thinking about joining the Marine Corps as a Reservist...

[ironbar]

Originally posted by Homo ferricus:

[QB] i sorta switched what i would want to be if i joined.

i pretty much decided that i want to be active duty (if i join, which right now chances seem to be slim), and i would like to be an LAAD gunner, which means probably not getting posted in Iraq, and probably won't see combat. All i would be doing is sitting on the beach firing stingers at remote controlled planes.

Until called upon to deploy in your secondary MOS, basic infantry.

You seem to be looking at this in entirely the wrong light; if you want to challenge yourself, and do things which you will never get to do anywhere else (some of which are very unpleasant and thankless, not to mention dangerous, however those tasks are often essential to the well being of the nation)by all means sign up.

If on the other hand you think you might outsmart the military, treat it as a paying self awareness workshop, with some cool things like auto weapons and explosives thrown in- likely you will end up very unhappy and very far from home.

[Homo ferricus]

well, i don't know what kind of idiot some of you take me for. You actually think i'm just a dumb teen who thinks that the Marine Corps is a gun vacation where you get to blow **** up? Hell no, i know what it takes and i have what it takes. I know Marines and soldiers who have just signed up, who recently finished boot camp, and who have been in the Corps. A friend of mine is in Norfolk, Virginia right now training to be a part of the president's QRF. His unit is the first to go in if the president is ever shot at. So trust me, i know all about the training and experiences, im just not sure if its what i really want.

i do plan on visiting some other recruiters, just so i don't get 100% Marine bias. I don't know if i will join the military at all, we will see as i grow nearer to 18.

o ya, and i have seen the beginning of Full Metal Jacket: "I didn't know they stacked **** that high!"

No offense, but some of you guys seriously underestimate teens and the stuff they do and are exposed to nowadays.

[rudel.dietrich]

I don't take you for an idiot.

By your words you seem a little iffy on a very big decision.

And yes, I think you have no clue what your getting yourself in to.

But no one ever does.

If you join you very well might not end up near home and there is a near 100% chance you will end up fighting or being in theatre during a war.

Based on what you said you do not want to do that.

So that is why I advised thinking about it.

And no I don't underestimate youth.

I was one not that long ago.

[aka_tom_w]

OK then

you might find this handy

web page Marine Corp Recruit forum where you can (so it says) "Ask a Marine"

web page Marine chat forum

dikatry

03-13-03, 03:18 PM

Is anyone in here a LAAD gunner? I searched the forums and did not find anything. I just want to know how you like your job and what all you do. One of the recruiters at the office near me was a LAAD gunner and he said he loved it. That will be my mos if and when I make it through boot camp.

leroy8541

03-15-03, 12:12 AM

Would that be a Stinger operator? you know that job always reminds me of a picture i saw once. there was this grasshopper standing there arm fully extended with the international salute in sign language, as this big azz bird was coming in to eat him. The last act of defiance. Those guys have balls of steel you got one shot at say a MIG-24 screeching towards you at mach I, hit your a hero miss, your that little grasshopper.

dikatry

03-15-03, 08:25 PM

Yeah thats a stinger operator, you also operate the missles on the back of hummers, cant remember the names of those though.

lurchenstein

03-16-03, 02:01 AM

dikatry ...you also operate the missles on the back of hummers

Sounds like Stinger Missiles on the Avenger System.

As Leroy, told you the Stingers (deployed with LAADS unit) are the last layer of air defense.

Also, LAAMS (Light Anti-Aircraft Missile) pick up the medium range, low-to-medium altitude threats. Fighter aircraft intercept the longest range threats.

These layers of air defense are some of the Marine Air Wings missions. Targets are acquired by radar & visual sightings.

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/hawk.htm

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/stinger.htm

dikatry

03-16-03, 11:40 AM

yep thats it, thanks

Also, those links were very helpfull. Thanks for your help

[QueensOwnHighlander]

I spent from age 18-28yrs in the Infantry, but in somebody else's army (British), and served in Gulf War 1, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serria Leone. I am now 35 and happy in my second career. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Don't worry about the politics, it's about the guy next to you. Also don't worry about which branch of the service that has the coolest "special forces". Worry about that after you have a few years of regular duty under your belt. In fact, just worry about getting through basic training before you have visions of being presented with your Green Beret or running to UDT cadence on a beach. If at, 17 years old, you think you have the fitness, stamina and strength of character to serve in a special forces unit than you might be in for a surprise. But God loves a trier!

I think the quote - "Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier" - is true. I can't tell you how many guys at work over the years have told me "I was going to join the Army but..." Although they are good people, I can't help thinking "whatever" when I hear that line. I respect the guys who say "It wasn't for me." You're the one that has to look yourself in the mirror every morning and live with your decision(s).

Some of the folks above have pointed out that you might lose a limb or your life if you put on a uniform. True. Then again, you could just as easily get killed in your fifty grand SUV driving to your cubicle at the office where you make a hundred grand a year in a souless job.

If in your heart you want to a Soldier/Marine, then join. Only you have the answer, but I think any service - regular or reserve - is better than none.

[aka_tom_w]

WOW

I see that was your first post. :eek:

So you had to sign up and get an account

to post in this thread instead of just looking and lurking.

Wow, that opened my eyes!

I am past the age to serve (it goes by fast let me tell you so I guess I am one of those: "I was going to join the Army but..." guys, but I don't regret my choices either, a path that did not include military service, for the record I thought for a while I wanted to be a military pilot, but did not enlist.) (Canadian)

I spoke once to a recruiter but never enlisted.

Thanks for posting.

What a great contribution.

-tom w

[ September 20, 2006, 09:37 PM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

[offtaskagain]

One thing to note is you DO NOT pick your MOS as a Marine. You can sign up for different occupational fields that designate the first 2 numbers of an MOS but not the actual MOS. For example LAAD gunner will probably fall under the Combat Support contract. This includes 0800 Artillery, 1800 Tank/AAV crew and some other stuff I don't remember. In fact you won't even find out your actual MOS until you graduate MCT unless you go reserve. LAAD battalions are being phased out to provide more manpower to flesh out the new infantry and LAV units that are being stood up in the next year or two. As far as the actual gunners, I have no idea what is being done with them.

[Bigduke6]

As to getting an MOS that would keep you out of a war, you're rolling dice there. The military is quite capable of deciding a certain MOS isn't needed, and slotting the victims infantry. I would say air defence would be a prime candidate.

Then there is the not inconsiderable factor that a military exists to fight wars, and if you join up with an attitude you don't want to fight in a war, you are going to be different from the ethic of the organization. And a military unit is not usually a place where you want to be different from every one else, military units usually ostracize people that are different. Not fun.

But far more importantly - and I am a little surprised no one in this thread has brought this up yet - besides the not inconsiderable down side that you might get maimed for life or killed, there is also the possibility that if you get sent to a war, you might have to kill some one.

Death, either seeing it or inflicting it, is not something a person forgets, and the memories are never happy ones.

If I were thinking of joining the military (again) I would try and make damn sure the military I was joining was killing people for the right reasons.

Because if it isn't, the people in charge will get in trouble for the political decision to fight the war.

But it will be the soldiers in the ranks, like you potentially, that will have to live with the memories of the deaths of friends, enemies, and probably innocents - for the rest of their lives.

Joining the military voluntarily in wartime is a serious decision. You need to take a hard look at the worst case possible future for you in the military, and then decide if you want to live with that. Maybe you do, there are plenty of people who do. But whatever you do, do it with your eyes wide open.

[QueensOwnHighlander]

"Joining the military voluntarily in wartime is a serious decision. You need to take a hard look at the worst case possible future for you in the military, and then decide if you want to live with that. Maybe you do, there are plenty of people who do. But whatever you do, do it with your eyes wide open."

The upside is you will serve with other volunteers - you don't want to go into a fight with a conscript beside you. And if you do sign on the dotted line you should be 100% prepared to fight, and endure all the positive and negative that entails. I can't name one guy from my Regiment who didn't go to war when the orders came, in fact it was all pretty exciting. Very sobering as bigduke 6 points out the first time you see action, and I never got that excited when the next Operation Order came, but you just go about it like a professional and get the job done. And you will come back a different person than before - and some guys came back in a bad way and never got over it. Burying your friends was the hardest part for me, and that wasn't on the recruiting brochure.

Funny too - I thought when the Tory (conservative right wing) Party lost the election after the first Gulf War that we'd never go anywhere again. Tony Blair and the left wing Labour Party sent me more places than I ever thought I'd see. So the political winds can be deceiving.

Perhaps this is a new state of affairs in the American dynamic - if you join now you will almost certainly be put in harms way. It must be similiar to joining up during the Vietnam War - with all the political debate raging at home while trying to fight a war. For most British squaddies you knew 100% that you would at least serve in Northern Ireland in the very near future and get shot at (b :cool: y both sides!)over a political debate that has raged for a few hundred years. If you think IED (VBIED, CWIED, RCIED amd all it's derivitives) is a new term, think again.

Having served and trained alongside Marines from the 26th MEU in Kosovo, I found them to be a throughly professional unit.

Remember too - if you served four years you would be only 22 when you could leave, and it would be somthing you would carry with you for lifetime. Did you ever meet a guy who was of military service age during world war 2 that boasts about how he didn't serve? My neighbour is a Vietnam Vet, and when he jogs he still wears his 82nd Airborne sweatshirt - he can't stand politicians and can't stop swearing about them....but I never heard a single bad word about his unit.

Good luck, whatever decision you come to.

[bwgulley]

I spent 21 years in the USAF and loved it. I loved it so much I went back in after 9-11 when the AF was taking retirees back for 2 more years. Am I a hero, no, did I ever shoot at anyone, no, did anyone ever shoot at me, no. All I did was my duty as an aircraft maintenance technician. I worked on the F-15, F-16, F-111, F-117, and A-10. There is more to the military than "combat arms." Yes they get to shoot cool guns and blow stuff up but who the FXXX cares. As someone else said the bad guys have cool guns too and just love to shoot at Americans or anyone else for that matter. I've been places and have done thing the average person will never get to do, so yea it's a great career. Hell the taxpayers were nice enough to give me 27K a year as a parting gift. Think Air Force my son. If you really want to shoot people well the AF has people that do that as well.

[aka_tom_w]

There was another guy on this forum who documented his progress through the Air Force "Boot camp" or what ever they call it.

I can't remember his name, he has maybe been in the USAF now for 18-24 months (or more?) He said he liked the AF too.

What was his log in name and where did he post?

I will search.

Tiny Tanker went off to Join the AF: (But I was thinking of someone else who posted while he was in basic.)

web page his send off

Was it Rommel something in the screen name?

-tom w

[ September 21, 2006, 09:56 AM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

[aka_tom_w]

Just for fun:

Sound File

Great thread here about basic training stories:

Thread What they do to you if you Cry during basic!

[Dogface]

ferricus, just as an aside, re: MOS and Marines, It is true that you dont pick your MOS, you pick the overall MOS and the Marines let you know where you fit. A quick story. During Vietnam my Dad's buddy went into the Marines as a Pilot (dad went Army), but during flight school he had a metal plate drop on his hand. That was it for his dreams of flying, the Marines said tough **** and sent him to Khe-san as a rifleman. Although, as he puts it "my best friend in flight school was shot down and spent 6 years in the Hanoi Hilton, mentaly taking apart and reassembling his Harley over and over. So 6 of one half a dozen of another."

[Popfreak]

Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

Was it Rommel something in the screen name?

Yep, it was him. the guy was a disgrass, he actually was proud that he had ribbons on his chest that he had no clue what they were or were for

As for joining the Marines........ Go for it.....

Once a Marine always a Marine, you dont see that in the other branches.

Oh and the Marines are now SF with the Marines detone unit.

[pad152]

I think joining is a noble thing to do, but once you join, you will go and do what they want and need, not where and what you want! If you join with a needed degree like computers science you will have more leverage in what you will be doing.

Make no mistake if you join the armed forces and there is a war, you will most likly go!

Good Luck

[aka_tom_w]

Originally posted by Popfreak:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

Was it Rommel something in the screen name?

Yep, it was him. the guy was a disgrass, he actually was proud that he had ribbons on his chest that he had no clue what they were or were for

As for joining the Marines........ Go for it.....

Once a Marine always a Marine, you dont see that in the other branches.

Oh and the Marines are now SF with the Marines detone unit. </font>

[Homo ferricus]

well, i speak fluent Russian, perhaps that should get me sent to one of the stans in central Asia instead of Iraq.

not sure if there are any Marine bases in Russia istelf.

btw, are there any Marines here that are currently in Iraq, i think M1A1Tankcommander is but im not sure. How is Marine life over there?

[Capt. Toleran]

Big Duke, I'm a little insulted, I guess you didn't read my post. I pointed out the risk of getting maimed or killed.... but I guess I don't count, sniff.

[offtaskagain]

I'm currently in Iraq, in fact I can stand on my roof and look into Syria.

[Homo ferricus]

Originally posted by offtaskagain:

I'm currently in Iraq, in fact I can stand on my roof and look into Syria.

I see you are a Marine, how has it been so far for you?

[Imperial Grunt]

Homo ferricus. Do not join the Marines unless you are willing to dedicate yourself 110% to the following:

-Making it through Bootcamp and excelling the very best you can to earn the title of US Marine.

-Being a leader who puts his Marines first and himself last, every time.

-Doing the job well no matter what it is, no matter where it is, no matter how long it takes.

-Earning the priviledge to start at the bottom in order to earn the right of leading other Marines in combat.

-Being part of something that is much bigger that just you.

If you want to join for other reasons, please see the other recruiters, as you will not be happy with the Marine Corps and there is a high probability that the Marine Corps will not be happy with you. Same applies with other elite combat formations and Spec Ops.

If you are very serious about joining the Corps, read the book "Making the Corps" by Thomas Ricks. It is a good read about a recruit platoon at Bootcamp and then follows some of its graduates through their 1st year in the Fleet. The book discusses the pros and cons of the Marine Corps very well. Then think some more. But after reading your posts, I would not recommend that you join.

I have served in the Marines, in both active and reserve time, for 17 years and I have served two tours in Iraq. Serving in the Marines has been an awesome experience, one which I would not trade for anything.

Here is some guidance from Gen. Pete Pace, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is from a speech he gave to some new Army lieutenants at WestPoint and the words are applicable to anyone of any service.

-"I am on active duty today because when I went to Vietnam I learned something about, for me, Marines in combat. And I know enough now to know it applies to soldiers. There were multiple times as a rifle platoon leader where I should have been killed just by circumstances. That did not happen. I didn't even get wounded. 158 guys in my company in Hue City -- three of us didn't get wounded. I can't tell you why not. But I can tell you the names of my Marines who did. I can see their faces. I can see where they lay. And I never want to lose that.

I normally don't tell folks this but since the President of the United States told the world, I guess I can tell you. Under the glass on my desk is a picture of Lance Corporal Guido Farinaro from Bethpage, New York, a 19 year old corporal. Killed by a sniper. He was the first Marine I lost in combat. I keep his picture as a reminder that he and Lance Corporal Chubby Hale, and Lance Corporal Whitey Travis, and Corporal Mike Witt, and Lance Corporal Little Joe Arnold, and Lance Corporal John Miller, and Staff Sergeant Willie Williams, and the list goes on, died following 2nd Lieutenant Pace's orders. I can never repay that. I wasn't even wounded. So I didn't know what to do when I came back from Vietnam. I didn't understand why I had not been wounded, but I made a deal with the good Lord which was very simple. I will continue to work as hard as I can as a Marine and take care of whatever Marines come to me for leadership the best I can until the organization tells me I'm done. The way I knew I would be done would be that I would not get promoted. [Laughter]. So go figure.

I tell you that story because as I look back on 38 years my desire to take care of my Marines was sincere. I didn't always do it as well as I could have or should have, but I tried. And I tried to take care of them, and in that trying, they knew at least that I cared about them. They knew that they could trust me. And although I thought I was paying back to them what I could no longer give the guys from Vietnam, what happened was because they knew I cared about them they performed at a level beyond anything that I could have ever demanded from them. So whether you're in combat or not, the simple leadership principle of taking care of those in your charge is a sacred trust. And if you do it as a leader should do it, the rewards to your men and women, the rewards to your unit, and the rewards to you are just not calculable."

[Bigduke6]

Originally posted by Capt. Toleran:

Big Duke, I'm a little insulted, I guess you didn't read my post. I pointed out the risk of getting maimed or killed.... but I guess I don't count, sniff.

No offense meant, I was saying one of the down sides is possibly having to kill some one.