I have been in the Marine Corps for nearly ten years, five years active and five years reserve. Because I am wishing for a change of scenery I will be headed to MEPS on Monday to take my Physical and enlist into Active Duty. I have received a conditional release from the Marine Corps Reserve. With all of that being said, I have been told lots of things by the recruiters and I have read a lot of different things on here. Knowing that everyone's situation is going to be different, I am still querious... What I am up against.
See below for details...
ASVAB = 113
Marine Corps MOS = 3000 (Supply), 0352 (Anti-Tank Gunner TOW), 0481 (Landing Support Specialist).
Associates Degree
NCO Course grad
Early Promotion to SSgt/E-6
Also, I have one combat tour in Iraq as an Infantryman.
As you can see above, I am a bit of a jack of all trades. This most likely will only complicate my situation. Because of my past training and because I feel I will stand a better chance at keeping my rank, I am hoping to be able to enlist for 19D (Cav Scout) or 19K (Armor). I really don't care about duty station choice or a bonus; although, those would be nice to get, as well. There is nothing wrong with 11X, but as a 29 year old vehicle commander, I am not sure that I would like walking everywhere I go.
My recruiter has told me that he communicated my MOS wishes to the counselers at MEPS and that they have approved me. According to the recruiter, they would not have approved me to come to MEPS if they had not been able to work with me. I was also told that I will not be attending WTC because I am a Marine. Unlike most, I woulld like to attend this course so that I can get into better shape before attending AIT.
Does anybody have an ideas of what I am up against when I get to MEPS? Please fill me in on what my possibilities are of getting the MOS that I want, a bonus, duty station of choice, ability to attend WTC.
Since you've never been in the Army, I think you HAVE to go to WTC because of the diffrences between USMC & Army.Since your transfering in you MIGHT lose 1 grade, but maybe not. MOS is just depending on what Department of the Army needs NCO's. They will try to keep your past training/experience in mind. You can put down duty stations but that depends again on needs. Bonus changes by the day, yes one day, no the next. Crazy, but slots/jobs become critical @ diffent times. Hope this helps some.
Some people think that I am crazy for wanting to go through WTC, but I feel like it would give me a better oppertunity to bring my "A" game to AIT where I will be messed with by the DS of whatever MOS I pick.
I have not seen 19K as a priority MOS on any lists, does this mean that it may not be available?
I was in the Marines (active duty 4 years plus a few months in the reserves) I got a conditional release and I enlisted in the Army last March. Did your recruiter do a rank/grade waiver? Usually they do that in order to keep your rank. The downside of keeping your rank is that it limits your MOS choice. I am a Sergeant when I enlisted my date of rank was October 2006 so it puts me way ahead of the promotion lists than other Sergeants that are currently in the Army. They only gave me like 5 MOS choices (none I really like) but I enlisted as a intel analyst (but I am hoping my reno request gets through)As for WTC I know the general rule is 3 years out you have to go to WTC if you were in the Army or Marines other services have to go to WTC regardless of EAS/ETS date. I don't need to go since I got out August 2006. Marines don't need to go to WTC unless they got out 3+years. I don't know if it applies to Reserves though but ask the MEPS counselor, also if you have a good MEPS counselor he might give you some wiggle room.
Since you mentioned you have a Associates degree it would help with the promotion points. Also try to bring your official transcripts from your college and your NCO Academy certificate. I am sure your recruiter would help you out with the details.
I tried to enlist as 19D since I wanted to be a LAV Crewman th first time I enlisted in the Corps (but my Marine Recruiter said the grunts are full, why don't you enlist in this awesome MOS instead, yeah right haha but I wanted to be a Marine first so I got signed up with CB option) 19D was not available at that time when I enlisted last March. MOS availibility depends on which MOS are on high demand at that time but who knows you might get an awesome MOS counselor. Usually they give low priority to prior service guys like us and you will notice it when you go to MEPS.
You might not get all you want such as bonus, MOS, duty station but as my recruiter said it's sometimes a trading game in MEPS. Trade your rank for a choice MOS or trade your MOS to keep your rank. I worked hard to get my rank as a Sergeant in the Marines so I had fewer MOS choices than me losing all of my stripes.
All of that helps out a lot. Now I have a little bit more of an idea of what to expect. Hopefully I will get an MOS Counceler that will work with me. I really hate to lose my Rank. As all Marines know, it is not easy getting promoted to SSgt with all of the stuff that you have to go through to get the promotion; however, I would not mind being a Sgt. again if it meant that I was able to move into an MOS that I want to do for the next several years. Knowing what I do, I don't want to get mixed up in an MOS that does not fit my personality such as I did upon my initial enlistment.
It's possible Marine Corps line scores are different than the Army's ASVAB GT line scores my Marine GT ASVAB score is 101 it converts to 70 in the Army so his AFQT is higher than 70 which probably open up nearly all jobs in the Army for him.
That brings up a good point. I had to retake the ASVAB in 2006 for the current billit that I am holding for the Marine Corps. Because the test was not taken at MEPS and the line scores are not listed anyplace other than in Marine Corps systems, I will have to retake the ASVAB on Monday prior to enlisting. It is funny... we can take over an entire country in less than one month, but we can not figure out how to convert ASVAB scores from one branh to another. Therefor, for those future readers, count on takeing the ASVAB if you are prior service and have gotton smarter with age.
I was told that it would not be possible to convert from Marine to Army. I am the first prior service package for my recruiter. He may not know that it can be done. Did this delay your enlistment?
It only took like a day for them to convert my Marine ASVAB scores to the Army after a month I was at MEPS signing my contract (I had lose a few pounds lol) Ask you recruiter to contact other recruiters who done prior service guys before. I did not receive any bonus for 35F Intel analyst but other MOS have bonuses but I did not like those MOS (light wheel mechanic no thanks, patriot missile systems repairer i hate machines, 88M truck driver umm RPG magnet in Iraq no thanks) some MOS offered bonuses as high as 20,000 and even more but I rather have a job that I eagerly go to everyday than a job that I have to drag myself out of bed every morning. Oh also if you have 60 credits they offer an education bonus it's like $5000.
I am hoping also that my Reno request gets approve so I can change my job to medical or something I really desire on my MOS wishlist.
You guys have taught me a couple things,& I used to an Army recruiter(no hate mail please!). I'm PS Army, trying to get back in,finally got through all the medical hoops, now waiting for the grade waiver to keep rank(Sgt). You are very correct that they kinda half heartedly help PS. Since I've been out since 92 I do have to through WTC.It is possible to convert those ASVAB scores to Army. When they pulled mine, the print out had ALL the services with the scores for each.
The ASVAB scores on my REDD report are all from 1997. Those scores are much much lower than now. There is no way I would want them to use those scores to base my future on. As long as I get something in the 19* field, I will be happy. I am thinking that there must be a way to get the MOS even if I lose rank.
Speaking of half hearted effort on MEPS counselors in regards with enlistments I was in MEPS at 6 am when the doors opened I already did the physical the week prior and was only there to pick a job and sign it, I did not get to see the MEPS counselor until about 2pm!!! Even though there were like 5 DEPers plus me waiting to see the MEP counselors even though some of those kids go back and forth in order to fix some of their medical etc stuff.
Yeah, you really get the feeling that they treat PS guys/gals like they have scarlet letter(s) that say PS, and treated like lower life forms. Oh well, welcome back to the good ole Army!!
This is a problem that is across the board. I am part of the Invol. Mobalization program for the Marine Corps. While at a conferance a few weeks ago I asked the MOBCOM G3 why it is so difficult for guys to augment back to the Active component. I felt it might be important to ask this question since I am currently fighting up this hill. The response was "there are Marines trying to return to active duty all over the country, but can't get any help from MEPS or a Recruiter because they can quickly sign a 17 year old kid that does not have a medical history or prior training to try and match up. Meanwhile, we are recalling guys and gals against their will to go and do a job that they don't want to do. Guys like us are pushing against a brick wall because we take more effort to process. I am very tempted to run up the B.S. flag after I get processed in. So far, my Army recruitment experience has been easy. Even with my Recruiter having never processed a Prior Service package. After spending nearly ten years in the Marine Corps, my Recruiter literally told me that the Marine Corps did not need me, the Marine Corps may not want me, and most likely, the Marine Corps will most likely grow to 202,000 without me. It was after that conversation that I decided to visit with the Army. Monday can't come fast enough. I will let everyone know how it goes.
The MOS you'll receive is the needs of the Army, once you get to MEPS they'll call HRC and tell you what MOS's are available. Its all about what date you ship on and what schools are available that have a training seat open for you. I learned that the hard way.
Yeah, I got to keep my rank E6. That paperwork goes up first, its called a grade determination. Then when you go to meps they inform you about the MOS's that will accept you. I asked about taking a cut to E5 to, didn't seem like they were willing to do that. I've got to go in for a re negotiation, my recruiter changed my 368 and put the wrong ETS date on it. Gotta go change my date and maybe get a new MOS?? if they offer it. I wasn't really all that "thrilled" with what they offered, 88M, 13D, 13B, 25m. Took the 13B.
