Confirmed MOS on contract?

[Hartford]

Good Evening Gentlemen,

I met with my USMC Recruiter for the first time this afternoon and it went very smoothly. He had a wealth of knowledge to share with me and had many stories to share with me which is exactly what I wanted to hear.

A little background on myself:
- 19 years old, went to college, decided not for me at this time.
- I was going to join the U.S. Army as a MP (31B) but after re-consideration and hearing that I could get a confirmed MOS in the USMC decided that I should definitely look into it.
- The more I looked into the USMC the more I realized it was more of what I was looking for. The discipline, camaraderie, and strive for excellence is what I was looking for and these qualities were exemplified very strongly in The Marine Corps.

However, I do have a question:

I have heard conflicting answers when asked. Can I receive a confirmed MOS when I sign my contract to enter the DEP? I have heard that at first you sign an open-contract and then before boot camp or at the recruiter's office you sign a new contract with the MOS of choice. However I've also heard that you can not receive any kind of MOS confirmation and ALSO that you can 100% get the MOS confirmation in your 1st contract at MEPS. So which is it?

Thank you.

- John Hartford

[Hartford]

I've also already taken the ASVAB/Medical with the Army, will I have to re-do the Medical? I asked my recruiter and he said probably not. Hopefully not...that was not the most exhilarating day of my life. Sitting in a room full of guys in our boxers for 3 hours!

[rvillac2]

Your enlistment contract will only gauranteee you a field like 03xx or 58xx. The exact MOS in that field will depends on the current needs of the Corps. If you go reserve, you will get the exact MOS assigned beforehand since you will be filling an open position at a reserve unit.

The gaurantee may or may not be on your DEP contract. Whether you get it in the DEP contract or not, it is only binding on your final enlistment contract. That is the one you sign before going to boot.

[Hartford]

Your enlistment contract will only gauranteee you a field like 03xx or 58xx. The exact MOS in that field will depends on the current needs of the Corps. If you go reserve, you will get the exact MOS assigned beforehand since you will be filling an open position at a reserve unit.

The gaurantee may or may not be on your DEP contract. Whether you get it in the DEP contract or not, it is only binding on your final enlistment contract. That is the one you sign before going to boot.

Thank you, that is exactly what I wanted to hear. I knew it would only confirm 58xx if anything so that is perfect.

[Hartford]

So today I met with my recruiter again and what I heard was again conflicting with what I've heard in the past.

He said it would go like this:
- Go to MEPS and DEP in with Open Contract
- Submit a form with my top 3 choices for MOS Fields (##xx)
- They would then choose one for me before I ship out.

Is this how it should go? I really did not want to have a 1/3 chance of getting what I want. I thought I could choose one and have it be on my DEP contract if it was open. I know and understand the "Needs of the Corps", but I've been told a lot of different things now and obviously what my recruiter is telling me is probably what will happen. Is there any kind of way I could ask him or the MEPS Liason for a specific MOS Field in my DEP contract? For now I'm going to research two more MOS Fields so I can hopefully be pretty happy with the other choices.

Thanks again Marines, your time is greatly appreciated.

- Hartford

[rvillac2]

This is not conflicting with what I've already told you. Any MOS specifically listed on a DEP contract is meaningless until you see it in your final enlistment contract. If you really want a field, simply tell them that you will not ship until you get that field. Nobody's making you join, kid, and this is the only time you actually have a bargaining power.

[Hartford]

This is not conflicting with what I've already told you. Any MOS specifically listed on a DEP contract is meaningless until you see it in your final enlistment contract. If you really want a field, simply tell them that you will not ship until you get that field. Nobody's making you join, kid, and this is the only time you actually have a bargaining power.

Sergeant "rvillac2",

Ok sounds good. I want to join, I want to be a Marine, I just want to make sure I'm doing it the best way so I can get the job I prefer if at all possible. I could always say I won't ship unless I get ___ and then maybe they'll try to pull a few strings for me? I guess I'm not the best negotiator, I usually just take what they say as the 100% truth, just wanted to re-confirm it here.

Thank you for your time Sergeant.

[fallfast90]

That part got me when i joined up. During bootcamp i came to find out that i may be a brig guardsmen instead of a MP. Luck was on myside, and MP i went. Make sure you get the field that you want. If you have to miss one or two ship dates then so be it. Don't get discouraged, get as much as you can.

[Hartford]

It's harder than I thought it'd be to choose 3. So far I'm looking at:

- MP
- Intel (Not sure I want to be in an office-like situation)
- Engineer/Construction of some sort (I like to build pretty much anything)
- Artillery
- Infantry

[fallfast90]

My advice would to be pick something that you can easily apply to civilian life. Always good to have some skills if you don't make a career out of the Marines.

[dizark]

Yes, when you go to MEPS, you'll most likely be signing an "open contract". Then you'll sit down with your recruiter after you're in the DEP and pick a field you're interested in, pending it's open. You then sign another form, which will void the open contract. My recruiter told me to pick 3 fields, however the one field I wanted was closed, so he showed me what was open, and I chose one from that.

Good luck to you.