Good Afternoon Gentleman,
I am a prior service Marine currently enlisted in the Army under the 18X program. A little background, I EAS'd last summer from the Corps to join the Army under this program, it happened to be the same month the Army changed the tattoo policy. After about 8 months of patiently waiting the Army changed the policy again letting me enlist last month under this program. Im set to start the pipeline later this summer and came to this forum to see if anyone had any clarification on the pipeline. I've called recruiters (they were of no assistance), searched this forum over and also searched Professional Soldiers. The only thing I have seen is conflicting information on how the whole thing works for prior service. At MEPS I was told I would have to re attend basic training (i'm fine with that) but no one seems to have any clarification on how that will be handled being PS. I've read that I will be given a little more privileges that the Privates going through but i've also read that it's going to be the exact same basic experience all over again. The recruiter told me that I will be treated as a veteran and given time to train on my own and whatnot. Some PS guys with the contract got inserted into the latter weeks of OSUT. So as you can see it's all a little confusing. I'm not concerned with having to "re-do" basic training my only concern is if I will be afforded the opportunity to train on my own and keep my level of fitness high throughout the experience. Most of the information i've seen was dated so if any of your guys have any new and insightful clarification on this it would greatly appreciated. Also, i've searched the net but if this is a redundant question or I missed a previous forum on this subject forgive me and delete as needed. Thank you in advance.
I am a prior service Marine currently enlisted in the Army under the 18X program. A little background, I EAS'd last summer from the Corps to join the Army under this program, it happened to be the same month the Army changed the tattoo policy. After about 8 months of patiently waiting the Army changed the policy again letting me enlist last month under this program. Im set to start the pipeline later this summer and came to this forum to see if anyone had any clarification on the pipeline. I've called recruiters (they were of no assistance), searched this forum over and also searched Professional Soldiers. The only thing I have seen is conflicting information on how the whole thing works for prior service. At MEPS I was told I would have to re attend basic training (i'm fine with that) but no one seems to have any clarification on how that will be handled being PS. I've read that I will be given a little more privileges that the Privates going through but i've also read that it's going to be the exact same basic experience all over again. The recruiter told me that I will be treated as a veteran and given time to train on my own and whatnot. Some PS guys with the contract got inserted into the latter weeks of OSUT. So as you can see it's all a little confusing. I'm not concerned with having to "re-do" basic training my only concern is if I will be afforded the opportunity to train on my own and keep my level of fitness high throughout the experience. Most of the information i've seen was dated so if any of your guys have any new and insightful clarification on this it would greatly appreciated. Also, i've searched the net but if this is a redundant question or I missed a previous forum on this subject forgive me and delete as needed. Thank you in advance.