Thank you, Leatherneck.com

[JavaProgrammer]

I am finally coming to the realization that I will not become a Marine, at least not in the near future. There are two reasons for this: my medical history and my unwillingness to hide my medical history from MEPS. I could have lied about my past in order to enter the Marine Corps. This is not the way that I wanted to join. I was not concerned about the punishment for a fraudulent enlistment. I was concerned about the quality of my character. I did not want to be a courageous and committed, yet dishonorable Marine. I did not want to become a bad leader because I lacked integrity. Even though I knew that I wanted to be truthful, there was a great temptation to be deceptive. I have heard the tempting argument that lying at MEPS is all about how badly I want to be a Marine. If I tell the truth, then I don't really want it. I hate this argument because it places my desire above the needs of the Marine Corps. There is a reason that unselfishness is a leadership trait. It is a horrible argument, yet it is still tempting. Every time I was tempted, I would search Leatherneck.com for "Fraudulent Enlistment" or "Moment of Truth." The threads on this web site definitely helped me overcome this temptation. Even though I was disqualified, I am glad that I told the truth. I won't be worrying about getting caught. I won't be worrying about not deserving the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. Thank you, Leatherneck.com.


I also want to thank this site for providing information and motivation that helped me improve my pull-ups. I went from zero to ten.

[RottnDobe]

You are a very honorable man. You seem like a respectable guy and I hope someday soon things work out for you. I wish you the best of luck in whatever your future brings.

[davblay]

I am finally coming to the realization that I will not become a Marine, at least not in the near future. There are two reasons for this: my medical history and my unwillingness to hide my medical history from MEPS. I could have lied about my past in order to enter the Marine Corps. This is not the way that I wanted to join. I was not concerned about the punishment for a fraudulent enlistment. I was concerned about the quality of my character. I did not want to be a courageous and committed, yet dishonorable Marine. I did not want to become a bad leader because I lacked integrity. Even though I knew that I wanted to be truthful, there was a great temptation to be deceptive. I have heard the tempting argument that lying at MEPS is all about how badly I want to be a Marine. If I tell the truth, then I don't really want it. I hate this argument because it places my desire above the needs of the Marine Corps. There is a reason that unselfishness is a leadership trait. It is a horrible argument, yet it is still tempting. Every time I was tempted, I would search Leatherneck.com for "Fraudulent Enlistment" or "Moment of Truth." The threads on this web site definitely helped me overcome this temptation. Even though I was disqualified, I am glad that I told the truth. I won't be worrying about getting caught. I won't be worrying about not deserving the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. Thank you, Leatherneck.com.


I also want to thank this site for providing information and motivation that helped me improve my pull-ups. I went from zero to ten.

Not every day does a guys like you come on here and post the truth as you did, you place Honor above the Corps, and that takes guts, and sometimes guts is enough!

But there is an old saying that fits this situation, "THE SHOW ISN'T OVER UNTIL THE FAT LADY SINGS"! Now I don't know about the rest of you fellows, But I can't even hear her clearing her throat yet. What I mean is that if you want the Corps bad enough, you'll get it, sooner or later!

Good Luck Poolee,

Dave

[DGardner]

You did the right thing. Fraudulent Enlistment is no fun. Keep trying to get in, It'll happen if you want it to.

[futurepoole08]

I'll have to agree with Corporal David. I, myself, keep getting turned down by MEPs because of medical history. I am in the same situation as you. I could have lied, and hidden it up, but I did not believe in doing that. I don't know what your medical history contains. Mine was counsling due to my parents divorce and wanting to strangle my father for beating my mother lol. So it was more for preventive than anything. Plus I was at the age my mother made my decisions. I've had numerous people tell me I could lie and have been in already. Instead, I have been pushing the issue since August. I finally have a recruiter that isn't giving up on me, and knows if he doesn't get me in I won't stop bugging his a$$ on what's going on with my med docs lol. As Corporal David said, " The show isn't over until the fat lady sings."

[JavaProgrammer]

Corporal, your criticism has caused me to reevaluate the conclusions that I came to. I was starting to believe that the military would never accept me. Perhaps I should take the attitude that the military will not accept me at this time. When I was rejected, I was told that the Marine Corps is exceeding its recruiting goals on the national level and because of that, BUMED is less likely to approve waivers. I can wait until the Marine Corps has a greater need for new Marines. While I am waiting, I can try to find civilian doctors that will support me. This is a difficult task. I have already talked to a few civilian doctors without any success.

While it may not be time to quit, it is time for me to evaluate my situation in life and how I will continue in my attempts to become a Marine. I graduated college this summer and received a degree in computer science. After graduating, I decided not to seek out a full-time job because I was expecting to become a Marine. It did not make sense to me to get a professional job at a software company only to quit a month or two later. That was six months ago. It may be time to apply for professional positions. I had placed my civilian career on hold while I attempted to join the Marine Corps. Perhaps I should advance my career while continuing my attempts to join. Any job that I apply to will certainly contribute to the War on Terrorism. I want to be a Marine so that I can secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity by killing terrorists. I can use my programming skills to contribute to the killing of terrorists while I wait and work toward becoming a Marine.

Poolees, I know that many of your parents say, "You're too smart to join the Marines. Do you want to waste your intellect?" Imagine trying to become a grunt with a computer science degree.

[davblay]

No criticism was intended, that was only my opinion. You are a very smart young man and I appreciate your honor. I am sorry you misunderstood my post!

Dave

[JavaProgrammer]

Don't worry about it, Corporal.

[KawiGunny]

Poolees, I know that many of your parents say, "You're too smart to join the Marines. Do you want to waste your intellect?" Imagine trying to become a grunt with a computer science degree.

I was an 0369. I grew up as an 0331. Through my years, I have known a lot of outstanding young Marines (Sgt's and below) that had degree's. Most of them could have been making 6 digit figures out in the civilian world but wanted to be a Marine more than anything. Sure, most of them got out after their first enlistment and persued a career that their education had trained them for but they got out of our beloved Corps being a better man. College gives you all the education you need to succeed out in the civi world but the Corps gives you the confidence to stand out among your piers.

[Books]

I found out the other day that one of my recruiters graduated from the Marine Military Academy (Private military high school in TX) valedictorian or something. A Marine was here a few months ago on recruiter assistance who went to Dartmouth. There seems to be a good number of enlisted Marines who are actually really bright people, academically speaking.

[JavaProgrammer]

Some people will never believe that intelligent people join the military. They view the military as the only option for stupid people that can't get into college. Some very famous people have held this view. Stephen King had this to say about the subject:

I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got, the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's, it's not as bright. So, that's my little commercial for that.I think that this sentiment can trace its roots to the Vietnam War. During that time, some young people went to college to avoid being drafted into the United States Army. This had caused the hippies to believe that many military personnel were too stupid, too poor, or too black to attend college. This attitude has survived the decades because it has been reinforced by Hollywood, news organizations, educators, authors, and a defeated presidential candidate.