War.

[dcb0816]

Hello Marines,
I was wondering if I signed up 03xx would I be GUARENTEED to go to war?
I'm not trying to avoid this, quite the opposite. I want to be as involved as possible, meaning I'd like to get my butt over there ASAP.

[dcb0816]

And no, this isn't me saying that I'd like to go shoot everything that moves and get rambo, I understand that war isn't a game. I just feel obligated to give back what's been given to me.

[giveen]

My opinion, almost positive you will go...eventually. It just depends if your command is being cycled to go over.

[dcb0816]

Do you know how long from after boot camp it would take to be cycled? (Excluding SOI.)

[giveen]

No, I don't. It might be the day you get there, it might be 10 months.

[dcb0816]

Thank you for your responses.

[Lisa 23]

Just curious, when is your shipdate to boot camp?

[dcb0816]

My Recruiter told me I was going to go to MEPS 2 weekends from now? And since the 03xx opening are in October i'm guessing ill land in the soonest possible shipdate from that month.

[Lisa 23]

Only poolees with actual shipdates are in the DEP.

[Zulu 36]

And no, there is NEVER a guarantee you will end up in a combat zone. If things keep up, there is a high probability, but never an absolute (except the never an absolute).

[slug]

You'll most surely be deployed within your first two years, unless you're security forces, then don't plan on seeing anything but a guard shack.

But you may go on a MEU and just float around for months, or you could jump in to Afghan or whatever other country we're hitting by that time, who knows. You can't be promised anything at this point.

There's been cases of boots reporting to their unit straight to Kuwait from SOI to get into Iraq, and there's been others stay stateside for nearly two years before they get their deployment. Depends on the unit you are sent to, which is not up to you.

And don't be so eager to get here, it's not like the commercials. There's a lot of training cycles and work ups before you get to go anywhere. The more you get, the better chance you have of staying alive and keeping those you are with alive as well.

[commdog7]

There's a good chance you will go to war as a 03xx, but there is no guarantee.