.A Confusing Path to MARSOC

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Gurahiyi

Unverified
Joined
Mar 7, 2017
Messages
58
Greetings,

I am a high school senior. I am interested in both the Marines and College at this time (I am a high achieving student with considerable scholarships and numerous acceptance letters). I have a... rather atypical idea for my career path and would like your take and advice on it. Upon graduation of HS this May, I will enlist in the Marine Corp under a 0321 MOS (Recon) for four years, hopefully shipping out no later than August. This is to expose myself to the Marine Corp lifestyle, allow personal growth, and meet a personal obligation to serve my country for at least a short time. Following that 4 year enlistment, I will attend college to pursue a batchelor's degree. This should not take me more than 3 years. Following that, I would like to re-enlist but for OCS, and then pursue a 0372 MOS (MARSOC) as a 2nd LT. I am hoping that the prior enlisted grunt experience will allow me to be a more capable leader and will have prepared me for A&S (provided I keep training throughout college, of course). One question I have currently is would it be possible for me to go straight from Recon to MARSOC (skipping the college break) and then go for the degree and OCS while still in the military (while retaining the 0372 MOS of course)?

Regards,
A Curious Student
 
Gurahiyi said:
hopefully shipping out no later than August
Click to expand...

look forward to around a 9 month wait if you plan on joining with an infantry contract. Its part of the reason I started looking at other branches. Many people want to be grunts but the Marine Corps simply cant take everyone at once. If you are smart, enlist now and start the Delayed Entry Program now so you will ship sooner rather than latter.

Above all keep at it, and start getting physically fit now. Being a Marine Corps grunt is no easy task and will require your full commitment.
 
EasyDay said:
look forward to around a 9 month wait if you plan on joining with an infantry contract. Its part of the reason I started looking at other branches. Many people want to be grunts but the Marine Corps simply cant take everyone at once. If you are smart, enlist now and start the Delayed Entry Program now so you will ship sooner rather than latter.

Above all keep at it, and start getting physically fit now. Being a Marine Corps grunt is no easy task and will require your full commitment.
Click to expand...

I have been training hard physically for probably the past 2 months or so now, and was not badly off to begin with. I have run more 5k's than I can count, 2 marathons, and I'm going to be running and Iron Man and Tough Mudder in the spring. I stay physically active, although I will readily admit I am not at the level which I want to be when I enter recon and apply for A&S. I will keep working hard until I reach that point. I recently came across the 10-week MARSOC fitness prep guide and will likely start following it religiously shortly here. I understand that the 03xx MOS is highly desirable (I'm assuming because of the more or less second class reputation of POGs) but I was under the impression that 0321 is fairly easy to get into (by which I mean they have a very high drop rate due to difficulty so they take a lot of applicants). By the time I attend boot camp, it is my intention to be more than capable of a 15-17 minute 3 mile run, 500m swim in 10 minutes, treading water for upwards of an hour (I will be using the frog technique I believe), a solid 40 pullups, and 100 pushups at a go. If you have any suggestions for additional goals I should try and meet, or modifications for my current ones, I would be glad to hear of them. I cannot enlist quite yet as I have three more weeks before receiving all my college replies. Towards the end of March I should have decided one way or the other.
 
You shouldn't have a problem getting a recon contract. It's different than an 03xx contract. Passing BRC is another story. MARSOC loves getting Recon Marines at ITC but not many cross over. At least on the west coast. That's up to the individual Marine though.

There is no such thing as a MARSOC 2nd Lt, prior enlisted or otherwise.
 
Gurahiyi said:
By the time I attend boot camp, it is my intention to be more than capable of a 15-17 minute 3 mile run, 500m swim in 10 minutes, treading water for upwards of an hour (I will be using the frog technique I believe), a solid 40 pullups, and 100 pushups at a go.
Click to expand...

Those numbers would be killer, especially if you mean 40 pull ups without a dismount, although I would have to see it to believe it!
 
Ball N' Chain said:
Those numbers would be killer, especially if you mean 40 pull ups without a dismount, although I would have to see it to believe it!
Click to expand...
I fully grasp how difficult those numbers would be to reach, but given I have enough time and determination, I feel certain I could meet that goal.
 
Teufel said:
You shouldn't have a problem getting a recon contract. It's different than an 03xx contract. Passing BRC is another story. MARSOC loves getting Recon Marines at ITC but not many cross over. At least on the west coast. That's up to the individual Marine though.

There is no such thing as a MARSOC 2nd Lt, prior enlisted or otherwise.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I had no idea regarding the command structure of MARSOC and simply went with what I thought was logical. I will correct that line of thinking immediately. Is there a reason Recon Marines do not frequently cross over to MARSOC?
 
Gurahiyi said:
Thank you. I had no idea regarding the command structure of MARSOC and simply went with what I thought was logical. I will correct that line of thinking immediately. Is there a reason Recon Marines do not frequently cross over to MARSOC?
Click to expand...
They choose not to.
 
I'm assuming you want to become a Special Operations Officer (SOO) 0370.

With how you want to go about that, it would look something more like this:

4 years enlisted
3 years college
OCS - IOC/TBS/whichever officer schools you need (@Teufel, Sir can you help me out with this timeline and career designation?)
Then you will need to get career designated
2 months attend A&S and get selected
Wait for the January or August ITC, whichever has room for you
9 months at ITC to obtain 0370 MOS
Team Commanders Course 3 weeks
Hit the Battalions

That's in a perfect world. No injuries, retreads, minimal holdovers between courses, etc.
 
OCS can be done while you are a college student. TBS is 6 months and the follow one MOS schools are 3 to 6 months long depending on which you do, not accounting for lag time between TBS and your MOS school. Normally you will do three years at your first unit before you can go to MARSOC or anywhere else for that matter. This normally coincides with when you get career designated.
 
Uh, if you want to be an 0370 why don't you just attend school instead of enlisting? I'm betting 10 bucks right now redeemable in 2022 that you do not go to OCS under this current plan and either attend MARSOC as a grunt who didn't pass the Recon indoc or that you stay as an enlisted Recon Marine.

Go to college, have sex with a lot of women, and stop talking like Universal Soldier or some shit.
 
oh and another little tidbit:

Most SOOs (0370s) barely skate by with two deployments before moving out of the teams, MOST of them only get one deployment. That can be any deployment too and may land you in a non combat AO which will leave you relatively butt-hurt from all the training you completed.

Research more of the job and less "frog kicks" or whatever.
 
The Hate Ape said:
Uh, if you want to be an 0370 why don't you just attend school instead of enlisting? I'm betting 10 bucks right now redeemable in 2022 that you do not go to OCS under this current plan and either attend MARSOC as a grunt who didn't pass the Recon indoc or that you stay as an enlisted Recon Marine.

Go to college, have sex with a lot of women, and stop talking like Universal Soldier or some shit.
Click to expand...
Well Sir,

You see, while I would like nothing more than to go straight to OCS, I have heard one to many stories of incompetent officers getting their men killed. It is my hope that prior enlisted service will allow for me to be more effective in the field and less likely to carelessly endanger those under my command. I can assure you it was not my intention to talk like "Universal Soldier or some shit".
 
The Hate Ape said:
oh and another little tidbit:

Most SOOs (0370s) barely skate by with two deployments before moving out of the teams, MOST of them only get one deployment. That can be any deployment too and may land you in a non combat AO which will leave you relatively butt-hurt from all the training you completed.

Research more of the job and less "frog kicks" or whatever.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this information. I was unaware of that "tidbit".
 
AWP said:
Really? Do tell. That is a very serious allegation, so I hope you have supporting evidence from credible sources.
Click to expand...

It is not an allegation by any means. I neither have nor had any intention of accusing a given officer as such. It was a reference to certain officers of whom I have read in various biographies, whether from recent times (Operation Iraqi Freedom) to times quite well past (WWI).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
Seeking Mentor
Replies
5
Views
2K
Marauder06
Marauder06
A
160th SOAR (AIT Selection)
Replies
3
Views
2K
Marauder06
Marauder06
L
Introduction- Loofy
Replies
6
Views
623
Loofy
L
AustinJ21
  • Question
Enlisted to Officer, how are injuries viewed (Air Force related)
Replies
0
Views
218
AustinJ21
AustinJ21
Vulky
I’m Vulky
Replies
13
Views
1K
The Quartermaster
The Quartermaster
Back
Top