Component Change Successful

[jenrmurray]

I am finally going Active Duty for sure! The only problem is that I do not have a job yet, and I will not ship until stinkin' March. BUT. At least I am AD. I went into the office to tell them that I did not want to ship as a Reservist even if it meant being a DEP discharge. Strong words, I know, but I was running out of things to say!

A Gunnery Sergeant from another station came in while I was talking to my Sergeant, he happened to overhear what we were talking about and asked if he could cut in. He talked to me for about fifteen minutes about Reserves and how it really is easy to augment (I said that I had been told it was not easy and I did not want to take the gamble of not being able to augment). Then he went on to ask me about OCS and was telling me that I would have more time to put the package together as a Reservist (but being an Officer is not my main priority, being a Marine is)... He told me I'm old, so I'll automatically get leadership opportunities in boot camp (he said, "long in the tooth." hehe) and a few other things... then he said, "young lady, I salute you. I think I will be seeing you again." Then he got up and went to the NCOIC's office.

Next thing I know, I'm sitting in front of the NCOIC and he's telling me that he's doing a Component Change for me. I could hardly contain my excitement. He was trying to give me a September ship date job of a girl who DEPed in months ago, but had never called them again. The Captain said if he could not locate her that day, the job was mine. Well, that fell through and she still wants to go, so I am all the way out in March.

I am very happy. My only damper is that whole March thing. Hopefully they will be able to find something sooner; they said it was a definite possibility. I won't start bugging them about it just yet... I'll give them a break for a few days.

One thing I did learn through all of this: When you're going in to talk to your Recruiter and you have information that other people have given you, don't say that you heard it from someone else. You have to craftfully talk them into telling you. I made the mistake of saying, "I've talked to a few Marines and they said..." The Gunnery Sergeant that Recruiters didn't like that.

To clarify: if I go down to MEPS and swear in as Active Duty, but don't have a job yet, does that mean they can put me down as Open Contract? Should I avoid going back to MEPS until I get a job? I mean, I am open-minded about what my MOS will be, but Open Contract is a little too open-minded!

I want to thank everyone who contributed very helpful advice along the way to getting a Component Change. I would not have known what to say without you all!

[Super Dave]

Ohhh Rahhh gotta love a hard charger

[leroy8541]

Oh, never mind,the headline sounded like a funny subject lol component change hu hu hu. I've heard about those!! Well congratulations anyways. Talk about open minded. hahaha

[garryh123]

Damn funny leroy! Thought it may have been a addadictomy kinda thing to go active! Damn funny!
Please take no offense Jenrmurray!
I'm just sick in the head is all!!

[jenrmurray]

Ha! No offense taken.. that was darn funny.

[ktriplett]

Do not go to MEPS until you have an MOS. Too many guys in my platoon during boot camp did that after the recruiter told them that they could get any job they want as long as they "just sign the contract, we can work on the MOS later." Well, they went to boot camp as open contract thinking they'd be able to do something about it later, but our SDI basically told them that they are screwed and will get what the Marine Corps gives them. If you want to be assured of an MOS before boot camp, don't do anything until your recruiter gets you a job.

[Sixguns]

AGAIN.....

You can DEP open contract and get a guaranteed option all the way up to ship date. If you know what guarantee you want, get it now. If you do as some have suggested here (Which would be to wait until all the stars are in alignment), you will miss out on the component change. Your recruiter has a limited number of days to get you back up to MEPS after declaring you as a component change.

THESE ARE ALL THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN SAID BEFORE....

You got what you wanted, the component change. Now, you want to continue to try and get you cake and eat it too??? Before you just wanted to go active duty. Now, you want active duty and more????

OPEN CONTRACT IS NOT A BAD DEAL....

You will be assigned and MOS based on your ASVAB scores. If you don't have the ASVAB scores to be guaranteed a job, open contract only means that a monitor will need to find you an MOS and school seat based on your ASVAB scores. That happens while you are in training. I know folks who went open and became MPs. I knew some that got hard to get MOSs. If it bothers you that much, you should stay with your reserve enlistment that has already guaranteed your MOS. P.S., you can probably get an earlier ship date if you ship on an Open Contract.


SIXGUNS

[Sixguns]

To KTriplett:

Recruiters do not guarantee jobs, MEPS does. So in order to get a guaranteed option, you have to complete an SOU and have the MEPS Liaison sign off on the program control number and make the proper annotations in the DD1966/3. All this information is maintained in your records at MEPS and will be the information you carry to MCRD with you. Completing paperwork with the recruiter is only half the battle. I know of what I speak.

SIXGUNS

[leroy8541]

Hey Jenrmurry, look on the bright side, at least they can't put you in the grunts. Unless you do a "component change" lol I apologise I just can't help myself. Addadictomy ROLMFAO!!!!

[ktriplett]

SSGT, I know its MEPS which guarantees a job, but (for me, anyway) it was my recruiter who did all the work to get my MOS. By the time I got to MEPS, all I had to do was sign a few things and I was good to go. It seemed like a lot of the open contract guys in my platoon were either given bad information (which I doubt), or they were just not paying attention (more likely) and got stuck with open contract and weren't happy. I don't want to see that happen to her.

[jenrmurray]

Staff Sergeant,

I am not trying to get my cake and eat it, too; if going open contract is my only choice, of course I will take it! I I'm going to MEPS this week with out without an MOS field. However, I would rather know my job field going into it, while I have some semblance of choice and I don't think that's unreasonable. If it seemed like my Recruiters thought I should just go open contract, I would, but they are the ones telling me to come in and talk about jobs, so I am going for it.

Open Contract is also somewhat scary to me in that there were a lot of Open Contract Marines in my husband's MCT platoon. A couple of them got great jobs, but the overwhelming majority of them went to bulk fuel, an MOS that I don't desire. I know that doesn't mean I would get bulk fuel, or even a job I don't like; I could get something I didn't even know I would like. One the other hand, I want to avoid potential unhappiness if at all possible. If, before shipping, I can get an MOS field that I am excited about, I am going to go for it over the uncertainty of the Open Contract.

The bottom line from my asking for clarification was not so I could avoid going open contract, it was so I could be certain about going to MEPS without a job field meant. I've since spoken with my Recruiter and everything is fine. I am sorry if I appeared to be attempting to take more than I deserved; I am just trying to do everything I can and learn everything I can so there are no surprises.

And as always, thank you for your sage advice.
________________________________________

Corporal Leroy, you're funny!

[jenrmurray]

Lance Corporal,

You're right on about everything. I'm going to MEPS as soon as my Recruiter tells me I need to be there. On Monday we are going to look in the system, if there are any job options, I'll take one, if not, I'm going to MEPS regardless. There is one MOS field in particular that was available on paper yesterday at PT, but my Recruiter could not get into the system to actually verify it... we're hoping it's not already taken. I'll find out tomorrow morning.

Thank you!