Hello, I have recently been meeting with a Marine recruiter and discussing job possibilities for the Marines. I took the practice ASVAB and scored pretty well according to my recruiter.

We went over a lot of jobs and security forces grabbed my attention, basically because he said it was the SWAT team of the Marines. He said your duties can vary from protecting subs, nuke facilities, to raiding houses in DC. I was also told it is a good job to have when going into the civilian life. As it gives you a lot of options on what to do as a civilian like FBI, ATF, SWAT for Department of Energy, etc.

I would just like to hear from personnel experience for security forces. What made you choose the job of security forces? What was your primary job/duty? What is the typical day for security forces(or does it vary widely?)? Did it help you become successful in the civilian life?

Thanks.

HA! We are nothing like SWAT, SWAT is nothing like us, and we don't raid some ghetto pad in DC. Much of the time, we were glorified "Fire-Watch" and protected a lot of stuff. If you want to transition to civilian life, the closest job that would mirror it would be as an Edison security guard at the reactor plant in San Onofre.

I picked it because it was an option that allowed me to get a 3rd MOS (8152), and stationed on the East Coast. In no way, shape or form did it get me my current career. However... it's a good MOS, and I recommend you take it. Anyway, here is a video link on MCSFBN.

Unless your recruiter was with MCSF's, you should tell him that a Marine told you to tell him STFU.

quote:

to raiding houses in DC.

Think about it: for what possible reason would military members who are not even law enforcement officers be conducting a 'raid' on a house in DC, on U.S. soil? I think your recruiter is blowing some smoke if he's trying to tell you that this actually happens - outside of a TV studio, of course.

Security Forces is much beefier and much more proactive nowadays than they were 20 years ago, but the overall mission is still just that - security.

As far as "options" like the FBI or other federal law enforcement agencies afterwards - nope; not with just this on your resume. I was in security forces and I had to add a 4 year degree, language skills, a good deal of life experience and a very impressive civilian work resume to go along with my Marine Corps service. And even then, I was very, very lucky to get hired. That was over 12 years ago, when it wasn't nearly as competitive as it is today. Nowadays, you realistically need an advanced degree and some special skill that every other applicant isn't already bringing to the table (computer skills, in-demand languages like Arabic, etc.).

I agree with Hollywood - this is still a great MOS and the security clearance, alone, is worth taking this route (IMO), but it's not a door-kicking law enforcement job and not a springboard to becoming Jack Bauer.

Whenever a recruiter starts making things sound ultra sexy, that's when you, the prospective enlistee should start questioning the sexy version vs. the reality version.

Hey,
Look up, see the little magnifying glass that says "find", click on that and type in "Security Forces".

This has been asked and answered many times.

Protecting subs and nuke facilities, yes. Raiding houses in DC. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!

Any job that you successfully do in the Marine Corps will give you assistance in a lot of options in the civilian world. One of my officers where I work now, was a bugler in the band. He was just hired by the CIA.

What your recruiter isnt telling you is that in order to go into Security Forces, you will be trained as an Infantryman, then after 2 years or so at a Security Force Company, its off to an infantry battalion. Do some research and come back and ask questions to clear things up.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SCMerle,

KoScooze, since you are brand new, we wont jump down your throat yet. Click below, it will help you.

Click Here

I was with a friend when he mentioned raiding houses in DC. I think we caught him in a lie, he told us about that early during the meeting and my friend says I thought you can't have military personnel operating within US soil without permission from the president. I forget what he said but pretty much you wouldn't be doing raids in the US. But then 10 or so minutes later he goes on to say the same thing again.

Thanks for all the info and help, I'll do some more research on security forces and other jobs. I'll be meeting with the recruiter again tomorrow. Got any good questions regarding security forces where I could really test him to see if he knows what he's talking about?

quote:

Originally posted by KoScooze47:
I was with a friend when he mentioned raiding houses in DC. I think we caught him in a lie, he told us about that early during the meeting and my friend says I thought you can't have military personnel operating within US soil without permission from the president. I forget what he said but pretty much you wouldn't be doing raids in the US. But then 10 or so minutes later he goes on to say the same thing again.

Thanks for all the info and help, I'll do some more research on security forces and other jobs. I'll be meeting with the recruiter again tomorrow. Got any good questions regarding security forces where I could really test him to see if he knows what he's talking about?

The appropriate law is called the Posse Commitatus Act. It essentially means that the military can not be used to enforce civilian law off of a base.

A recruiter is not an expert in all MOSs. He may be able to go in depth about his own, but other than that he may not have experience with other MOSs. Please refrain from acusing a Recruiter of lying, unless it is a bold outright lie. Experience has shown that you might not recall exactly what was said during the meeting.

Do your research, then come back and ask the questions. There are Marines on the boards here from a wide variety of MOSs.

As for riads in houses, make sure he wasn't talking about the practice we get.
Sometimes, cities will let us do building assaults on facilities that are unoccupied r scheduled for demolition.
We get to practice on a non-standard building in comparison to our MOUT facilities and the people in that city get to watch...from a safe distance.
Sometimes they even get to volunteer to play hostages.
Usually when they talk about the swat aspect they are referring to the FAST CO.
FAST is the team that usually guards the nukes when they transfer stuff like that to an from Navy vessels, in conjunction with several other groups. Everybody likes to keep their eyes on nuke material.
along with what someone else said, if the recruiter is not too familiar with Sec. Forces then he was probably repeating something he heard from another recruiter.
Sec Forces, is mostly guard duty, but some locations do have other elements included into their missions that pertain to the location.
The Posse Commitatus act has a few loop holes that allow us to assist law enforcement without making arrests.

quote:

Originally posted by KoScooze47:
Hello, I have recently been meeting with a Marine recruiter and discussing job possibilities for the Marines. I took the practice ASVAB and scored pretty well according to my recruiter.

We went over a lot of jobs and security forces grabbed my attention, basically because he said it was the SWAT team of the Marines. He said your duties can vary from protecting subs, nuke facilities, to raiding houses in DC. I was also told it is a good job to have when going into the civilian life. As it gives you a lot of options on what to do as a civilian like FBI, ATF, SWAT for Department of Energy, etc.

I would just like to hear from personnel experience for security forces. What made you choose the job of security forces? What was your primary job/duty? What is the typical day for security forces(or does it vary widely?)? Did it help you become successful in the civilian life?

Thanks.

HA! I remember getting the same speech from my recruiter! Let me tell you from first hand experience, Security Forces (at least the side I know) is nothing like SWAT. Primary job? Can't tell you but believe it's not fun, basically glorified firewatch. Typical day, get f*cked with, mass punishment for nothing more than one of our NCO's having maritail problems and blaming it on us, unless you are in the OA where your getting f*cked with while standing post. Now this is Bangor that i'm talking about, where I had a really messed up chain of command so take this with a grain of salt. It should pay off when/if I get out though having the security clearence and all. If I could do it again though I would definately go straight Infantry. My .02 cents.

quote:

Originally posted by OC51:
It should pay off when/if I get out though having the security clearence and all.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA. Nope. Hate to break it to you......

wow... a pessimistic lot we have here.
I did security forces in Cuba.
it was a lot of guad duty intermixed with infantry duties.
Did I get security clearances ? yes
have I ever needed them later? not really, but then I have never applied for ajob that required them at that level.
It is what you make of it. I had some good times, I had some rough times.
I picked it because I had 4 years and at the time it sounded like a good way to make sure things didn't get stale.

Actually, having had a security clearance was on of the big positives for me and for a lot of my fellow former-security forces Marines that I came up with. No, it may not have been an 'active' clearance at the time (and, thus, not usable by another agency or employer), but it still shows a prospective employer that you're capable of obtaining (and holding) a clearance, meaning they don't have to waste time hiring/training you, only to find that 10 months down the road, your clearance was denied because of X or Y. Not a winning ticket in the employment lottery, to be sure, but it certainly helped out. It's basically a rubber stamp on your application package that says "clearance-worthy", or what I like to call the "this-guy-might-not-be-as-much-of-a-knucklehead-as-the-next-guy" stamp .

The only thing my prior security clearance did for me was make it one thing I didn't have to worry about when I submitted my OCS package.

Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot it did for me. None of my employers after the Corps really seemed to care about it that much. Job skills and the assurance that I wasn't addicted to some substance (i.e i would show up on time) was their main concern.

quote:

Originally posted by OC51:
Typical day, get f*cked with, mass punishment for nothing more than one of our NCO's having maritail problems and blaming it on us, unless you are in the OA where your getting f*cked with while standing post.

Typical Days at MCSFCo, Charleston, closed in 1995, but 1987-90 it was like this. We were on a 6 day cycle between 3 platoons. 2 days duty, 2 days training, 2 days off.

0500-Reveille
0600- Chow Formation
0630- Draw weapons and equipment
0700-Guard Mount, movement to complete changeover
0800-(M-F, if Saturday starts your cycle, stand by for drills all day long))Duty day starts, if not on Post, get the RFF squared away then hit the rack. Every four hours, the releifs would change. If not on Post, you were on a React Team. If you are on post, be bored for 4 hours.
1600- Work Day ends for the squids, React Drills commence. Depending on how well you do, it may be one drill or many.
Training days- If your platoon is scheduled to assist with convoys, it could be a regular day or a very loooooong day, depending on how many assets had to be moved. If no convoys, you name the training, everything that could be taught was, it got to the point where you had to use your imagination to come up with things. Also on training days, a squad in the platoon could be designated to conduct patrols in the evening/night of the outer perimeter. If your training days fell on a weekend, you usually got them off, except..... see below.
Days off- Well days off is a relative term. (Right 2nd Platoon?)

It was a nice break from going to the field all of the time, but in hindsight....... I should have waited for a slot to teach at the Naval Gunfire School in Norfolk, then gone back to the Fleet.

From what I've been reading and from searching other threads it seems security forces is a pretty boring job? I've talked to the recruiter again today and narrowed my job options down to 5, still a lot of options but better than before. Though more jobs could come up if I find something else that grabs my interest. Those 5 jobs as of nowIn no particular order)

*Military Police
*Infantry
*Tanks & Assault Amphibious Vehicle
*Artillery
*Security Forces

I think finally selecting a job to go with is going to be the hardest thing for me. I really don't know what job would best suit me. How did you guys determine what job you wanted to do?

Don't knock it down. It is still a good MOS, and worth giving a shot. Take a look at what they do--> Video.

*Military Police = nobody likes you
*Infantry = never will you be so happy being so miserable, good company to keep
*Tanks & Assault Amphibious Vehicle = you'll learn to hate 2 letters, p & m
*Artillery = you'll be deaf in 3 years and develop an odd sort of envy
*Security Forces = you'll wish you would have just went infantry

Military Police= most likely turned over to civilians in the next 5 years
Infantry=SSgtRSP is correct in this one! I love my Grunt brothers
Tanks=they always look tired and angry?
Artillert=my former job,I loved it had a great time and i'm not deaf
Security Forces=different parts to it look into it because after a tour with them you go to an Infantry unit

quote:

*Tanks & Assault Amphibious Vehicle = you'll learn to hate 2 letters, p & m

Agree on this. I've been in a couple different units that were "vehicle-centered" and the amount of time you spend screwing with vehicles far outwieighs any fun you get to have driving/shooting from them. Unless you like changing oil and crawling underneath a vehicle, I'd pick something else. Just my opinion, though.

quote:

Originally posted by __Apollo__:

quote:

Originally posted by OC51:
It should pay off when/if I get out though having the security clearence and all.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA. Nope. Hate to break it to you......

Ya I figured that, I was trying to look at the one kinda sorta "benefit'