Asking for serious advice

Im almost 20 years old and have wanted to enlist in the Marine Corps for almost a year now. The only thing stopping me is my braces. I recently sat down with a recruiter and he hates the fact that i have them. Im projected to get my braces off in April of 2017 and then have a 6 month period they require me to wear retainers 24/7 and come in for monthly appointments. I have considered having them removed early but that will severely upset my parents who have paid around $6,000 for them.

My question to you guys is what should i do? Should i ask to have them removed early or should i wait out the year and a half and then ship off to boot camp.

My recruiter told me today that "If you want to be a marine you'll get them off. if not, keep the metal" which i feel like he is doing because he has a quota and that's his job, which i respect.

First of all don't call us guys. We are Marines and their are male and female Marines on this forum.

Second Marine is spelled with an uppercase " M ". You should know that already.

Lastly, this is a question you should ask your parents, not us. We didn't pay for them and they are not our teeth.


Best of luck to you.

I apologize for that. Thank you for your reply/advice

personally I would wait,, a year and a half will go by quickly and you can be 100% good to go, you will only be 22 or 23 by then and you will also have the time to get into great shape with running and pull ups and crunches..

best of luck you to.. keep us posted on this same thread..

I think this is the route i am leaning towards. Allows me to get into better shape and pay off some student loans all while making my mother happy, haha. Thank you for your advice. I appreciate it!

Don't take them off early. You'll regret it if you do - and you'll save your parents a ton of grief.

The Marine Corps has been around for over 240 years it isnt going anywhere anytime soon.