OK I am confused, I want to be an enlisted Marine first, then become an officer. But, I think college is most important, so I want to focus on that first. So, I figured NROTC would be best, but I want to be enlisted before I lead...so NROTC wouldn't work. What is the easiest way for someone, who believes college is first and foremost, to go from enlisted to officer in the Marine Corps?

There is no easy way!

Not the easy way... the easiest way.

I think I should probably just do NROTC. Would that be a good idea? Or another option is enlisting after college, then applying for OCS.

quote:

Originally posted by xBLUEghostx:
Not the easy way... the easiest way.

Easiest? Still, it doesn't exist!

You're the smarta** and defensive one from this topic.

If you want "easy" or "easiest" then don't apply for a commission or even enlist.

The military don't need your "know-it-all" attitude. You say you're a leader, well a leader knows how to take criticism and from that messy display, you started off on the wrong foot.

No, we don't know you personally, but since you post here, what you write is A REFLECTION OF YOU.

If you want to be an officer, forget about "easy" or "easiest." Thinking about them only tempts you to do enough to "get by", something unacceptable in any officer corps of the military.

Dammmmn, I didn't expect that response. I didn't mean easiest as in luxurious, I meant easiest as in the best and most effective way of doing things. I actually wanted some logical information...not a BS bash. I don't remember ever personally calling you out like that. Why are you doing it to me? Sorry but I just don't understand. I may have made some idiotic mistakes in the past...but damn, your taking this way too seriously. Your pretty good at blowing things WAY out of proportion.

So much for forgive and forget...hell, if I am going to be treated like this then I guess that means I can't post here anymore. If all I'm getting is BS when I actually want logical information, then I guess my time is up.

Blue

When you act like a child expect to get treated like one. When you act like a mature future officer or Marine that is when you will treated as such.

You need to thicken your skin stud.

Please do not use this topic anymore, start a new one.

I would like to be banned please...apparently I am the one at fault and I am now looked upon as the a**hole. I believe that my actions in this thread were not childish. They may have been in other threads...but in this one, it's a different story. I believe SgtLtUSMC is straight out of line, especially by bringing up another topic that is completely irrelevant. I believe your treatment of this situation is biased. My reputation cannot be fixed now. Please ban me before I have to make myself look like an idiot again. Thank you.

Future Officer material no doubt.

Sir, at this point, I don't believe sarcasm is helping the situation. However, I believe banning me will. It is strictly your decision to make, but I believe I have made too many errors to continue here. Thanks.

Fine I will delete your account at your request. Take a day or two off then re-register.

You need to act a little more maturely if you plan on being a Marine officer or enlisted.

quote:

...but damn, your taking this way too seriously. Your pretty good at blowing things WAY out of proportion.

Perhaps, but wait until you get into TBS (provided you survive NROTC and OCS). When it comes time for "Spear Evals" your fellow Lts. grade you. In this case, they would have marked you at the bottom of the class.

quote:

From xBLUEghostx's profile before leaving:
Apparently, people on this site know me more than I know myself. They consider me a good-for-nothing jackass. Need I say more?

Again, since your posts on these forums were our only link to you, that's the way you were perceived. You could be the nicest guy in reality, or the biggest ***hole, but how you posted meant something to the other members.

Again, if you want to be a leader of men and women, you better learn to take criticism. Otherwise, you'll be screwed in your career.

I sided with the Old Corps when it came to communications via computer. We didn't want people attempting to lead men and women through this system because it favored one type of individual over another. The truth is that we found it too easy for ****birds to hide their true identity behind well crafted statements.

The ability to resolve this type of conflict, when it occurs face to face, is a valuable asset. We don't teach this ability in this forum because it is impossible to judge the actions of an individual who is protected by great distance. Honestly, I'm still concerned by what I see produced with the aid of this technology.

About the MECEP program. In my opinion, the Corps does itself a disservice by requiring MECEP candidates to be Corporal or above. I joined the Corps as a prior service Army National Guardsman. I had turned down Army OCS because I wanted to be a Marine. My plan was to serve a year or two as an enlisted Marine, then apply for MECEP.

In the Army, any soldier with two years of college and at least one year in service qualifies for their "Green to Gold" program. I expected that MECEP would be essentially the same.

I enlisted as an 0351, thinking that a background in the infantry would better prepare me to be a Marine officer. I had two years of college under my belt, which would have qualified me for the Army program. Well, I didn't know at the time that you had to be a corporal to apply for MECEP and, as it turned out, my MOS was closed for promotion to corporal for the first two and a half years I was in. By the time it opened up, the cutting scores were so high that very few 0351's could get promoted. Long story short, it took me 3 years and nine months out of a four year enlistment to make corporal -- and I never got busted! By then I was married and looking forward to life after the Corps.

The moral of my story is that the Corps missed out on what would have been a fine officer just because of the rank requirement for the MECEP program. I'm sure I'm not the only one this has happened to. In the Corps, MOS selection is everything!

quote:

Originally posted by OnceAlwaysUSMC:
About the MECEP program. In my opinion, the Corps does itself a disservice by requiring MECEP candidates to be Corporal or above. I joined the Corps as a prior service Army National Guardsman. I had turned down Army OCS because I wanted to be a Marine. My plan was to serve a year or two as an enlisted Marine, then apply for MECEP.

In the Army, any soldier with two years of college and at least one year in service qualifies for their "Green to Gold" program. I expected that MECEP would be essentially the same.

Well, smaller military branch, higher standards. You should know that more is expected of Marines than soldiers.

But all the same it still sucks. A colleague in my office was also a Marine. His OIC recommended that he shoot for the Naval Academy. He was interviewed and did well, but what was stopping him was he was still a LCpl. I could tell though he would have made a good officer.

In my opinion, they should STILL keep that Cpl requirement BUT waive it if your MOS is closed. Give it to outstanding Lance Corporals with at least one year in.

"Smaller branch, higher standards" is an over-simplification and misrepresentation of the issue. Because cutting scores for corporal vary (sometimes greatly) from one MOS to another, the Marine Corps consequently sets varying standards for acceptance into MECEP. If you're in a fast-promoting MOS, the standard is lower than it is for someone in a slow-promoting or closed MOS because it takes so much more for the latter group of Marines to get their corporal stripes.

No, the Corps should drop the corporal requirement and open MECEP to any Marine who has the appropriate amount of time in service and meets all the other education, intelligence and aptitude requirements. Who knows how many fine officers the Marine Corps loses out on because of the rank requirement?

quote:

Originally posted by OnceAlwaysUSMC:
About the MECEP program. In my opinion, the Corps does itself a disservice by requiring MECEP candidates to be Corporal or above. I joined the Corps as a prior service Army National Guardsman. I had turned down Army OCS because I wanted to be a Marine. My plan was to serve a year or two as an enlisted Marine, then apply for MECEP.

MECEP candidates aren't required to be NCOs anymore, but boots aren't very competetive, for good reason. I don't see how the Corps does itself a disservice by not accepting boots just because they are Marines and can tie their shoes and run a high PFT: the Marines are small and the officer corps even smaller, no reason for it not to be stiff competetion.

quote:

In the Army, any soldier with two years of college and at least one year in service qualifies for their "Green to Gold" program. I expected that MECEP would be essentially the same.

That's why you shouldn't assume and why you shouldn't enlist when your real goal is a commission.

quote:

I enlisted as an 0351, thinking that a background in the infantry would better prepare me to be a Marine officer. I had two years of college under my belt, which would have qualified me for the Army program. Well, I didn't know at the time that you had to be a corporal to apply for MECEP and, as it turned out, my MOS was closed for promotion to corporal for the first two and a half years I was in. By the time it opened up, the cutting scores were so high that very few 0351's could get promoted. Long story short, it took me 3 years and nine months out of a four year enlistment to make corporal -- and I never got busted! By then I was married and looking forward to life after the Corps.

It took my three years and 11 months to make NCO because my MOS was also frozen that long, but this was a field that sent 60 people through MOS school a year, I don't see how infantry could be that bad. What's more, if you were that exceptional there are these things called meritorious promotion boards.

quote:

The moral of my story is that the Corps missed out on what would have been a fine officer just because of the rank requirement for the MECEP program. I'm sure I'm not the only one this has happened to. In the Corps, MOS selection is everything!

The moral of the story should rather be that if you want to be an officer go to college and do PLC, and if you do enlist there is a program called "BOOST" that fits this need, not MECEP. I don't think the Corps missed out on anything, somebody else just became an officer and you didn't because you didn't have the dedication to.

S/F

quote:

Originally posted by OnceAlwaysUSMC:
No, the Corps should drop the corporal requirement and open MECEP to any Marine who has the appropriate amount of time in service and meets all the other education, intelligence and aptitude requirements.

You forgot one thing (the most important one too), let's see if you can figure it out. Those things you mentioned are great, but having those (alone) doesn't make good officer material.

Whether you can fix that jet well, run that warehouse great, or are the best grunt in the world and you have all this time-in-service (and have stayed out of trouble to boot), it doesn't matter, if you lack this one thing, you don't deserve to be an officer.

Read this little tidbit.

There are a couple of former soldiers who became Army officers, like Lt Gen. John F. Goodman. Unlike you he didn't limit his options on commissioning, otherwise, he wouldn't be where he is today. Hell, he was in the NFL between the Army and USMC.

Why did you want MECEP? I think it's a good deal, but as you foundout, it so competitive to get in.

Yeah, you say you had two years of college, you were probably proficient in your MOS (I'll give you the benefit of the doubt). Hypothetically, let's just say you were a corporal. Hey, it didn't mean you would have been picked up by MECEP the first shot. You would have had to compete against other highly qualified Marines.

Some have more to "offer to the table" when applying. Whether more school or more military aptitude (and that one thing I'm still waiting for you to answer). Some one over the other. You might have been passed over by a senior corporal or sergeant with no college. Fair? Maybe, maybe not, but the point is there are a lot of senior corporals and sergeants who have a lot to offer the MECEP board.

If you really wanted to be an officer, you would have explored your options more and not just get hung up on MECEP. (That's why I constantly tell people, DON'T ENLIST WITH THE SOLE PURPOSE OF HOPEFULLY GETTING PICKED UP FOR MECEP! Because you never know if 1) you'll even like the Corps enough to apply for such a program and 2) you don't know how the selection process will be and if you'll even get selected.)

Your best options were:

1) join the USMCR and apply for PLC, unlike MOST enlisted AD programs, PLC has no rank requirement.

2) apply for PLC as a soldier. Once again, there are a couple of soldiers who do this. There's no shame in it. Exact same requirements as if you applied as Marine (i.e. commanding officer endorsement as well as PFT and educational requirements). You would've been just as competitive for PLC provided you gave the OSO a good first impression.

3) apply for NROTC and/or its scholarship (though I don't know how old you were at the end of your second year in college).

4) get out of the Army completely and apply for PLC as a civilian.

What did you want? The "enlisted" experience? The O-1E rank? Those are great, but you sold yourself short.

"Smaller branch, higher standards" is an over-simplification and misrepresentation of the issue? Perhaps, but that's what you were at the mercy of.

quote:

Who knows how many fine officers the Marine Corps loses out on because of the rank requirement?

Yeah, and who knows, how many fine people (Marines or otherwise) lose out on commissioning because they didn't bother to see other commissioning opportunities that they can qualify for.

quote:

The moral of my story is that the Corps missed out on what would have been a fine officer just because of the rank requirement for the MECEP program.

And I guess that means the Naval Academy missed out on a fine alumnus because I didn't have enough HS vasity letters or outside (extra curricular) service.

The world don't revolve around you (or me for that matter).

If you really wanted to be an Officer, you would have explored your other commissioning options instead of being hung up on one. "Fine officers" know what other options to take.