Questions regarding joining military.

Let's begin afresh.

I became a Marine pretty much by chance. I was drafted, was informed of my 'choice', and got off the bus in Parris Island about eight hours later. I had no preconceived ideas, was mildly surprised, and figured I was in, so I might s well make the best of it.

I won't go into the PI process, the pecking order, or 'how I became a man'. It happened.

I had no idea how fortunate I was until I needed to have someone watching my back on the two-way range. Marines do that very well.

As for derision about every Marine being a rifleman, I was an Engineer, and there was never an Infantryman in sight when I was in the middle of the Incoming. That about answers that question, for me at least. I am plenty proud enough of 'my war'; enough so that I hold no particular MOS in higher esteem than the one I held.

That's not because my MOS was any 'better' than any other, but because the USMC's occupational selection process works damned well. I got what The Corps needed me to be, and something I had some genuine aptitude to excel in and enjoy doing. I was never, ever going to be considered for anything as glorious as SS or even Infantry. A 'real Marine' is not any special MOS. A 'real Marine' is a specialist, part of a team, and proud to be a useful part of that team.

I expect a successful SS selectee to be a Veteran of a completed first enlistment in a Combat Arms specialty, an NCO on their first reenlistment with a proven track record in small unit leadership, and happy enough with the life to have perfect or near perfect Pro/Cons. Gripers need not hold out their hopes.

I suspect that a rather huge proportion of enlistee prospects have their hearts hung firmly on the Marine SS role. Clearly, obviously, the major majority of them are never going to do the deed. The only real difference is what they are going to do when this basic fact sinks into their brain housing groups. A 'real Marine' will do as they are assigned, make an honest effort to do it well and enjoy it, and move on with their enlistment and their life.

If being a Marine is not more important to them than 'getting the job they wanted', they shouldn't be a Marine in the first place.

Individualists don't do well, and shouldn't be in The Corps.

That is something for Officers, and not for us enlisted Pogues.

Conversely, a Marine Officer is universally trusted by the enlisted ranks because they know that the same Officer, as a candidate, had to go through the same PI experience as all of them. The Marine SS MOS is purposely excluded from Officers, for very good and logical reasons.

Greg
 
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Put on a pair of blue jeans and a pair of boots. Go out and run 5 to 10 miles everyday for one month. No excuses. Rain, shine, wind, cold, sick or whatever. Do it. See where you mind goes. If you finish the 30 days and are ok with it get up the 31st day and run to the recruiters office and put your name on the line. Run home and continue to challenge yourself everyday till you ship to Parris. If you can self motivate and challenge yourself you are of a better mindset than most of the country. If this is what you want then go for it. There were and are many successful people out there that had their detractors. If you listen to them you will never get what you dream. There are some training apps out there to help track your regiment and help with self motivation or motivation from others. I use one because in my older age it seems like the couch is more inviting than the pain and sweat of a workout.
 
Put on a pair of blue jeans and a pair of boots. Go out and run 5 to 10 miles everyday for one month. No excuses. Rain, shine, wind, cold, sick or whatever. Do it. See where you mind goes. If you finish the 30 days and are ok with it get up the 31st day and run to the recruiters office and put your name on the line. Run home and continue to challenge yourself everyday till you ship to Parris. If you can self motivate and challenge yourself you are of a better mindset than most of the country. If this is what you want then go for it. There were and are many successful people out there that had their detractors. If you listen to them you will never get what you dream. There are some training apps out there to help track your regiment and help with self motivation or motivation from others. I use one because in my older age it seems like the couch is more inviting than the pain and sweat of a workout.

Sounds like a FANTASTIC way to develop a debilitating or permanent injury that would prevent him from ever achiving his goals. Same people say to throw a #50 ruck on and go hiking through the mountains, they end up with a crushed disk or lower back injury and wonder why they can't even enlist to become a cook or supply clerk.
 
There are a few HM's on here that spent considerable time on the green side. I had to laugh at the POG comments as HM's spend more time in the field training than infantry does. We are out there before they arrive to set up and stay long after they are gone to provide coverage until the area is secured. Not all POG jobs are created equal
 
And yet again... No one wants to be the Recon Corpsman :p What gives? My jobs just not cool enough I guess....

That would mean enlisting in the Navy......

And when/if he fails to reach his goal (high probability), he will be scraping scum off some #400 dependapadapus in the local clinic. My brother was a HM1 FMF corpsman (now a PA), wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

On the flipside, you fail RASP or get non selected for the Ranger Rgt, you get shipped off to the 82nd as a paratropper or some other leg infantry rgt if you didn't go to ABN. Still get to shoot people and do funguy shit, just less of it than a Ranger.
 
That would mean enlisting in the Navy......

And when/if he fails to reach his goal (high probability), he will be scraping scum off some #400 dependapadapus in the local clinic. My brother was a HM1 FMF corpsman (now a PA), wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

I wouldnt trade 8403 FMF IDC Recon Corpsman for any job in the military. Maybe thats just me.
 
OP,

The ONLY reason to the Marine Corps Infantry, or the Marine Corps in general for that matter, is because you want to kill people and break shit. Not everyone gets to do it in real life, but that's the mindset you should have before joining the Marines. I personally didn't understand the guys who joined the Marines to be POGs, but at least our POGs were better than everyone else's.

If you want to be a POG, then the Air Force treats theirs the best hands down.

If you can embrace the suck and are willing to walk while others ride; work while others sleep; go hungry while others eat; train while others rest, and you have that inner drive and desire that makes you push on while others quit then you'll do just fine.


Best fucking advice in this thread.

YUT!
 
I wouldnt trade 8403 FMF IDC Recon Corpsman for any job in the military. Maybe thats just me.

Yes becuase explaining to two boot Marines the reason they got gonnoreha was beacuse you can't just turn a condom inside out to reuse it while banging the local PI ladyboys........(true story)

The life of a FMF Corpsman at the BAS.
 
you still have to complete BRC and get to at least 0326 so that has my respect right there, whether you're considered a medic or not. Everyone is always going ape shit over RASP and Ranger School but RIP and BRC is no fucking joke either!

Ranger school is just a gut check. SEALS, Marines , CCT/PJ and the like who get sent there are already squared away. Ranger Regiment won't sent a Ranger (Scroll not a tab) to Rschool untill they are confident they will pass. Its kind of a pride thing, and if they couldn't hack it, they would have been RFS'ed. Most the the failures are non Rangers who are trying to earn a tab (Inf/Armor Officers and NCO's Infantryman/Scouts). Ranger school is also TRADOC, not a SOCOM school. There is a reason those services send their hardasses to schools like Ranger and Pathfinder.

RASP/RIP/ROPE or whateevr they call it now is just a indoc to make it to the regiment.

The point I was making is, the Army has many more slots, and if you are squared away, you will get a chance to prove yourself (sometimes more than once). Other branches are much more selective beacuse their communities are much smaller. Flunk out and your still and infantryman.

Flunk out of BUDS, or CTT/PJ school and you are chipping paint off AC/Ships or some other dumb shit for the next 4 years.

When you look at the options, if you want to do some bro bro shit, and be with the best of any service, you have a much higher chance of making it to RGT than you do as a SEAL, MARSOC, SS, PJ/CTT. It's a gamble.
 
I was stationed there as an instructor and ended up being the CCC, ESO, Admin Chief, H-Company supervisor, and Medical Readiness Coordinator all at the same time. I terminated early and went back for my last sea tour before retirement. You must have run into Albright in the IDC suit. IDC school is still there in the same building, they now fall under another command (no longer under NSHS) so they stayed. They also kept Jessie as the admin person but the rest are gone

EDIT: IDC school is at the same location but it now falls under Surface Warfare Medical Institute (SWMI)
 
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I was stationed there as an instructor and ended up being the CCC, ESO, Admin Chief, H-Company supervisor, and Medical Readiness Coordinator all at the same time. I terminated early and went back for my last sea tour before retirement. You must have run into Albright in the IDC suit. IDC school is still there in the same building, they now fall under another command (no longer under NSHS) so they stayed. They also kept Jessie as the admin person but the rest are gone

05-08 would have been around the same time that they were revamping FMF school at pendleton, and adding the CLS Instructor class, I know they brought in a new company around that time for the pig lab, and for Operation Emergency Medical Surgery school for the FMF guys.
 
He would have to survive FMF school, BRC school, IDC school, Dive and Jump school and more... I hope he likes Pt all day every day for 2 years lol. But thanks for the points!!!

I work down here at the joint service dive school in Panama City Beach. It's a blast here. I'm army and had to go through BRC/DMT school here. It was an eye opener for me. Now that I graduated its fun watching these students go through. Some days fun, though most boring. They never learn that they can't breathe under water.....
 
end of 03, so about a year before you got there. Did you work at the school or? Its really sad to see things got transitioned to San Antonio.

San Antonio is a joke now. Was down there for Advanced Leaders course and you can't even make corrections when these new recruits are ate the fuck up and look like used bubble gum. Worst mistake they have made in the medical field. IMHO
 
Ranger school is just a gut check. SEALS, Marines , CCT/PJ and the like who get sent there are already squared away. Ranger Regiment won't sent a Ranger (Scroll not a tab) to Rschool untill they are confident they will pass. Its kind of a pride thing, and if they couldn't hack it, they would have been RFS'ed. Most the the failures are non Rangers who are trying to earn a tab (Inf/Armor Officers and NCO's Infantryman/Scouts). Ranger school is also TRADOC, not a SOCOM school. There is a reason those services send their hardasses to schools like Ranger and Pathfinder.

RASP/RIP/ROPE or whateevr they call it now is just a indoc to make it to the regiment.

The point I was making is, the Army has many more slots, and if you are squared away, you will get a chance to prove yourself (sometimes more than once). Other branches are much more selective beacuse their communities are much smaller. Flunk out and your still and infantryman.

Flunk out of BUDS, or CTT/PJ school and you are chipping paint off AC/Ships or some other dumb shit for the next 4 years.

When you look at the options, if you want to do some bro bro shit, and be with the best of any service, you have a much higher chance of making it to RGT than you do as a SEAL, MARSOC, SS, PJ/CTT. It's a gamble.

It's RASP.

And turning a rubber inside out… fucking brain surgeons. I raffed.
 
OP-
I had the SAME exact mindset when I went into the Army (I started out enlisted as an 11B)...After having been shot at, and almost blown up (I have a new appreciation for artillery now); It changed my perspective on a few things. I applaud your enthusiasm to serve, a trait which I believe is rapidly diminishing these days. I would talk to a recruiter and see what's out there for your future, unless you've 100% decided that you will make a life-long career out of the military. After going through OCS and changing my branch, I now have a more useful skill set to use at my civilian job. I'm not trying AT ALL to change your mind...If you want Infantry, then by all means-go Infantry. But I do think that someone who has enough sense to get on a forum like this and research would think a little deeper than "killing people and blowing stuff up"...Good luck with your decision, either way!
 
OP-
I had the SAME exact mindset when I went into the Army (I started out enlisted as an 11B)...After having been shot at, and almost blown up (I have a new appreciation for artillery now); It changed my perspective on a few things. I applaud your enthusiasm to serve, a trait which I believe is rapidly diminishing these days. I would talk to a recruiter and see what's out there for your future, unless you've 100% decided that you will make a life-long career out of the military. After going through OCS and changing my branch, I now have a more useful skill set to use at my civilian job. I'm not trying AT ALL to change your mind...If you want Infantry, then by all means-go Infantry. But I do think that someone who has enough sense to get on a forum like this and research would think a little deeper than "killing people and blowing stuff up"...Good luck with your decision, either way!

You mean you didn't join the infantry to bring peace and happiness to the wonderful cultures of the world and help them become the best Iraq/Afgan/Syri/Iran/Russ/NorthKor/Cub/terroristians with a chevy , white picket fecne and NFL sunday ticket on every 1960's telivision set?

You either have that A trait along with a Warrior ethos, or you don't. Most people don't, so don't feel bad.

Some people were born to swing an axe into a mother fuckers chest, or thrust a spear into someones neck or put 3 shots COM into a haji.

War is the ultimate sport. Nothing more primal than pitting man against man. Some people LOVE it, some people are apathetic and most can't handle it.
 
Cobracutter...I actually share your viewpoint that the warrior mindset is something that is BORN in, and cannot be trained...I don't feel bad, because I've done it (and still can, I actually served a high-risk warrant yesterday; and am a 19A now)...My point is that the OP may want to see if other things may interest him--outside of the Infantry, just because he won't be young forever and may want to look into other options...or he flat out may not like it enough to make a lifelong career out of it. One thing I've learned is that there's always a fight around the corner, no need to go out and look for it. One thing I liked is your apparent understanding of that warrior mindset, which I believe is being taken from the military now (I just learned from new soldiers back from BCT that they've REMOVED the bayonet assault course! I was always a big fan of the mindset it tries to mold into soldiers; not necessarily for the skill set (which probably will never be used) but for the mindset it instills in to survive...Just because some of us don't "Love" war doesn't lessen our abilities or commitment to serve.
 
Yea, I was not discounting anyone's service. I went through BCT a little over 10 years ago and it was pretty pussified then, can't imagine what it is today with all that SHARP and Suicide training bullshit they push.

Just trying to make the point that some people love war and it's like a drug.

There is no bigger rush or adrenalin pump for those types.

It should be encouraged, not ostracized. These are the Men I want out there fighting for me.
 
Yea, I was not discounting anyone's service. I went through BCT a little over 10 years ago and it was pretty pussified then, can't imagine what it is today with all that SHARP and Suicide training bullshit they push.

Just trying to make the point that some people love war and it's like a drug.

There is no bigger rush or adrenalin pump for those types.

It should be encouraged, not ostracized. These are the Men I want out there fighting for me.

Well said sir...VERY well said!
 
I think many of you are missing the forest for the trees on this one and there is a big difference between someone wanting to join the military as a life-long ambition versus someone that is making the decision today and will most likely change their mind to something else tomorrow. As has already been identified “some people love war and it's like a drug. There is no bigger rush or adrenalin pump for those types” and this is true for some that join the military and leadership likes these types because they are easy to direct and are rather predictable, in other words you get what you see.

In the OP case, he did not grow up wanting to join the military; he grew up and decided to go to college for a few years. Then he decides to work out in the oil fields for a few years and now he has the revelation that he wants to join the military to kill people and blow stuff up. I have led people in the military long enough that I can already tell you (with a high probability) want his service is going to be like just from the few sentences that he has written here. Right now he does not know what he wants and out of the other choices that he has made to this point, infantry is not going to “do it for him” as he remains unsure of what he wants as obvious by the 9th post of thread asking what other MOS he should look at.

I won’t even get into needs of the Marine Corps versus wants of the recruit or how his ASVAB scores may dictate his future more than what he may want but the reality of the situation is, conflicts are winding down because an election is on the horizon. Services will be cutting folks and those that are already in are going to try and stay (read no one will be separating unless retirement) because the civilian job market is still not that great. After a few years of “no killing or blowing up anything” and instead its replaced with routine training and BS jobs just to keep people busy, he will move on to something else. Like it or not, if you are/were enlisted, we all started out scrubbing toilets and picking up cigarette butts more than we care to admit. If you stay with it long enough you eventually get past that detail but the reality is only 15-20 percent stay after their first enlistment and the OP already stated he would only do four years and then get out to go back to college so the chances of him getting to eventually do what he wants to join for is so remote they are not even worth discussing. Not trying to dissuade anyone from joining as I did 24 years but you also need to take an outside view of the situation and be able to make a call on what may be a better option for specific individuals. JMHO
 
If anything, the low density, tip of the spear types will have PLENTY of oppertunity to put work in. The Big Army/Marine machine going to war with Division and Corps level assets, not so much.
 
Really, I know plenty of people including myself who joined up to do just that! I second going Recon and if you can shoot you might get a sniper slot. As far as I have seen, you need to be able to shoot well.
yeah.... really lol. If your motivation is to kill, vs to save others. then yeah, your fucked up. Intent is everything. Killing to save yourself or another is good to go. But the raw desire to see bloodshed is the sign of a psychopath lol. And frankly, that's the last person I trust with a rifle. Marine or not.
 
You either have that A trait along with a Warrior ethos, or you don't. Most people don't, so don't feel bad.

Some people were born to swing an axe into a mother fuckers chest, or thrust a spear into someones neck or put 3 shots COM into a haji.

War is the ultimate sport. Nothing more primal than pitting man against man. Some people LOVE it, some people are apathetic and most can't handle it.

I almost didn't post this but... isn't there more to a warrior than the love of spilling blood? Being willing to do so is obviously important but i think what has people stirred t.up is the idea that he just wants to see someone bleed and this is how he can satisfy that legally. Maybe thats not what he meant. I'm all about the adrenaline junkie thing. LC. But this has devolved to gung ho bullshit. Nothing is great about war or any conflict where people have to die. We can talk all the hard shit we want about the warrior spirit and POGs and all that crap, its funny. I said it also when I was a young Marine. But it wasn't funny when my friends died. It wasn't funny when I watched people I knew and care about being medevac'd. I see from your sig that you also have seen that. Is it worth it? They all were warrior spirits also. Most Marines I know have warrior spirits and are definitely A types lol. But as an NCO and leader I understood that there was a difference between a hard charger and a psychopath. Ill take hard chargers all day, the looneys can pack shit and go home. And we all know there are some fucked up dudes around lol.
 
Honestly, I think that being in the peacetime military, any branch, would drive me 'round the bend long before my enlistment expired. I really can't put my finger on the 'why', but it would not want to do it.

My two Elder Brothers managed a peacetime draftee enlistment each, and my hat's off to them.

Greg

PS, maybe I'd be OK if I had never seen combat; but after that, nope.
 
I enjoyed making sure shit bags weren't placing IED's anymore. I enjoyed not being shot at or having RPG's shot at me anymore. I enjoyed getting the drop on bad guys instead of it always being the other way around. I enjoyed being on overwatch for my friends in the line, and watching them exfil out of a village without being ambushed like usual.

I hated when we missed shots.

I'm probably wouldn't trust me, I enjoyed doing the job I trained my ass off to do. Maybe we look at the things we did while overseas differently. I'm not ashamed or feel remorse for taking the lives of those who would gladly take mine and yours at the drop of a dime.

I would gladly put a round between the eyes of the cock sucker who chopped Foley's head off the other day, and any one off those other ISIS fucks killing kids. I pretty sure I would enjoy it too.
 
I almost didn't post this but... isn't there more to a warrior than the love of spilling blood? Being willing to do so is obviously important but i think what has people stirred t.up is the idea that he just wants to see someone bleed and this is how he can satisfy that legally. Maybe thats not what he meant. I'm all about the adrenaline junkie thing. LC. But this has devolved to gung ho bullshit. Nothing is great about war or any conflict where people have to die. We can talk all the hard shit we want about the warrior spirit and POGs and all that crap, its funny. I said it also when I was a young Marine. But it wasn't funny when my friends died. It wasn't funny when I watched people I knew and care about being medevac'd. I see from your sig that you also have seen that. Is it worth it? They all were warrior spirits also. Most Marines I know have warrior spirits and are definitely A types lol. But as an NCO and leader I understood that there was a difference between a hard charger and a psychopath. Ill take hard chargers all day, the looneys can pack shit and go home. And we all know there are some fucked up dudes around lol.

You are doing the world a favor, you are doing western society a favor and you are serving the interests of your nation. There are a whole fuck ton of shitbags that need to be wasted. There will never be a shortage.

My only gripe is not being allowed to kill the fuckers who need killing, or fighting some bullshit war that hurts my nation in the long run. My guys died because of incompetent Army/Military Leadership. It's that simple. The fucker's who actually killed them, swung by a noose in some iraqi jail. They deserved better leadership and died because of it. I am not a religious person, but there is such a thing as true evil.

Try to reduce life to simplistic terms. Life is a game of resources.... species fighting species and its own for survival, to pass on those genes. Nothing more, nothing less. If my job is to go out there so my species and my family can flourish, than that is me just being true to nature. We all have rules to live by in society obviously, but the game never really changes. Just the rules. Killing these cancerous fucks is healthy for us as whole. Either do that, or it will slowly infest, infect, spread and kill the host. The very mindset and ethos I am speaking of, Would love nothing more than to just that. Kill the cancer.
 
You are doing the world a favor, you are doing western society a favor and you are serving the interests of your nation. There are a whole fuck ton of shitbags that need to be wasted. There will never be a shortage.

My only gripe is not being allowed to kill the fuckers who need killing, or fighting some bullshit war that hurts my nation in the long run. My guys died because of incompetent Army/Military Leadership. It's that simple. The fucker's who actually killed them, swung by a noose in some iraqi jail. They deserved better leadership and died because of it. I am not a religious person, but there is such a thing as true evil.

Try to reduce life to simplistic terms. Life is a game of resources.... species fighting species and its own for survival, to pass on those genes. Nothing more, nothing less. If my job is to go out there so my species and my family can flourish, than that is me just being true to nature. We all have rules to live by in society obviously, but the game never really changes. Just the rules. Killing these cancerous fucks is healthy for us as whole. Either do that, or it will slowly infest, infect, spread and kill the host. The very mindset and ethos I am speaking of, Would love nothing more than to just that. Kill the cancer.

+1

Perfectly put.

Greg
 
With respect, my Eagle Scouts are all in the Coast Guard. Their choices and I approve most heartily.

Those Coasties do everything that can be admirable, yet they have 3 squares a day, sleep dry and warm, and do it all for the good of this country, and not some hostile tribals somewhere out in Asscrackistan.

Greg
 
yeah.... really lol. If your motivation is to kill, vs to save others. then yeah, your fucked up. Intent is everything. Killing to save yourself or another is good to go. But the raw desire to see bloodshed is the sign of a psychopath lol. And frankly, that's the last person I trust with a rifle. Marine or not.

Guess you didn't hang around a lot of Marines then, because the Marines I hung out with definitely were looking to get into it.
 
Good Post, Although if he wants to be a tip of the spear type.... MUCH more opertunity with the ARMY. Huge special operations apparatus and many more slots. He would be more likley to get a shot at ranger RASP/75th than he would with MARSOC. Many more sniper slots and funding for cool guy schools as well. My bud went to most of the well known and some not so well known civlian schools/courses after completing SOTIC. They would use classes like Barnhart and Blackwater as rewards/recruiting incentives.

Or you could get stuck guarding some embasy in some shithole where you aren't even allowed to defend yourself.

You need to stick to talking about Army shit and stop talking shit about all the other services. You sound more brainwashed than some of the Marines I know.
 
You are doing the world a favor, you are doing western society a favor and you are serving the interests of your nation. There are a whole fuck ton of shitbags that need to be wasted. There will never be a shortage.

My only gripe is not being allowed to kill the fuckers who need killing, or fighting some bullshit war that hurts my nation in the long run. My guys died because of incompetent Army/Military Leadership. It's that simple. The fucker's who actually killed them, swung by a noose in some iraqi jail. They deserved better leadership and died because of it. I am not a religious person, but there is such a thing as true evil.

Try to reduce life to simplistic terms. Life is a game of resources.... species fighting species and its own for survival, to pass on those genes. Nothing more, nothing less. If my job is to go out there so my species and my family can flourish, than that is me just being true to nature. We all have rules to live by in society obviously, but the game never really changes. Just the rules. Killing these cancerous fucks is healthy for us as whole. Either do that, or it will slowly infest, infect, spread and kill the host. The very mindset and ethos I am speaking of, Would love nothing more than to just that. Kill the cancer.

completely agree. its not the action I have problems with. it was perceived motivation. Doing my job and killing bad guys cuz that's what needs done. Top notch shit. Seeing my friends alive and knowing that guy wont do bad shit to me or mine anymore, also top notch shit. But that comes with perspective. A person that has never served doesnt have that understanding. Never shot someone because I wanted to kill people and blow shit up. Shot because I knew that person was going to hurt someone else I cared about. I served to protect my country and more importantly my friends/family/fellow Marines. engagements are what happened because I cared about someone and needed to do a job, not because I just wanted to kill someone. Although the end effect is the same.
 
Guess you didn't hang around a lot of Marines then, because the Marines I hung out with definitely were looking to get into it.

guess I didn't. 6 years, 3 deployments, 3 stripes plus a rocker and 4 rows of ribbons meant shit right? LOL. I think maybe I'm expressing myself wrong. Its not that people weren't happy to do the job. Quite the opposite. I love me some hard chargers that take the fight to the enemy. Its what you perceive as the job that were talking about. Killing people and blowing shit up is obviously part of the job, but its stuff we do to accomplish the other things that matter. To me the things that mattered included getting my Marines home, getting home myself and protecting others that couldn't protect themselves. If the only mindset is to get to kill someone or blow shit up, well, we got plenty of gang bangers here in the US that do that every day. Why be a Marine?

Every 19 year old LCpl I ever met said that stuff all the time. And its a psychological boost for sure. But its the thoughts of an immature person, or a psychopath. At least if that's the driving factor. And its usually replaced by other things more serious once shooting starts and people die. ut then again, I didnt hang with very many Marines so I could be wrong...
 
You need to stick to talking about Army shit and stop talking shit about all the other services. You sound more brainwashed than some of the Marines I know.


That may be so. Im no big fan of cobracutters diatribes most of the time as im sure he will tell you, he thinks bad things about me.. But on this he's correct. its a numbers game. If you are specifically looking for a billet slot and branch doesn't matter. Army has LOT more slots.

What I would of like to hear is "I want to be a Marine"... Period. Then discuss what areas suit you. We hear Marine Sniper all the time and what that usually means is someone has a delusional idea of what that is. Someone in the thread kind of nailed it. 99% of the time your watching and reporting. It was no accident that STA and FR were SRIG assets.
 
I'm with Cobracutter 100% - I thoroughly enjoyed every second I spent in actual combat. Every time we killed Taliban, HIG, IMU, etc.. it made my day, not because we were saving lives, but because we were killing shitheads.

Does that make me fucked up in some people's opinion? I don't care.
Everybody has their own reasons for joining, some are better than others I guess. I joined for college money, once I deployed for the 1st time I realized that I enjoy combat; so I ditched my pogue job and put myself in a position to see more of it.

If that's what OP *thinks* he wants... Go for it.
 
You need to stick to talking about Army shit and stop talking shit about all the other services. You sound more brainwashed than some of the Marines I know.

Got some numbers to back that up? Army has more slots, more schools, more special ops units and more money allocation than the other 3 services combined for special ops.

There are more Rangers alone than SEALS, and it won't take 2+ years to be boots on ground doing ops. Sounds like this guy wants to do D/A type shit. There is no better place than RGT if you want to get into gunfights, jump out of planes, and blow shit up for a living. He coult enlist and litterly be with a Ranger company or platoon deployed downrange in less than 6 months from when he raises his hand.
 
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To be fair, lets compare apples to apples. "There are more Rangers alone than SEALS" No not really. In the case of "true" Army Rangers you need to compare 75th Regiment and they have approximately 2,000 give or take. While many in the Army hold a Ranger Tab, that does not make them true Army Rangers in the sense of special operations like 75th. A good friend of mine that I grew up with is still in the Army (Lt Col) and he wears his "ranger" tab on his uniform and he is a medical admin type who manages clinics and hospitals. Current numbers of active SEALS come in around 2,200 or so. While some may make an argument that "Rangers" can be compared with SEALS, I would argue that while all Navy SEALS are created equal, Army Rangers (and those wearing tabs) are not.

As has already been argued, as main forces are becoming less common and smaller specialized units may be playing a larger role, these specialized training schools take time and come at a price of extended enlistment. Now if you want to call a 56 day Ranger course equivalent to SEAL training to compare Rangers to SEALS.......Again, the OP may have had these opportunities to enlist today and fight tomorrow if he joined a few years ago but in the current climate its not going to happen and we have a tendency to get into major conflicts every 10 years or so since WWII, (WWII -40's, Korea - 50's, Nam 60's into mid 70's, DS/DS - 90's, OIF/Afghanistan - early 2k until 14' and now we are the down swing again) If he enlists now and stays for a second enlistment, he may get his wish.
 
To be fair, lets compare apples to apples. "There are more Rangers alone than SEALS" No not really. In the case of "true" Army Rangers you need to compare 75th Regiment and they have approximately 2,000 give or take. While many in the Army hold a Ranger Tab, that does not make them true Army Rangers in the sense of special operations like 75th. A good friend of mine that I grew up with is still in the Army (Lt Col) and he wears his "ranger" tab on his uniform and he is a medical admin type who manages clinics and hospitals. Current numbers of active SEALS come in around 2,200 or so. While some may make an argument that "Rangers" can be compared with SEALS, I would argue that while all Navy SEALS are created equal, Army Rangers (and those wearing tabs) are not.

As has already been argued, as main forces are becoming less common and smaller specialized units may be playing a larger role, these specialized training schools take time and come at a price of extended enlistment. Now if you want to call a 56 day Ranger course equivalent to SEAL training to compare Rangers to SEALS.......Again, the OP may have had these opportunities to enlist today and fight tomorrow if he joined a few years ago but in the current climate its not going to happen and we have a tendency to get into major conflicts every 10 years or so since WWII, (WWII -40's, Korea - 50's, Nam 60's into mid 70's, DS/DS - 90's, OIF/Afghanistan - early 2k until 14' and now we are the down swing again) If he enlists now and stays for a second enlistment, he may get his wish.

without getting into the ranger vs seal argument... That's just the rangers. Add in GB, Delta, and all the auxiliary forces... Well, it isn't called big green for nothing. But the reason I posted is this, we may not get into "wars" but every 10 years or so. True, but in the last 100 years there has never been a time when someone wasn't somewhere hot. And SF is usually that someone.
 
Hairball,

The 75th ranger regiment is in. I way affiliated to ranger school and the ranger tab. You identify 75th rangers from their scroll.

Second, there are 3500+ 75th Regiment rangers. More than seals.

Rangers and seals are
Apples to oranges. There are things one can do that the other cannot. I guarantee a seal team couldn't do some things that the regiment can and that's purely based
On mission. There's
No perfect soldier. There's units with specific tasks for specific purposes.


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