arch_angel
Verified Military
Personally, I dont feel a Marine Officer gains many skills in the MARSOC community compared to being in the Infantry or possibly Reconnaissance.
Most young commanders gain the most benefit to their personal skills (warfighting, fieldcraft, etc) alongside an experienced SNCO at the troop level.
In MARSOC you will do 1-2 deployments at MOST, thats assuming you can land a team commander position for that long.
Stick with your aviation plan then request MARSOC during your FAC time if you can swing it.
To be fair, a tour at a Recon BN will typically yield the same results for a 1stLt/Capt. Either route you go (Recon or MARSOC), you are likely to get 1-2 deployments with a team/platoon before moving to a staff BIC. Obviously there are exceptions to every situation.
IRT career progression, Recon seems to be the smarter move simply because it allows you the versatility of taking Company command at either a Recon BN or a Victor unit later on. The pyramid on the SOC side is much skinnier toward the top and once you're a SOO I'm not sure how easy it is to switch back to big Marine Corps.
OP, if you want to fly jets, make that your focus. I'm sure your OSO may mention to you something about shipping as an air contract then dropping it at TBS... I wouldn't plan on that. We had a bunch of guys who were attempting that at TBS and out of roughly 15, 2 got approved. Another reason I say you should make jets your focus is because the amount of dedication required to pass flight school is no joke. Certainly not something you would want to be "half-in" about.
Another thing you could look into as a FAC would be ANGLICO. Either way you go, you're serving your country.