# .Best Officer MOS for future MARSOC/FORECON



## Sambat123 (Oct 26, 2018)

Hello, I'm new to this forum, so I may be unaware of some rules (spoken or otherwise) so bear with me, please.

I hope to attend the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland after graduating from high school and join the Marine Corps, after this, I was considering joining either the Infantry, Combat Engineer Officer, Force Recon, or MARSOC. I know that I need to take this one step at a time and work on the Academy right now, but I try to at least sketch out a rough plan ahead with anything that I do. These are all very different MOS choices but what would be the best MOS where I could do field work as an officer, while still being eligible to join FORECON or MARSOC as an officer and still be able to be a trigger puller.

Thank you to anyone that takes the time out of their day to read this, and thank you for your service.


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## arch_angel (Oct 26, 2018)

If you're looking to be a trigger puller go the enlisted route. Cut and dry.

If you want the responsibility and privilege of leading, mentoring, and training platoons of Marines at a time, go the Officer route. Recon is only open to Infantry and Ground Intel. MARSOC is open to all MOS's.


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## digrar (Oct 26, 2018)

The trigger pulling window for Officers isn't a large one, for every year you spend in a unit, you'll spend 2 or 3 away doing other things, and it gets worse the longer you're in for. 

 So how much trigger pulling do you want to do?


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## ThunderHorse (Oct 26, 2018)

digrar said:


> The trigger pulling window for Officers isn't a large one, for every year you spend in a unit, you'll spend 2 or 3 away doing other things, and it gets worse the longer you're in for.
> 
> So how much trigger pulling do you want to do?



This.  In five years I led a platoon of Cavalry Soldiers for 18 months.  The rest of that time was behind a desk on a staff somewhere.  So if you want the privilege of leading Soldiers at the pointy end, there's always a staff of officers supporting them and you will spend very little of your time on the line leading Marines/Soldiers.


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## Teufel (Oct 26, 2018)

digrar said:


> The trigger pulling window for Officers isn't a large one, for every year you spend in a unit, you'll spend 2 or 3 away doing other things, and it gets worse the longer you're in for.
> 
> So how much trigger pulling do you want to do?


I did it for seven years straight. Experiences may vary. Go infantry.


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## digrar (Oct 26, 2018)

Teufel said:


> I did it for seven years straight. Experiences may vary. Go infantry.



You'd be pretty close to best case scenario, with peers having a similar run counted on one hand though, wouldn't you?


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## Teufel (Oct 26, 2018)

digrar said:


> You'd be pretty close to best case scenario, with peers having a similar run counted on one hand though, wouldn't you?


Everyone makes their own choices. 75% of Marine infantry officers will get three years as a platoon commander, anyone can extend that by 2-3 years if they pass recon training.


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## Sambat123 (Oct 26, 2018)

digrar said:


> The trigger pulling window for Officers isn't a large one, for every year you spend in a unit, you'll spend 2 or 3 away doing other things, and it gets worse the longer you're in for.
> 
> So how much trigger pulling do you want to do?


First of all, thank you for answering this. But honestly, I would want to get at least a couple years of leading Marines in the field. By trigger pulling, I don't mean being the point man in every scenario, I would just want to do as much field work as my CO would let me or getting to run missions with SOF Marines instead of being at the COC doing advisory during ops or something like that.


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## The Hate Ape (Oct 30, 2018)

digrar said:


> You'd be pretty close to best case scenario, with peers having a similar run counted on one hand though, wouldn't you?



Not really. All of my MARSOC commanders (Team Commander up through Company Commander) got plenty of time on the ground - even in said billets outside of the team. My current Recon Company Commander has just as much, if not more than some of the previous guys mentioned.


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## Teufel (Oct 30, 2018)

The Hate Ape said:


> Not really. All of my MARSOC commanders (Team Commander up through Company Commander) got plenty of time on the ground - even in said billets outside of the team. My current Recon Company Commander has just as much, if not more than some of the previous guys mentioned.


I had 7 years as a platoon commander and 6 as a company commander.


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## ThunderHorse (Oct 30, 2018)

The Hate Ape said:


> Not really. All of my MARSOC commanders (Team Commander up through Company Commander) got plenty of time on the ground - even in said billets outside of the team. My current Recon Company Commander has just as much, if not more than some of the previous guys mentioned.


He means peers in the general sense I think, that SOF specific.  Because this guy is asking what the best pathway to MARSOC/RECON would be.

Seemingly in the Marine Corps I think you guys get a lot more line time in general.  Whereas I had a friend in the 82nd, Ranger Tab, all the bells and whistles.  Had Above Center of Mass on his OER (FITREP for you Marines), but he only got 6 months platoon time and then spent two years as a Company XO.


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## The Hate Ape (Oct 30, 2018)

ThunderHorse said:


> He means peers in the general sense I think, that SOF specific.  Because this guy is asking what the best pathway to MARSOC/RECON would be.
> 
> Seemingly in the Marine Corps I think you guys get a lot more line time in general.  Whereas I had a friend in the 82nd, Ranger Tab, all the bells and whistles.  Had Above Center of Mass on his OER (FITREP for you Marines), but he only got 6 months platoon time and then spent two years as a Company XO.



Maybe im confused but I was just saying that there are plenty of officers from both Recon & MARSOC units that were given ample time on the ground.

@Teufel is obviously a stellar Marine Commander with an extensive & documented performance record (his whole platoon included) but regarding being among the men as the discussion states, there is opportunity at the platoon or MSOT level depending on which route the OP takes.

Also, even after said time, other opportunities exist outside of the metaphorical Pleasantville. I disagree with the notion that joining the officer ranks in these communities makes a desk inevitable.


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