General Questions About The Marine Corps

[Xsevo]

I'm 16 and have been set on joining the Marine Corps for a while. I'm hoping to be able to ask some Marines quite a few questions about the Marine Corps. These aren't all my questions but for starters:


1. Are Marines issued M4A1/M4 Rifles?

2. How do you earn promotions in the Marine Corps (or military in general)?

3. I've read that you have to be at least a Lance Corporal Rank to be chosen as a Scout Sniper. But once you reach that rank, how do they base their selection?

Thank you to anyone who answers these questions for me and thank you to all the Marines I hope to be fighting alongside with.

[crazymjb]

1. Depends

2. Time based through E3, point based through E5, evaluation based on up. Also instances of merit basis through E5.

3. Focus on being a grunt first. If you meet the pre reqs you will go through an indoc, if you pass and they want to keep you you will ojt with them until a school slot is available for you. Thats how it works with my unit anyway.

Do well in school and dont get into any trouble.

Mike

[irpat54]

I'm 16 and have been set on joining the Marine Corps for a while. I'm hoping to be able to ask some Marines quite a few questions about the Marin Corps. These aren't all my questions but for starters:
1. Are Marines issued M4A1/M4 Rifles?
I am not familiar with the new rifles, I'm from the old Corps, I was issued an M-14..lol

2. How do you earn promotions in the Marine Corps (or military in general)?
like was stated, up to E-3 it is time in grade but you can be denied Promotion if you are not squared away and get into trouble.

3.i've read that you have to be at least a Lance Corporal Rank to be chosen as a Scout Sniper. But once you reach that rank, how do they base their selection?
Thank you to anyone who answers these questions for me and thank you to all the marines I hope to be fighting alongside with
with this they also look at your Marksmanship scores, so learn your skills well, to even have a chance, they will look at all those who qualified Expert first.

Good luck stay out of trouble and get a good education, that is very important. and the Corps will take notice.
keep us posted,

[Tennessee Top]

The M16A4 is the standard issue rifle and the weapon we are required to qualify with annually. Other rifles like the M4A1 may be issued in specific situations/missions.

Majority of your questions can be answered by searching the internet. We like to see wannabes show some initiative (it's one of our 14 leadership traits). Do your research FIRST. After that, then you can come here and ask questions on subjects you could not find answers for. We don't mind helping when we can but we're not going to do your work for you too. Your next set of questions should not be about subjects easily researched with your computer - put some work into it and don't be lazy.

[03GyRene]

I'm just curious, why the interest in becoming a Scout Sniper? I was a regular grunt in Golf 2/3 (That's company 'G', 2nd Battalian, 3rd Marine Regiment)....most of the existing STA platoon guys were getting out of the Corps at about the same time and the Battalian S2 (Battalian Intelligence), who was also the STA platoon leader, was interviewing candidates. I knew nothing about STA platoon, but a buddy of mine was going to try and so I said what the heck and went for it too. Did the indoc and made it...I got in, and it was THE BEST JOB in the Marine Corps. We were all E4s and above. Sure, you have to qalify expert on the range, but mostly you have to have good field craft skills. The best snipers that i knew all grew up hunting, shooting, and walking around lots of mountains. When I went through they weren't taking anyone who was married. But, that has been awhile ago and things have changed a lot...we didn't have the .50 cals when i was in, we were still using M40A1 sniper rifles with Redfield scopes. I think that to get into a Scout Sniper billet, you should work on being the best 0311 rifleman that you can be...To be a GOOD 0311...there are a million things to learn. In STA platoon we spent a lot of time in the field...and not just sniper training, much of what we did was small unit tactics....we worked a lot with RECON...even did a WESTPAC deployment once with a SEAL team on the USS Vancouver. We got to be a pretty tight unit. Sorry for the rambling...it's early here and I'm still on my first coffee! Good luck to you.

[Xsevo]

crazymjb: Thank you and will do sir.

irpat54: i'll keep that in mind sir

Tennesse Top: yes sir. Though in regards to my question about the M4/M4A1 I did try researching that, but everywhere I looked people said different things and there's no mention of it on the official Marine Corps website.

[josephd]

Tennesse Top: yes sir. Though in regards to my question about the M4/M4A1 I did try researching that, but everywhere I looked people said different things and there's no mention of it on the official Marine Corps website.

Marines are issued M16-A4's or the M4 Carbine(not the M4A1 which is a fully automatic weapon). Which one you get issued is all dependent on a combination of factors(MOS, Billet, rank, and general availability of either weapon).

[usmcrro]

1. It depends on the unit and billet. Only those in special operations are issued M4A1s.

2. The rank to Lcpl is pretty much automatic. To be promoted to Cpl and above, you MUST do well on the PFT, CFT, rifle and do your military education courses (PME's). If you don't do your PME's, you'll be guaranteed not to pick up. Know your MOS as well and be a leader, even as a non NCO. Each MOS has their own composite score (E3-E5) and it's also a numbers game.

3. Each STA runs their own indoc to screen applicants. If you pass, you will train with the STA platoon. If you are ready and if there are slots, you attend scout sniper school.