DEP drop?

[Stefan Kraft]

Hello, my name is Stefan Kraft. I am a former poolee and I'm quiet confused about my situation.. Here's what happened. I enlisted on October 13th 2011 and was supposed to ship out on September 24th of this year. So, I get to the hotel on Sunday, go through all of the medical and interview with the Liaison. The only thing I didn't do was my last swear in. Right before we were about to do our last swear in and then hop onto the plane to San Diego I was told that I'm not shipping out. Reason being is a waiver that I was supposed to get was never put into the system and I wasn't told that it wasn't put into the system. The waiver was for me being a single parent trying to join the military. I thought everything was settled in and I was ready to be on my way to becoming a United States Marine. Then the tables turn and I find out that this happened. I was then told that I was going to be dropped from DEP because I was in for too long and they didn't have a replacement date for me to be shipped out. Now that my entire life story has been told, my question is can I rejoin DEP? After all of that happened to me, I ended up moving to Clarkston with my dad and step mom and I found a job at ATK thankfully, because I quit my other job thinking that I was going to boot. I was wondering if there was anything that I needed to get to show the recruiter here that I was a DEP drop? The only reason I'm asking here instead of the recruiter here is because you have to set up an appointment to meet with the recruiter and I haven't got an answer from them everytime I've tried calling.
I can't help but feeling like I was cheated out of becoming a Marine. It has been the only thing I've wanted to do for the past two years of my life and I was set stone on doing it. I also have this feeling of guilt, or regret even though it wasn't my fault that this happened. Everyone except for a few people tell me that it's a good thing it happened and I need to work and go to college. But I seriously wake up every morning at whatever time I feel like waking up and it makes me feel guilty because the two other poolees that I was supposed to go to boot with are going through hell while I'm living the easy life.
I'm sorry for the novel.. I didn't mean to sit here and vent my damn heart out. But, any help would be appreciated. Also, thank you for your service to all of you Marines, or other service members on this site!

[m14ed]

This may sound Crass.

But, unless you Maxed out the scores on your tests to qualify,
entry into the MILITARY.. You're probibly S.O.L.
TO MANY youngsters want in now and recruiters don't,
waste the effort on waivers..

IF you had a UNIQUE talent doing something that the Military needed,
critically- you might get another chance..

I can tell you....IF you stop trying now....you may never know.
The last thing we OLDFART Marines say to youngsters off on their,
way to bootcamp is DONT GIVE UP TRYING. You're not dead till you quit.

Good luck what ever the outcome is..

There might be better luck with one of the other Military Branches....

[Stefan Kraft]

I really appreciate your reply and I'm not going to give up. I'm going to try my hardest to get back into DEP for the Marine Corps. I don't see myself being a Soldier, or Airman, or a Sailor. Thank you very much for your response, Marine.
There has been multiple kids that have shipped out from the RSS I went to that had waivers for x amount of marijuana use, waivers for being to heavy, or waivers for DUI's. Why was my waiver different? I mean, my waiver wasn't even because of something bad that I did. I don't understand why my waiver wasn't put into the system. It just doesn't make sense to me, I guess.

[Tennessee Top]

You obviously knew you needed the waiver. Did your recruiter ever confirm to you it was in fact submitted (maybe they didn't submit it on purpose?)? So, here's what I'm wondering. When no answer was...

[Stefan Kraft]

My recruiter told me that the waiver was submitted and he told me that it was going to be approved by the time I was supposed to ship. My recruiter still had me going to MEPs on September 24th. I was told that all was well and from what my recruiter told me, I was ready to ship out. If this happened on purpose, then it is beyond me as to why that happened and I guess there is another story other than what I know what happened.

I'm not trying to act dumb, Master Sergeant. That is what happened.. I was told to go to MEPs because I was shipping out and then I was told I'm not shipping out because the waiver wasn't put into the system.

I'm sorry if my story seemed like I was acting dumb.. I wouldn't have even bothered posting on this website if I wanted to give a bull**** reason as to why I didn't ship out or if I didn't really care about what happened.. I was just looking for an opinion from someone other than a recruiter. Thank you for your response, Master Sergeant. I do really appreciate all the feedback.

[Tennessee Top]

Roger that; I understand now. It just totally blows my mind how a recruiter could send a poolee to MEPS to ship out KNOWING the waiver was never submitted or, an answer was never received. I was never a recruiter but know better than that.

Still curious about what your recruiter had to say about all this after you came back home? You did talk to them correct?

[Stefan Kraft]

Trust me... It blows my mind as well, Master Sergeant. I was so confused when it happened. I was honestly at a loss for words. He told me that by the time I was going to ship out it was supposed to be approved and I was pretty PO'd when I found out it wasn't.

Yeah, I talked to him. He just told me that things happen for a reason and told me good luck on whatever I decide to do with my life... But, I have been talking to a new recruiter in the town that I moved to, and he told me that it would be in my best interest to join the Navy because they're a lot better with dealing with the families of applicants and he said that it would probably be a faster process. He said if I really want to become a Marine it could take awhile before I can even join DEP again. He said we have to go through the process of getting a dependent waiver again, and he said I have to do a DEP drop interview. I honestly don't see myself joining the Navy, or any other branch in our Military other than the Marine Corps. So, I'm going to take this journey again and hopefully get everything situated and be on my way to becoming a Marine someday. I talked to my old recruiter and I'm trying to get him to fax over my documents to my new recruiter. He said he will look, but I haven't heard a response from him yet. It's only been one day and he told me he was at a doctor's appointment today, so hopefully he can find those documents in the next few days. We will see what happens though. I'm just hoping for the best outcome. At the end of the day it's not about what I want or need, it's all about if the Corps needs more bodies and I could be SOL since I was a DEP drop. It just sucks that is a possibility because it truly wasn't all my fault that I am a drop. I guess that's the green weenie working at it's finest.

Thank you for your responses, Master Sergeant.

[doc h fmf]

Stefan why dont you join the navy and be a corpsman then you will have a good chance of being with the Marines. Navy Corpsman and Marines have a long history of brotherhood give it a try and see what happens. Just to let you know I know alot of corpsmen who started out as Marines. Anyway good luck in your endevors


Stephen Doc Hansen HM3 FMF

[Stefan Kraft]

You know, I did give that a really long thought. If I end up not joining I was planning on going to school to be an EMT and further on become a Paramedic. I might very well do that. The Marine recruiter I'm talking to here told me that I should join the Navy. I really do want to be a Marine though and hopefully I can work everything out and enlist into Marine Corps DEP again. I will seriously give the Navy a long, well thought out decision and if I think that it will be the best for me, I will join the Navy. I'm not too familiar how I would respond to you, being that I don't know Navy ranks very well.. So, thank you for your response, Stephen. I appreciate it.