Marine Corps 0311 Scheduling

[Kurt Loadeater]

Typical day in the infantry if you're not heading out to the field:

0530- wake up
0600- formation
0630-0930- PT, Shower, Video Games/Rack Ops
0930- some ****ing class or picking up cigarette butts. Video games and rack ops for salt dogs
1115-1230- Chow
1230-1500- Clean Rifles or Paint rocks or some ****
1500- Stand in line at the armory to turn in your rifle
1600- Continue standing in line at the armory
1700- Finally turn in your weapon
1730- Armorers can't ****ing count, stand by to be let off
1830- Still can't ****ing count, stand around playing video games or wrestle other Marines in the quad
1930- Formation / go home
2000- Go back to your room to continue playing video games, this time with alcohol
2100- getting pretty hammered
2200- continue getting hammered
2300-some Marine is out on the catwalk crying while naked and bleeding somehow
0000- still getting hammered, general yelling and screaming, bits of paper are on fire and floating down from floors above
0100-getting more hammered
0200- throwing up and drinking more
0300- order pizza from dominoes
0400-??? fall asleep at some point
0530- Wake up

[Tennessee Top]

^^^weekend liberty. Go out in town to get tattoos, play pool, and buy more beer. lol

[USMC 2571]

That post by Kurt is priceless. It's probably taken from an actual training schedule.

[Tennessee Top]

Even us POG's can relate to that schedule. Painted my share of rocks and spent my time waiting in line at the unit armory. Never smoked a cigarette in my life but picked up hundreds of cigarette butts. Didn't drink but my room mate in Okinawa (first time) made up for both of us. After he got hammered, he would go to the USO Club at Camp Foster and call his wife. Second time on the rock, was a SNCO so had my own room in the SNCO barracks - also played less mind games.

[USMC 2571]

That must have been a nice change, your own room. Big jump from Sgt to SSgt anyway. That's one of those "transitions" that bring more bennies with it, usually.

[crazymjb]

My unit was pretty good about sticking the smokers with butt duty.

Mike

[Tennessee Top]

Yes. And being a SNCO on embassy duty meant I had my own house, with a maid, cook, and gardener who also maintained the pool - all paid for by the Department of State (my housing had to be equal to a junior Foreign Service Officer's). More perks also equals more responsibilities.

[USMC 2571]

You had some good duty and good duty stations, Top, that's for sure.

[NickNak]

Some guy in the Marines made a video about how infantry life is pretty easy. He said you get done mond-fri by like 13-14:00 and have off saturdays and sundays. If I find the video i'll link it. It was pretty surprising cause most people tell me you finish around 17:00

[Tennessee Top]

Obviously, training schedules are unit specific and also depend on deployment schedules (predeployment work-ups), commanding officers, operations officers, etc. One battalion's schedule in an infantry regiment may be different than the other battalions because it may be deploying while the others aren't.

[Kurt Loadeater]

I think you're in for some disappointment if you think getting off by 2 pm every day is going to be your experience.

[Kurt Loadeater]

Now that I reread your posts a bit better, if your goal is just being able to work out, ironically the 03 field may not be the place for you. If you're a POG (non 03) you'll have more regular access to the gyms on base, both stateside and if you wind up deploying somewhere. There are no gyms out in the field, and nutrition is not that great from MRE's. Being an 03 is definitely hard physical labor though, but most of the big guys in the gym were Marines that did not have very physically strenuous MOS's on a day to day basis.

Also, you can be a ****bird and never study and/or let your mind take a back seat in the infantry, but you'll just be a baby that needs to be babysat by your betters. There are a lot of weapon systems to learn and try to excel at, different tactics, learning radios, learning how to communicate effectively, and generally interfacing with a lot of different MOS's in the Corps. If you don't have the mentality that you want to improve both your body and mind/education, go pick another MOS or better yet don't join the military at all.

[NickNak]

Are the schedules for someone whose not a grunt different from someone who is? Like is it easier?

[Tennessee Top]

Again, this is unit/MOS specific.

A lot of Marines (communicators, military police, embassy guards, intelligence analysts, etc) are shift workers. It's common to see a sign that says "shift worker - do not disturb" hanging outside the hatch of a Marine who has worked all night and is catching up on some sleep during the day.

The average POG (not a grunt) works a normal Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 job with weekends and holidays off (throw in the occasional duty NCO shift that runs for 24 hours).

Aviation Marines can work long shifts on the flight line as long as flight operations are going on. The goal is to keep as many planes operational/safe as possible. So, mechanics rarely knock off at a set time. If they need to get a plane back on the flight line, they'll work as long as needed to accomplish that.

So, as you can see. Sometimes the schedules are easier, and sometimes they aren't. It all depends on the mission.

[USMC 2571]

OP, be like we were in the old days, and join up just to be a Marine. They'll give you a job, you won't have to worry about contracts, and have anxiety about wanting to know what each and every day will be like. You'll wake up and you'll be a Marine, that's all you need to know. But those days are gone. Everything has to be known, planned, planned for, all eventualities accounted for.