Thinking of applying for USMC OCS

The name is ringing a bell, but I can't put a face to it

 

Skinny, wet and muddy LTs all look alike after awhile I image. He's the son of a real good friend of mine. Super kid, driven, in great shape and I think he will do well in the Marines.

 

Sounds good! I will bear that in mind if I make it through OCS.

Also not exactly sure how this plays in if you pick Geo on the reserve slot instead of MOS (I am going reserve side). I need to ask the OSO if I still have a choice of available MOS's for my given Geo.

I know of the Quigley ice breaking and I am not looking forward to that! And yes, running is a high priority right now. I feel pretty good on somewhat high mileage (15-20 miles) on a weekly basis. Built up a good base in the last few months. Some injuries can still occur under a higher stress load, so I will focus on stretching/foam rolling and ice while there to reduce that risk (especially given that I am older).

Thanks!

 

I just wanted to wish you good luck. Let us know how you do.

What was your PFT score when you submitted to the board? I’m in the same boat as you. Trying to get those pull ups and run time down. I will be 33 in June. Age is just a number!

 

I can’t answer any questions about the Marine Corps. However, as a 12 year combat arms Army Officer (Army OCS, prior enlisted), I can tell you it was a very rewarding experience. I just retired after 25 years. I say it doesn’t matter what service, just pull the trigger and jump in. No one truly understands what they’re getting themselves into when they sign the papers and show up for training. You’ll soon find out. That being said, if I had to do it all over again, and this is the advice I give to younger people considering the service is to go Air Force. I was always jealous of those guys. Yeah, it’s nice to feel like a badass, but sleeping on the ground in the sweltering summer, rain, and snow gets really old after a few years. The Air Force never had any of that to my knowledge, and they always had better billets and chow, not to mention the hot chicks.

 

How are things going for you guys? I’m a mustang from 0311 to 75XX. Let me know if you guys have any questions about anything.

 

I was around a 285-290 with my application and going in.

To give you all an update. It’s Week 10 starting tomorrow. I’ll be graduating in 6 days. Probably starting TBS immediately after. Unsure on MOS at this point.

Thank you all for taking the time to answer all of my questions. It was really helpful in getting to this point. I will probably have more questions about TBS and MOS schools in the near future.

 

You won’t get your MOS until about 4 months into TBS. You can ask me all those questions as you have them. I went through about three years ago. I’m sure you’ve secured you weekend liberty by now but Semper Fi!

 

3 weeks down at TBS, Charlie Company. It's exhausting and long days, but it's definitely fun.

 

Sick! Let me guess first E course coming up soon? Enjoy it man. The days will get better as you go. Just remember the SPCs are humans to. They don’t want to be there any longer than they have to. So if you find yourself sitting around waiting it’s because some student leadership is afraid to ask his or her SPC if they can go home. Waiting on word sucks but you don’t need to sit at the bricks to get it.

 

Initial E course is in a few weeks. We have rifle/pistol range time for a few weeks first I believe.

I try to always keep in mind that the SPCs and instructors are all human - I try to always stay as grounded (which includes bearing the former in mind) as I can as that keeps me level-headed and calm.

The hardest part right now is that we've moved into our apartment, but our stuff is being moved from California so we don't have much of anything here for a couple more weeks which makes doing some small/simple things difficult. But it's just a short term pain. I am still going through to adjustment and trying to figure out how best to utilize the scheduling time and come up with a good rhythm/cadence/routine for myself.

 

We're about 2/3 through the POI now. All of the major physical events are done with the exception of the 15 mile hike and final PFT/CFT. We have FEX 3 coming up as the culminating field event. After that there are a couple smaller field events and 1 or 2 more live fire ranges and the rest is class time. We find out MOSs hopefully in about 3 weeks (at least for the active contracts; it's unknown when reserve contracts will find out which is what applies to me). It's definitely been a challenge - different than OCS, but I've heard it slows down a bit once FEX 3 is over so just gotta finish strong for the 4 days we're in the field.

MOS-wise I'm leaning towards 6602 / 6002 (Aviation Supply/Maintenance), but I don't think that there's availability for reserve billets in those MOSs. If not then I'd look at 0102 (Manpower) or 0802 (Arty), potentially 0206 (SigInt). 01 and 08 definitely have slots; 0206 does not currently per the reserve SMCR billet list.

 

15 mile hike is done...just have Convoy FEX, AMPHEX/War, PFT and CFT and that's it. I got Company Cmdr billet for the next 2 weeks too so it's gonna be hectic. MOS-wise I got 6602 - reporting for MOS school in Feb, unclear what I'm doing in the interim. Reserve unit is MALS-49