during Basic?
How can I spend my mental energy to develop psychological habits that put me more in control of myself? What should I be aware of?

I want to start my military record off impressively. What should I volunteer for or be aware of in training? What should I really, really not **** up? Is there any extra **** I just shouldn't bother with?

My main interests are sales, teaching, business, electrical systems, and construction. Would also like anything medical, psychological, or goal-/structure-/planning-/execution-oriented as personal skills. What are the best MOS's for these that translate well to civilian, train well for personal skill in related areas, or at least look impressive to employers/etc?

MOS on my contract right now is 7011, sounds neat but I think I could find a better fit. Anyone have experience with this job?


Thanks for your time, guys.

Forgot to put in the post,
MOS 7011 is Expeditionary Airfield Systems Tech.

I'm old.
I'm cranky.
and i have a drawer full of EGA's earned @
a time long gone in a land far away......

You young friend in the way i read your post.

you're wasting your time with the MARINECORPS Reserves
SPEND your time now and enter politics / democrats !
I didn't feel your warm lips , but i can see the smoke comming
out my ears while i type this and shave.

[loganhcormier]

I'm old.
I'm cranky.
and i have a drawer full of EGA's earned @
a time long gone in a land far away......

You young friend in the way i read your post.

you're wasting your time with the MARINECORPS Reserves
SPEND your time now and enter politics / democrats !
I didn't feel your warm lips , but i can see the smoke comming
out my ears while i type this and shave.

you, uh... you wanna rephrase that one for me? and/or explain what's contributing to your interpretation

[Tennessee Top]

FYI, soldiers go to basic training. Marines go to bootcamp/recruit training.

Don't worry about psychological habits that will put you in more control of yourself or how you can spend your mental energy. You will have no control and will not have to think about much/expend much mental energy. Your DI's have total control over everything you do 24 hours a day for 13 weeks. There are no watches or clocks. They will tell you when to sleep, when to wake up, when to eat, when to $hit, you get the idea. They will teach you a new vocabulary, how/when to speak, and how to think (the Marine Corps way). One of your recruiter's responsibilities is to prepare you mentally and physically for bootcamp. There are plenty of youtube videos out there so nothing about bootcamp should come as a surprise to you. While in the delayed entry program (DEP), you'll have plenty of opportunities to talk to boot Marines who have just completed bootcamp and can pick their brains about how to be successful as a recruit (some of them go back home for a few days to help their hometown recruiter). Talk to them about volunteering or what to be aware of in training (they just went through it).

People have different opinions about leadership positions in bootcamp. Personally, my goal was to avoid my DI's as much as possible so a leadership position was the farthest thing from my mind (if they never learned my name that was fine by me). On the other hand, a leadership position can lead to a meritorious promotion putting one a pay grade (or two) ahead of their peers. My niece graduated bootcamp a meritorious PFC putting her one pay grade ahead of her peers. Then, she earned meritorious LCpl out of her MOS school (honor graduate) putting her two pay grades ahead of those same peers. So, leadership positions can be beneficial.

Marines don't do medical/psychological (sailors handle medical/psychological for us). We don't do sales/contracts (except for recruiters) or business. DI's teach. Combat Engineers do construction and we do have ground/aviation electricians. Evidently, your reserve unit is an aviation unit that needs a 7011 so that is where you're plugged into going. If you wanted a construction MOS, you'd have to go to a reserve Combat Engineer unit. Civilians don't use expeditionary (temporary/forward deployed) airfields so not sure how much 7011 translates to civilian aviation. Doesn't matter because you're already locked into that billet with your unit.

Read the similar threads about 7011 under your post.

Good luck.

[crazymjb]

I think you are approaching this in somewhat idealistic light. In that I mean you feel your **** isn't together, and that somehow going to boot camp will transform the way you've functioned your entire life. This isn't realistic. For the vast majority of people, boot camp is a means to an end. Don't get me wrong, it was and is an impactful experience, but it doesn't change people's core being. It does test you, and teach you how to be a basically trained Marine.

It sounds to me that you may get more of what you want from Active Duty. While a career in the reserves can be exciting and meaningful, the USMC tends to overstate volunteer opportunities and the few days a month aren't enough to live off of or provide any other sort of structure for your life.

As far as mos, it seems you are most motivated by career skills. If you are hell bent on the reserves and that location I would try to find an aviation maintenance related MOS as that will translate most directly to the private sector. Furthermore aviation maintenance is a super detail-oriented field and that may help with some of your personal development in that respect.

If you want to be miserable in boot camp, by all means volunteer for everything. It will likely do very little if anything for you in the long run, but at the very least youll get some leadership experience from it and learn what failure means. You'll also get that much better at pushups and being yelled at. It CAN hurt, but only temporarily.

Also you say you have problems sticking with things. I promise that there will be times where you think showing up for your summers and weekends is a stupid waste of time and pointless, that it's mismanaged, etc, and you probably won't even be wrong. Don't be that pos who just stops showing up -- those guys suck.

Mike