I want to be a Marine.

Problem: I have two charges as a minor, one for marijuana and the other for paraphenalia. And i have two charges as an adult, assault to the 3rd degree/breach of peace and dwi(maybe thats 3).

All court cases are complete.

Am I eligible?

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

Ask a recruiter but I would say no. The corps is throwing out those who pop once on a drug test. If you have a bust it will be hard to get in...

quote:

Originally posted by theoneson:
... i have two charges as an adult, assault to the 3rd degree/breach of peace and dwi(maybe thats 3).

Are they misdemeanors or felonies? Having 2 misdemeanors or 1 felony is subject to DQ.

They are all misdemeanors. Nolle prosequi

quote:

Originally posted by TomHansen:
Ask a recruiter but I would say no. The corps is throwing out those who pop once on a drug test. If you have a bust it will be hard to get in...

Tom, I think your information is misinformation about the drug issue, A friend here at work had a son just ship off and he had a marujuanna pos charge from high school. Had to get a waiver, but smoking pot in HS is not going to keep someone from shipping to boot camp.

i see a lot of posts asking about moral waivers..it all depends if the recruiters want to work with you. After that its up to their boss, then their boss, then thier boss, and so on untill it gets to the general. depending on how many police interactions you have. Most dont want to do the extra work and/or vouch for you if you appear to be the slightest bit of an idiot.

Posession of Marijuana is a District level waiver, meaning you essentially need a Colonel to sign off on it.

Your best chance is to do the reruiters job for them. Meaning, go and get the certificates of disposition from the court house for each crime. Also get the court notes (from the court reporter/clerk). Additionally, get the incident report from the police department that arrested you.

You need to get these documents for each crime.

Bring those to the recruiter and see if he will run you a waiver.

There are no guarantees, but your best chance is to make the recruiters job easier for them by getting the necessary documentation together.

Captain, would be fair to say then the Colonel has his own guides line he pass's to the Recruiters out in the field?

As in what he will grant a waiver for or not?

Is his word the final say on the waiver?

Would it also be fair to say while the Corps is dumping those who are coming up poistive in the fleet on drug tests it likely that the Colonel would grant any waivers?

We will not hold you feet to the fire Captain on your answers, just tring to clear up things for questions we will get down the road. Although the Corps had been for years heading for random drug tests it was not until the fall of 1981 when General Barrows came out with his directive declairing that as of 1/1/82 all Marines would stand for random drug tests and also as the Unit CO's see as needed. This was because in Sept of 81 a USMC EA-6B crashed on the Nimitz killing the crew and 12 deck hands. The crew of the EA6B all had traces of drugs in there systems when they tested their body's.


Thanks Captain....

Tom Hansen
Marine Moderator
VMA-231 1979-1984

Tom,

It is fair to say that the Colonels have guidelines, and their word is almost always the final say in the matter. Be advised that anyone in the chain can deny a waiver, to include recruiter, recruiter's NCOIC, Recruiting Station (RS) Operations Officer, RS Commanding Officer, District Quality Control Officer, District Operations Officer. There is no guarantee that the Colonel will ever see the waiver request.

We look at the "whole person" when making decisions on waivers. If he is say, an Eagle Scout, or active in JROTC, or has some other concrete positives in his history that would weigh against his past criminal history.

When looking at waivers it is important to note, and I should have put this in my earlier response, that the Marine Corps does not grant waivers capriciously. This young person needs to demonstrate positive traits and attributes that offset his past history.

If I could see this kid’s paperwork, I could tell you if he has a chance of getting approved, but my opinion is only really accurate in my District.

To answer your last question. . .the important thing to remember is that our applicants aren't Marines yet. We do not hold them to the standard we hold ourselves to. If an applicant has used Marijuana 4 times, for example, that will get approved in any Recruiting Station in the country. Now, being convicted of possession is a bit different. You have to determine how much the applicant had, what their intention was for it, and then weigh that against the applicant’s positive attributes.

That answer got a bit long, feel free to ask any other questions if that didn't clarify enough.

Thanks Captain....

One Son

Son, you still using? Do you want to?? If you do, and/or are...don't come into the Corps. You will save yourself and many others a lot of problems. You don't have to answer this question. Just be totally honest with yourself.
If you need weed to feel good, etc. you need help/ Just a personal opinion. From an old man who served in the New Breed aka Old Corps.

That is a negative sir. I do not smoke marijuana. In my life time i have smoked 10x. the first time i tried it was 20031231 and the last time was 20050119. My asvab score is quite high and i am physically qualified. If need be i have refrences that will vouch for me.

Son

Read carefully the Captains comment above....Keep in mind this a Captain of Marines who wrote this, give him the due respect....

im sorry. i give my full respect to everyone on here. if i sounded like a smart as* i didnt mean to. i was answering the question to the response before me.

I guess what im saying is that I am serious about becoming a United States Marine. This post started a while back and since then I have contacted a recruiter, gone through the motions, and my paper work is getting organized to be sent to the district level.

I am now more concerned with giving other people valuable information.

Thank you for your time Captian and Tom with all due respect.

Sean

Let us know how it works out.....I'm going to move this to the top of the section for easy reference...

I had to get waivers to enlist, I had a simple possesion charge when I was a juvy and I got a shoplifting charge for stealing ten cases of beer with blonde hair dye in my hair ( I didnt actually steal it and I didn't know it was stolen till the manager came out, I panicked and drove off) Try explaining that! I also had to get waivers for seizures and adderal. If I can get waivers for that you might could get yours, My advice admit you ****ed up take full responsibility for what you did explain the postive changes youve made and stress how bad you want to serve your country. Good Luck!

Fill out your profile or move on troll.....

I have had two past marijuana paraphernalia charges.

My recruiter has told me that I should be able to get waivers for both and enlist, though I'll have to have character references and conduct a few lengthy interviews, plus write a few "essay" type of things, explaining each arrest, what I have learned from them, what I do differently now, as well as a letter explaining why I want to be a Marine.

I was kind of surprised when I read all the different posts on here of Marines telling people with past misdemeanor drug offenses they probably won't be able to get in. My recruiter said it should be all gravy. I also consulted Chemical Ali on this, who I believe is also a Marine Corps recruiter, and he said it should be all gravy.

Granted, I didn't have any assault charges or DWI.

Just my experience.

You have no experience or you would have not been caught with drugs....let us know how it works out but I would not bet on you getting in...