Force Recon Reserve Pipeline

[ScubaAnon]

WHAT? I am starting this thread to document my journey into the reserve FORECON community (if I make the cut).

WHY? My purpose for this thread is to 1. document my journey through the process and 2. to help others who may have any questions on all the steps involved.

WHO? At the time of writing this, I am NOT a Recon Marine or even a Marine. I am a poolee who has been through the recruiting process, MEPS, and the unit interview. I am currently just training before shipping out in appox. 4 months. If I need to submit verification of this - admin please let me know and I will. If you would like to know more then you can check out my intro.

Disclaimer: I am not a Marine, Recon Marine, and your experience through this journey could vary based on location, process changes, time, etc. Read this as a rough potential overview. I will not write about something until I have personally gone through it. Therefore, this will be a growing thread with updates.

 

[ScubaAnon]

The Initial Process

1. The first step is speaking with a recruiter. I currently live in NYC and there are no reserve recon units up here. When I went to my local recruiter and told them that I wanted to enlist with a Recon contract, the original reaction was not as expected. Just be prepared for your local recruiter to tell you things like "A Recon contract doesn't exists," or "There are no Recon jobs available - here look at my computer screen." I quickly found out that some recruiters (where there are no Recon reserve units) are unaware of the reality or are trying to flip you. Apparently, it has to do with the fact that recruiters can only see the jobs of their district or region or the local reserve unit. Whether that is correct or everything - concerns me not. I decided that I really wanted this and I was just going to travel down to a recruiter where there was a local Recon unit present. If this is what you want - I suggest you do the same, however per my recruiter, it is possible to do it locally (if the recruiter can check the other "districts or whatever," jobs), but it is a rarity.
2. Next, I needed to pick a unit. At this time there are two reserve Force Recon units (3rd Force & 4th Force) and one Battalion Recon unit (4th Recon Batt. with a handful of locations). After doing as much extensive research as I could, I decided that 3rd Force was the place I wanted to try out for. I checked things like: flights, base, location, surroundings, pictures of them, google satellite images, videos of them, time of commute, etc.
3. I knew this is what I really wanted and I packed up my car (I meal prep) and made the trip down to Mobile, AL. This ended up being something like a 22 hour one-way drive (no sweat). I met with the recruiter that I had been dealing with over the phone. I was able to get through the ASVAB (GT=125) and MEPS (medical, liaison, and sworn in) back to back. All in all i maybe went through the recruiters office 2 times prior to being sworn in. With that said, I came prepared. I brought everything that I could think of; all the essentials, driving records, selective service papers, college transcripts, etc.
4. I am currently scheduled to ship out on 07 JAN 2019 with a 0321 contract. I am just training both mentally and physically till I ship out. I have purchased a Recon Prep Book and the Guidebook for Marines. After you enlist the recruiter gives you a little book with a handful of things to learn (pretty short and sweet kind of thing) - I learned all of the stuff in the that book on the drive down and wanted to expand my knowledge prior to shipping so I bought the guide. I want to not only be ready physically but also be ready mentally. I am going after honor graduate - so anything helps in my mind. My current IST is 10:00 run, 20 pull ups, and 100 sit-up. I currently run 24 miles a week - just need to start working on my times.
5. The last step was the interview with your home unit. You must do this prior to shipping out. I was able to knock this out at the same time, luckily. I went down to AL and ran a marathon - but now all I have to do is wait. That is a good feeling. My interview was supposedly not the normal as far as the time is concerned. It took appox. 3 1/2 hours. I interviewed with some Recon Marines from 3d FORECON. I spoke with the 1stSgt and an Operations Sgt (schedules the schools) there. It is a pretty simple process and just lets them know who they are going to get in the future and exposes you to your future. I signed some paperwork, filled out the wavier for living outside of a 150 mile radius, and I got to ask a lot of questions about training, schools, life temp, deployments, how everything really is, etc. If you are curious about what was told just let me know. Out of respect, since I have not gone past this point, I want to tread lightly on stuff that has been told to me. All in all, I can say that the interview was amazing and it was at that moment that I had the feeling that this is becoming real. It is one thing to read, research, dream of going into this kind of community but then it is another to start that journey.

Notes:

• You will need to do a secrete clearance and the time frame for this getting done can vary from person to person. Have all your life's history in order as you will need to fill it out.
• Go to the recruiter prepared as it will expedite the process, avoid delays, and potentially limit the travels that you have to do prior to shipping.
• I am doing what is called a courtesy ship. This is where I will ship out from another MEPS location than where I originally enlisted. This makes it easier on me, as I do not have to go back down to AL just to ship.
• I am to just DEP with a local recruiting station until I ship. This helps with not having to travel down to AL to do the poolee functions etc. I have not done this yet - so I will not comment further.
• You need to do a Naval Special Warfare physical, however you do not do this during your initial MEPS process. After you finish SOI you report back to your home unit and at that point you will work with them to get it setup. Thats all I know about that, at this time.
• I am scheduled to ship to MCRD Parris Island on 07 JAN 2019, then up to 10 days of leave, and then on to SOI-E to attend Marine Combat Training. Reservist do not ship out to the west coast for SOI. Reservist no longer go to ITB - we go to MCT. The reasons for this, as it was explained to me, is that it saves money. If the Marine washes out of BRCP/BRC then they go open contract. If they are not assigned to a 03xx MOS then the USMC just wasted time and money training you in ITB. The other reason was that was explained to me, is that you will learn what you need to in BRC, so they difference between MCT and ITB becomes redundant. Take that for whatever it is worth - as I have never been to either.

If you have any questions please let me know!

 

[Hacksaw0621]

Great post on your situation.

As Recruiters we can see the jobs from other stations and districts ,it’s just if the recruiter and ops don’t want to go through the trouble.

 

[engineerjack]

Thanks for this post!

I am trying to undergo this process as well when I get back stateside, but I am aiming for a different unit.

Best of luck on your journey.

 

[ScubaAnon]

Thanks gents!

I wish I could make edits on this forum to the notes section. I want to add a few things:


Notes Continued:

• When enlisting in the Reserves I believe that you normally would go to MCRD, SOI, and then on to your MOS training all back to back and then check in with your duty station and live the life of a reserve Marine. I was under the thought that I was enlisting under the Reserve Incremental Initial Active Duty for Training (IIADT) program. This program is for high school and college individuals who would like to go into the reserves during school. The Marine Crops created this program as an incentive for students so they could go in without interrupting their "student life." Basically, it allows an individual to 'split,' up there initial training over summers. To the best of my knowledge this is available to only certain MOS's. Talk to a recruiter for accurate information. How does this relate to Recon and myself? Turns out Recon is another 'split,' program all to it's own. So the Recon spilt is Boot Camp and MCT back to back (either the east or west schools) and then you go back to your home unit and drill with them until they are ready to send you to BRCP/BRC. When they are ready also depends on you - for example 3rd Force Recon puts you into a 'Roper,' Platoon to prep/screen for going to BRCP/BRC. I ended up taking a year off of school so that I could basically give myself to the Marine Corps and get as much initial training completed as possible. We will see how all that goes - depends on a lot of variables.
• I went in thinking that the Recon contract was a UZ or HZ contract. That is no longer correct. What I am really talking about is the PEF (Program Enlisted For). A PEF is a grouping of Primary Military Occupational Specialties (PMOS) based on skill sets or prerequisites. On my contract it says "ZR." I think the active duty component is ZZ now (don't hold me to it). So if you see that do not worry. Also you will be given a T-E MOS of 8011. This is a Basic Marine with Enlistment Guarantee MOS. I believe it is given out due to you not meeting the qualifications for the MOS of 0321. So don't worry about that, if you see it on your contract (DD FORM 1966/1). You should however see a 0321 filled in under the PMOS section - if you do not then please proceed to worry. Just don't sign it and have the liaison at MEPS fix it.

Same disclaimer as above!

 

[ScubaAnon]

Great post on your situation.

As Recruiters we can see the jobs from other stations and districts ,it’s just if the recruiter and ops don’t want to go through the trouble.

Thanks for the information. That is what I gathered - that it is possible but not probable. My Recruiter said that they can sometimes see other stations/districts jobs on their screens, but most of the time they cannot. I think I remember him saying that they could go and look up a specific area and see what they had open, but it was a major hassle and most Recruiters probably wouldn't go through the trouble. *shrug*

I just wanted to make sure people who wanted a Reserve Recon contract and that lived outside of the unit's "territory," that they might here something discouraging from their local Recruiter and for them to not give up on their quest.

Again, thank you for taking the time to shed light from the inside!

 

[Achaemenian]

Reservist do not ship out to the west coast for SOI. Reservist no longer go to ITB - we go to MCT. The reasons for this, as it was explained to me, is that it saves money.

Do you have a source for this? Recruiter or 3rd Force Command? Great work so far and thanks for sharing!

 

[ScubaAnon]

Do you have a source for this? Recruiter or 3rd Force Command? Great work so far and thanks for sharing!

Most of this information comes from the USMC Liaison at the Montgomery MEPS, AND the 3d FORECON operations Sergeant. My recruiter backed this information or learned it as we went along. As far as the east coasters on a 0321 contract not going to SOI-West, that came from the Liaison (think MEPS recruiter), and I honestly cannot remember if 3d Force Operations confirmed that or didn't know. I want to say he said I will be going to SOI-East. I asked; just don't remember. My recruiter did later confirm this however, citing that since active has no 'splits,' in their pipeline (straight to MART from SOI) that it makes since to bring them all to the SOI-West location (where MART/BRCP/BRC is located). Reservist go back to their home unit after SOI, so it would be costly and without point to relocate them after Boot Camp to west coast.

Hope that helps and thanks for the question!

 

[Gunz]

I appreciate your initiative in starting this thread. Please update your progress through PI and SOI. Also feel free to post in the Marine Mentor section.

 

[ScubaAnon]

I appreciate your initiative in starting this thread. Please update your progress through PI and SOI. Also feel free to post in the Marine Mentor section.

Thank you! That is the plan. I hope to update my progress all the way through. In the near future, I will also be posting my physical prep (workout plan) that I created.

I have joined the mentor group and will post there momentarily. Thanks for manning that group and commenting.

 

[CornbreadUSMC]

ScubaAnon any updates I ask as my son is looking at doing the same and I would like to get some updated info on where you are at in the process and your thoughts thanks.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

ScubaAnon any updates I ask as my son is looking at doing the same and I would like to get some updated info on where you are at in the process and your thoughts thanks.

Your next post needs to be an intro post in the appropriate area.

Please and Thank You.

 

[CornbreadUSMC]

Your next post needs to be an intro post in the appropriate area.

Please and Thank You.

done thanks

 

[SigmaWolf77]

Any update?