Sorensen45
Unverified
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2015
- Messages
- 3
As much as a lot of people are trying to spin this, 0211s are very much desk jockeys like their other 02/26 brethren. It isn't as spooky and crazy as some would make it sound. Yeah they go outside the wire but it's so they can talk to their sources, not get in shooting matches with the Taliban. The number of intel Marines killed throughout the GWOT is pretty spread out as far as specific MOSs are concerned: http://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Portals/133/fallen_marines05072013_002.pdf
HUMINT involves building rapport and maintaining relationships, not slapping people around and shouting direct questions ala Zero Dark Thirty because that's illegal and ineffective. When they're done talking, they go back to the FOB and spend long hours on a crappy toughbook typing IIRs to formal IC standards. The IIR may or may not become actionable intel depending on what the analysts want to do with it later. There are actually a healthy amount of CI/HUMINT Marines in the fleet who have done plenty of deployments but do not have combat action ribbons. This isn't due to a lack of commitment, rather, they did their job well but kicking down doors and going on raids isn't part of it.
When they're not doing the TACHUMINT mission they are found on big bases and FOBs in deployed environments recommending security measures, screening foreign nationals on base to make sure they aren't up to no good, and investigating security violations. This is the CI part of what they do.
The reason why it's a difficult MOS to get into is because it requires a very specific personality to succeed. They want squared away Marines who are smart and unafraid of talking to people while not being an a-hole. You can be the best Marine in the world but it's a job where you either "have it" or you don't. The physical aspect of the CI/HUMINT school includes an inventory and final PFT. That's it. Actual PT falls on your shoulders. The reason why it's open to females is because, honestly, females are useful in this field. They can run and recruit female sources and are naturally attuned to getting people to talk more than men are.
For some reason 0211 is often equated with "being SOF" or being a CSO-lite in the Corps because a lot of Marines don't know better. All 02s can be attached to SOF units to support them and earn a SOF support B MOS for it. The board will raise their eyebrows and have no clue what to do with you if you tell them you're trying to become an 0211 to be SOF. It's more journalism than James Bond...it's certainly important, but not what most Marines think it is.
HUMINT involves building rapport and maintaining relationships, not slapping people around and shouting direct questions ala Zero Dark Thirty because that's illegal and ineffective. When they're done talking, they go back to the FOB and spend long hours on a crappy toughbook typing IIRs to formal IC standards. The IIR may or may not become actionable intel depending on what the analysts want to do with it later. There are actually a healthy amount of CI/HUMINT Marines in the fleet who have done plenty of deployments but do not have combat action ribbons. This isn't due to a lack of commitment, rather, they did their job well but kicking down doors and going on raids isn't part of it.
When they're not doing the TACHUMINT mission they are found on big bases and FOBs in deployed environments recommending security measures, screening foreign nationals on base to make sure they aren't up to no good, and investigating security violations. This is the CI part of what they do.
The reason why it's a difficult MOS to get into is because it requires a very specific personality to succeed. They want squared away Marines who are smart and unafraid of talking to people while not being an a-hole. You can be the best Marine in the world but it's a job where you either "have it" or you don't. The physical aspect of the CI/HUMINT school includes an inventory and final PFT. That's it. Actual PT falls on your shoulders. The reason why it's open to females is because, honestly, females are useful in this field. They can run and recruit female sources and are naturally attuned to getting people to talk more than men are.
For some reason 0211 is often equated with "being SOF" or being a CSO-lite in the Corps because a lot of Marines don't know better. All 02s can be attached to SOF units to support them and earn a SOF support B MOS for it. The board will raise their eyebrows and have no clue what to do with you if you tell them you're trying to become an 0211 to be SOF. It's more journalism than James Bond...it's certainly important, but not what most Marines think it is.
