I am 27 and seriously considering joining Marines.

[MarinaEukel]

I am an immigrant, moved to US four years ago. Serving in a Military was a big desire of my heart, Marines specially due to its challenges. Only now I am in position where I can do that, but I am quite old, in fact recruiter told me that I am at cut off age, but he thinks that I have a chance. So if I get in, humiliation awaits me, which does not bother me as I know the intentions behind all these yelling. I think Marines will make me a better person and will build my character up, after breaking it down of cause. And I am at the point of my life where I need that, beside this is the best way to show my love and dedication for this country. I would like to hear from the women who served or still serving in Marines.
1. I am interested how old where you when you enlisted?
2. where there women of my age, if yes how are they perceived?
3. what physical shape where you, and how did you make it?
4. How did you deal with your menstrual cycle, hygiene and symptoms wise? Sorry gentlemen if you are reading this, probably unpleasant, but I need to know.
5. What score did you get on ASVAB pretest? mine was humiliatingly low, although I am intellegent person, not academically apparently. In addition, English is my second language, but I can not use this excuse of cause, nevertheless it makes it a bit harder.

I want to be prepared as mush as I can, I determined to enlist regardless of experiences that I hear or read about. However, I also noticed that words do have power to encourage or discourage us, so I would appreciate your honest comments about challenges as well the good ones.

Thank you!

In addition I would like to ask what do you think about not being afraid of death? Is it a good or bad feeling? I have been in a war zone, bullets were flying over my head,people were dying, and I had no fear whats however. It does not seams like it is normal right.

[Zulu 36]

I am an immigrant, moved to US four years ago. Serving in a Military was a big desire of my heart, Marines specially due to its challenges. Only now I am in position where I can do that, but I am quite old, in fact recruiter told me that I am at cut off age, but he thinks that I have a chance. So if I get in, humiliation awaits me, which does not bother me as I know the intentions behind all these yelling. I think Marines will make me a better person and will build my character up, after breaking it down of cause. And I am at the point of my life where I need that, beside this is the best way to show my love and dedication for this country. I would like to hear from the women who served or still serving in Marines.
1. I am interested how old where you when you enlisted?
2. where there women of my age, if yes how are they perceived?
3. what physical shape where you, and how did you make it?
4. How did you deal with your menstrual cycle, hygiene and symptoms wise? Sorry gentlemen if you are reading this, probably unpleasant, but I need to know.
5. What score did you get on ASVAB pretest? mine was humiliatingly low, although I am intellegent person, not academically apparently. In addition, English is my second language, but I can not use this excuse of cause, nevertheless it makes it a bit harder.

I want to be prepared as mush as I can, I determined to enlist regardless of experiences that I hear or read about. However, I also noticed that words do have power to encourage or discourage us, so I would appreciate your honest comments about challenges as well the good ones.

Thank you!

In addition I would like to ask what do you think about not being afraid of death? Is it a good or bad feeling? I have been in a war zone, bullets were flying over my head,people were dying, and I had no fear whats however. It does not seams like it is normal right.

I will let some of the female Marines answer most of your questions. Don't worry about grossing out the male Marines here. Most of us have been married and have kids, so female issues are well known. Plus Marines are generally just hard to gross out.

I will try to answer your last questions about fear of death. But first I need to know how old you were at the time and who you were with (family/friends, etc).

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Moved this one to Ask a Marine. Good, relevant questions.

[MarinaEukel]

I will let some of the female Marines answer most of your questions. Don't worry about grossing out the male Marines here. Most of us have been married and have kids, so female issues are well known. Plus Marines are generally just hard to gross out.

I will try to answer your last questions about fear of death. But first I need to know how old you were at the time and who you were with (family/friends, etc).

Our city was attacked unexpectedly, I was 13 or14 years old then and was staying at my friends house, therefore was separated from my family for about a week. So in the middle of this disaster I went out hoping to cross the bridge which separated our towns. Did not work out though, as it was the most hot spot. I bet now I wouldn't do that.

[USNAviator]

Marina, welcome!

There are some women Marines aboard and I'm sure they will be able to help you out. If you don't get any responses by this evening, I will send a PM to one of them and I'm sure she'll be able to answer your questions

Good luck to you

[Lisa 23]

I would like to hear from the women who served or still serving in Marines.

1. I am interested how old where you when you enlisted?
I was 22 at the start of boot camp and turned 23 during boot camp.

2. where there women of my age, if yes how are they perceived?
EVERYONE gets treated, and trained the same, no matter the age.

3. what physical shape where you, and how did you make it?
I was in great physical shape, so I had no problems with anything during boot camp.

4. How did you deal with your menstrual cycle, hygiene and symptoms wise? Sorry gentlemen if you are reading this, probably unpleasant, but I need to know.
Never got mine......it happens from the daily stress you're under.

5. What score did you get on ASVAB pretest? mine was humiliatingly low, although I am intellegent person, not academically apparently. In addition, English is my second language, but I can not use this excuse of cause, nevertheless it makes it a bit harder.
Don't remember my ASVAB score, I went in in 1988. All I know was that I got the MOS I wanted, which was 3043...supply & admin clerk.

I want to be prepared as mush as I can, I determined to enlist regardless of experiences that I hear or read about. However, I also noticed that words do have power to encourage or discourage us, so I would appreciate your honest comments about challenges as well the good ones.

Thank you!

In addition I would like to ask what do you think about not being afraid of death? Is it a good or bad feeling? I have been in a war zone, bullets were flying over my head,people were dying, and I had no fear whats however. It does not seams like it is normal right.
I would have to say that I think everyone is afraid of dying, but if I had to die for my country, then so be it. Those are the risks you take when you join the military.

Best of luck to you.

[USNAviator]

Thank you Lisa, great job as usual

[chulaivet1966]

4. Sorry gentlemen if you are reading this, probably unpleasant, but I need to know.

In addition I would like to ask what do you think about not being afraid of death? Is it a good or bad feeling? I have been in a war zone, bullets were flying over my head,people were dying, and I had no fear whats however. It does not seams like it is normal right.

I'll chime in...

On #4: haha...for most here I would say this is not even close to 'unpleasant' and you pose some good questions which I will leave to the ladies to address for you.

'In addition': I was not afraid of death during my time because when sh!t was occurring (bullits flying) one just did their job and when it was over one just wondered how one survived this time.
There's a line my most recent song called 'Just Do It' about my Vietnam experience/attitude that goes:
'Be afraid, it keeps you wise, take a stand, you've got your pride, just do it'.
So, generally speaking...being afraid keeps us alert and helps maintain our edge in challenging situations.

Good luck and I'm sure some of the ladies with assist.

[Zulu 36]

Our city was attacked unexpectedly, I was 13 or14 years old then and was staying at my friends house, therefore was separated from my family for about a week. So in the middle of this disaster I went out hoping to cross the bridge which separated our towns. Did not work out though, as it was the most hot spot. I bet now I wouldn't do that.

Thanks. It's horrible that any child has to go through things like that. I saw the effects of such things on children when I was in Vietnam and as a police officer.

Age can often have much to do with feeling fear. Fear is mostly a learned reaction. For instance, babies are not naturally afraid of many things, such as bugs, snakes, etc. But when little, if they see people reacting in a fearful fashion to those things, they learn that those things are to be feared.

As we get older, and are exposed to more experiences, we can start to recognize things on own own that may be dangerous and should be feared (or at least well respected). We might also learn that some of our childhood fears are silly and lose them. However, being among familiar surroundings and people can often reduce that fear, because you feel more protected and comfortable.

Fear is not a bad thing, in moderation. Uncontrolled fear leads to panic and that can lead quickly to death. Some fear in a dangerous situation means you are alert to the danger, some bodily senses become more acute (usually hearing and eyesight).

In your case, I would have to guess as a young teen you were not completely aware of what was going on, but being among friends helped to keep you calm. Also, younger people just seem to have the attitude that "It won't happen to me."

As you said, now you wouldn't do such a thing again. You've learned from experience that a bunch of people shooting at you is dangerous.

But I have known people who are capable of controlling their fear to such a great extent as to seem fearless. They've done that through much realistic training, similar dangerous exposure (experience), and high self-confidence in their abilities under stress. Many could also mentally separate the dangerous and concentrate on the job they need to do. That mental toughness only comes from preparation.

I could go on for pages (controlling fear under extreme stress has been one of my major research interests for years). But this should do.

If you want to go a little deeper in this I suggest you read: The Gift of Fear, by Gavin DeBecker. You can get it on Amazon.com or a reasonably sized bookstore (its in paperback). It is also available on Kindle at Amazon.

Also, to improve your ASVAB scores, at the same bookstore or at Amazon, there are books with practice ASVAB tests that you can drill yourself on.

[wildwoman73]

1. I am interested how old where you when you enlisted?
I was 19. I turned 20 five days after arriving at PI.
2. where there women of my age, if yes how are they perceived?
We had one female recruit that was 26 or 27. She did VERY well. However, all recruits are treated equal. We never knew how significantly older she was because we all were stressed and trained the same. She did excell in areas as far as crisis thinking and I think her age was of benefit to her. She was more mature than the average recruits.
3. what physical shape where you, and how did you make it?
I wouldn't say excellent shape, but I did run and PT some. I spent the first year after high school going to a JR college and just finished up a summer of working and partying so I was REALLY broken down the first month. No one can prepare enough for the physical demands of training. But you should still make that effort anyway. It doesn't matter how good you are now physically. If they see your strength, they will show you your weakness. It's not personal. It's just training.
4. How did you deal with your menstrual cycle, hygiene and symptoms wise? Lisa is very right. Some women did have their cycle. I knew exactly when I was going to start and trying to figure a way to ask the drill instructors what the heck I was suppose to do was very tough. In the event you do have a cycle, you will be provided the necessities. They will always be stocked in a community locker. It is not likely though that you will have a need for them. The stress your body will endure will omit that aspect of womanhood. It will resume almost immediately post graduation.
5. What score did you get on ASVAB pretest? I don't remember either what I scored. I know I scored high enough to get what I wanted. In fact...I think I even fell asleep during the test!!!! Terrible but I did. Don't let that stress you out though. There are practice tests you can take. With the internet and all, you should be able to find ample practice testing sites to help you. I'm not a genius, but not dumb as a box of rocks either. Key point is relax during the test. Take it again when you can and in the mean time, do some practice tests.
I want to be prepared as mush as I can, I determined to enlist regardless of experiences that I hear or read about. However, I also noticed that words do have power to encourage or discourage us, so I would appreciate your honest comments about challenges as well the good ones.
Marina, words do have power to encourage or discourage. You will never know how much truth there is to that statement UNTIL you step on those yellow footprints. What those around you may be saying now is only prepping you for what you are about to embark on. This has to be what you want. One of your concerns is about the physical excercise. Though it is tough, the mental part is WAY tougher. You need HEART and DETERMINATION. We started out with 65 recruits in my platoon and I think graduated under 30. I can promise you most of the drops were not due to inability to keep up with the physical strain. It was the mental part. You have to be able to gut it out and follow the process and learn from it. There is a system or "meaning to their madness". You just have to be strong enough mentally to not quit.
Thank you!

In addition I would like to ask what do you think about not being afraid of death? Is it a good or bad feeling? I have been in a war zone, bullets were flying over my head,people were dying, and I had no fear whats however. It does not seams like it is normal right.
I have never been in a war zone like these men and women have today. You will never truly live if every day you think about death. You can become a Marine, dodge bullets for a year in a combat zone and come home safe and sound. And you can step off the air plane back on American soil, walk to the air port parking lot and get run over/killed by a cabbie. Death is certain. When is certain. It's just not in our hands to worry about it. You won't be able to stop it when it's your time to go anyway.

Hope this helps.

[jp2usmc]

I understand you wanting to go in, but I honestly think 27 is going to be a bit old for going into boot camp.

It takes some weird kind of person at age 27 to be respectful to your 22-24 year old drill instructors who are calling you a maggot (at best).

Just food for thought.

[MarinaEukel]

I understand you wanting to go in, but I honestly think 27 is going to be a bit old for going into boot camp.

It takes some weird kind of person at age 27 to be respectful to your 22-24 year old drill instructors who are calling you a maggot (at best).

Just food for thought.

Thank you for you comment. Humiliation is the least of my concerns. As a 18 year old girl I would have probably talked back and got foot in my rear end for my impulsiveness and arrogance. However, I believe I am at the point of my life where I can control my impulses and emotions as well as take any humiliation and yelling. I know for a fact that drill instructor is certainly stronger and tougher then me, so it would be wise to listen, obey and learn. If my boss at work will be younger then me but way knowledgeable why wouldn't I pay my respect. Anyways, I think I can do that, I rather go and fail then live all my life thinking whether I would have made it.

[MarinaEukel]

Best of luck to you.

Thank you for stopping by and taking time to respond to my questions.

[MarinaEukel]

Thank you!

[USNAviator]

Thank you for you comment. Humiliation is the least of my concerns. As a 18 year old girl I would have probably talked back and got foot in my rear end for my impulsiveness and arrogance. However, I believe I am at the point of my life where I can control my impulses and emotions as well as take any humiliation and yelling. I know for a fact that drill instructor is certainly stronger and tougher then me, so it would be wise to listen, obey and learn. If my boss at work will be younger then me but way knowledgeable why wouldn't I pay my respect. Anyways, I think I can do that, I rather go and fail then live all my life thinking whether I would have made it.

Well said, give it your best shot. Don't look back if it doesn't work out, you'll take comfort in knowing you tried