I spoke with my Sergeant today to talk about the avalible Mos's. After I left I felt a bit confused. I tried to ask as many questions as I could think of but I still feel unsure about some stuff.

From everything I've read I thought that when it comes time to pick a MoS and sign a contract you could sign a contract for (lets just say) 1800 then after boot you get placed into a billet under 1800 depending on the need of the Marine Corps. But today the recruiter told me that I have to sign a contract under for example b6 ground opt. which has tons of misc. Mos's under it including 1800. Is it not possible to sign for 1800 directly?

Something else I was left a little confused about after speaking with my recruiter was under b6 ground option are all the billets listed currently available or is it just showing all the billets that could be available but really its just a few?

One more thing; my recruiter has explained to me that the Marine Corps. is flooded with recruits and that all the jobs are full and I need to hurry up and pick before there is nothing left to pick from, but I recall reading a post here saying that the new job list will come out in Oct, this was also confirmed by my Staff Sergeant Saturday when he said " don't bug me about jobs, I wont know till Oct" I was then called Tuesday by my Sergeant who said "hey I got the list of jobs come in so we can pick one" So I am a bit confused, do job list come out when ever? or are these what's left of the 09 fiscal year that needs to be filled? Can you move your ship date in hopes of more mos's opening up? My Sergeant was very un clear on this and told me I should talk to the Staff Sergeant if I was having issues that would prevent me from shipping on my current date.

When's yo ship date, if it's soon it will be tough to get any job you want. When it come to jobs in the Marine Corps its just like anyhting else the earlier you sign up the better it is. A lot of school's might already have been filled for fiscal year 09 all those Kids that jsut graduated and were in the dep some for almost a year are porbably getting those spots. Unless you want to spend a whole year in the dep just work with your recuriter the best you can, he's not trying to screw you its just that the less time you give him the less he can do for you.

1. Your not one of us yet. Don't pretend to know it all and DO NOT go over a Marine head to look for an answer. Recruiters get graded on how they meet their quota, your not going to slip though.
2. Openeings in the recruiting field change every day. What was open yesterday could be close today, what was close yesterday could be open today. There always is a shuffle. Trust me, you wants are on file with the recruiter, he will let you when something opens up as it happens as long as you have not signed a contract yet. So, if they do not have what you want just wait it out they will contact you when it does. Or check in with him from time to time to see how it's looking so you do not get passed by....

I think you should print this post out and take these questions verbatum to your recruiter. You will learn in the military to always have a pen and paper. Writing down your questions helps both parties involved so communication is 100% effective. Your recruiter wants you to be comfortable with your decision. He thinks you are good to go and has no clue you are confused right now. He's not going to spontaneously give you this info, and he won't be mad if you come in with well-thought-out questions.

You may probably want to wait until october to try to pick a job because there will be probably be more available at that time (it's the beginning of the fiscal year). your recruiter probably wants you to pick a job by the end of this month because he is trying to be expedient and be done with his objectives for the month (i.e. his to-do list probably includes: Poolie A ships Aug 10, take Poolie B to MEPS Aug 16, make sure Poolie C gets a job locked on, etc.) He may not be rushing you to fill his quota, he may just be trying to get everybody taken care of and doesn't like having loose ends. Especially if your ship date is soon.

All of the above is hypothetical. Your best bet is to do like I said above and take your questions (WRITTEN DOWN SO YOU WON'T FORGET ANYTHING) to your recruiter.

I think all the poolies with questions on here need to take them just the way they as them here (with concerns, explainations, backstories and all) to their recruiters.