A few questions on multiple topics.

[jporter1994]

Good day Marines,

My first question is this: When you go to sign up for an MOS, do you pick a basic field and the Marine Corps breaks it down for you from there?

Second: I have been told by my friend who is in the Marine Corps, and my teacher who was in artillery that it is best to pick an MOS that will fit into a civilian career after your enlistment. I love airplanes and have thought a career as a designer or constructor of airplanes. What would be a good MOS for me to go into for that?

Third: I have also toyed with the idea of reenlisting and trying to become a Drill Instructor. I know that to become a Drill instructor you would have to billet from another MOS at atleast the rank of Sgt. Are there only certain MOSs you can billet from to become a drill instructor?

I would ask a recruiter these questions, but I have been told that recruiters can be misleading. Plus when the local recruiter came to my school he ignored me because of my age. (Which is understandable.)

Thank you Marines for your time and wisdom.
Jonathan Porter

[crazymjb]

1. Generally, yes. For example, you choose infantry and have little control over whether you are an 11, 31, 41, 51, etc. The exception to this is the reserves.

2. Completely up to you and what you want to make of your experience in the Marine Corps. Combat arms related jobs may or may not help you in the civilian world. Apart from looking good on a resume, a lot of combat related skills aren't very useful (though some are, in niche fields). If you want to be an infantryman, be an infantryman. Carry on with your life when you get out (if that is what you decide), you will still be ahead of the game in many respects.

3. Take it one step at a time. If you can do it, good on you, but again, one step at a time.

4. Recruiters can be a great source of information, don't discount them based on prejudices. That said, it is smart to get a second opinion from Marines.

Mike

[eazyrider]

Very nice grammar and very respectable, your off to a good start kid. That attitude will take you far in the Corps. I came from the airfield and there is one thing that you need to understand. Any branch is going to teach you how to work on their aircraft. How many civilian companies do you know that fly Cobra's or F-18's? Your quals will not carry over in most cases. Not saying it won't help you but I am telling you that you should do what YOU want to do. Take it from me, I joined the Air Wing and I regretted it, now I am going back in as Infantry and I never want to step foot on an airfield again. Very few of my quals carried over and the few that did, didn't help me.

[jporter1994]

Thank you Mike for your answer. Eazyrider: I'm apt to still work with airplanes regardless because I LOVE them. Every time I hear a plane fly by (including the C-130s that fly by my house) I look up and stare. . Is getting an education pretty achievable in the Marine Corps? And can you tell me as much as you can about working on the airfield?

[eazyrider]

Getting an education depends on your SNCO's mainly. In the Wing the chances are no. I will get more detailed into the airfield for you later when I have more time.

[thezero]

Education on your down time is the best time. Especially at MOS school while you wait to class up. Then in the fleet it probably depends on what your work hours, but there are MCI's and several courses that you have to take in order to advance in rank.

Eazyrider, what did you work on that your certs didn't really help you?

[eazyrider]

Education on your down time is the best time. Especially at MOS school while you wait to class up. Then in the fleet it probably depends on what your work hours, but there are MCI's and several courses that you have to take in order to advance in rank.

Eazyrider, what did you work on that your certs didn't really help you?

Cobra's and Huey's. Ordnance systems. CDI and QASO. Nothing mattered. Not with Bell or any other company I tried with.

[jporter1994]

I hate to be a pain, but I am not familiar with all of the acronyms.

[Zulu 36]

I hate to be a pain, but I am not familiar with all of the acronyms.

Welcome to the military.

You can Google military acronym dictionaries and most, if not all, will be made clear to you. If you enlist, you will be a walking acronym dictionary by the time you get out of whatever MOS school you go to.

[eazyrider]

CDI means Collateral Duty Inspector. The Marine who signs off that the job is done right. Takes experience and in my unit you had to be recommended. Once you earn CDI life gets a whole lot better. You have less B.S. to deal with. You will not even come close to getting CDI for a while.
QASO mean Quality Assurance Safety Officer. This means that you have overall responsibility for the loading evolution. You are the boss. If it gets messed up it's your fault. Only senior Marines get this qual. You have to be recommended for this also. All of this is Wing lingo. In the Wing a lot of you respect comes from quals and experience. If you really want the Wing then you had better be able to work long hours and LEARN. These birds are very complicated and our support equipment usually sucks. There are other quals as well but those are the two that I had. Other Marines here can tell you what the other ones are and what you have to do to get them.
I am also Paint and Corrosion qualed.

[jporter1994]

Alright I will. . I already have the phonetic alphabet committed to heart, and I'm working on the general orders of a sentry. I know I have time but I want to be prepared. Question: for a basic understand of the components of an aircraft, what field would be better? Avionics or Aircraft maitnence? Mind you, I am not a person that goes out and works on cars and the like, so I don't know how that will affect my ASVAB score for either of these fields...

[jporter1994]

Learning and long hours are no problem. I work at my local fire department in their cadets program, have school, my high schools marching band (I love marching ) and the local theater while maintaining a 4.0. Being busy is no problem. Thank you for the explanations Eazyrider.

[eazyrider]

Tough question, I would say it would depend on the bird. Keep in mind if your flightline the Avi guys won't be strangers. You can learn from them and if you work hard enough you will may even get some of their quals. Of course this will take years. Basically here is what happens. Aircraft 35 has a MAF (Maintenance Action Form). MAFs print out on each shops workload. Okay the MAF says Hellfire Missile INOP right. You can find more details in the computer as all MAFS are in there. So you go out and troubleshoot and you discover that the cannon plug is broke. Now it's an AVI problem. You can kick it to AVI but if you do that then your at their mercy. They will fix it when they can. Meanwhile that MAF is counting toward your shops workload and the Maintenance officer is giving your Gunney hell and he is going to give you hell. So what to you do? You learn how to re-wire the cannon plug so you can clear the MAF. It's an AVI job but you do it so you can sign off the MAF. That is the name of the game in the Wing, clear MAFS, well that and don't lose tools. Understand? You learn others jobs so that you can get the job done.

[jporter1994]

So aircraft maitnence does their job and what the avionics guys do? So aircraft maitnence would give me more experience?

[eazyrider]

You want to get as much knowledge as possible. I was a great troubleshooter. It just made sense to me, wiring diagrams and schematics. Some people don't take to it. So since I had the knowledge I was often left alone by the Desk Sergeant or I was the Desk Sergeant. The guys who were too lazy to learn were often put on the B.S jobs that usually required getting dirty and lifting heavy stuff. Jobs that you hate. You basically want to get to a point where you don't have to rely on other shops for everything. Get to where you can take care of most of the problems and life will get easier and your SNCO's will love you and then the quals will come and soon you can wear your Blues to work because you ain't getting dirty. You will point and say "do that". See, life gets easy at that point. Plus it feels good to be that good at your job. But, it's boring, always more MAFS. They never stop.