There are still so many things that I don’t know about the military in general. There is so much to learn and so many different ways to go about things. I decided I would start gathering a lot of questions about the USMC, pilot eligibility, and college oriented programs a while ago. Since I felt I had acquired enough questions and I knew more weren’t coming until I’m much farther down my path I decided to call my recruiter today and talk to him about some of them.
When I called I was a little less than eager. For me a phone call isn’t as direct as simply talking to a person in front of you and I prefer to be direct whenever possible. Consequently in this instance I felt a little uneasy. This was somewhat amplified by the fact that I could barely hear him and the fact that he soon told me he was busy with someone else. He said he’d call back when they were finished. That was understandable so I began waiting near the phone expecting it to be no more than forty minutes to an hour before he called back.
Sometime around three hours later he called me back (maybe even two and a half hours). I could barely hear him still. I’d assume the receiver on his phone was old or failing because it sounded as if he was holding the phone a good five feet away from himself. He remembered who I was which made things easier and I began to ask some of my questions. I don’t recall in what exact order I asked my questions and I could barely hear him. As a result I could have easily misunderstood something he said and gotten some information wrong so please feel free to correct me if you notice any errors.
One of the first questions I asked was about LASER eye surgery. As far as I understand it in order to be a pilot you need to have 20/20 eyesight which many people don’t have (I used to have better than that, but it’s a long story). I was curious about it because I thought I’d heard somewhere before that if you had certain conditions or if your eyesight was poor enough you wouldn’t be able to receive LASER surgery treatment. My recruiter told me he had never heard of such a case before and everyone should be able to receive the proper treatment. I was very relieved when I heard this answer.
The next thing I asked about was the age limitations for becoming a pilot. He didn’t know and had to search for the answer but eventually found it. He told me that the age requirement for becoming a pilot is twenty-one years old. He then said that the age limit is twenty-seven and a half. I really don’t know how long it’s going to take me to finish everything I need but I certainly hope I do it before I’m too old to begin training. I’m going to blast through everything as fast and efficiently as I can.
I recalled when I had first visited him and he told me that it would be good to have enlisted experience before becoming an officer. I was never really quite sure what he meant by that and asked him if he could elaborate upon it. He just told me that it would give me an understanding of what the demands upon enlisted soldiers are and what they have to work with and go through. Personally I’d prefer to have this kind of experience but I’m still not sure how I’m going to approach attempting to join.
After this I wanted to know a little bit more about becoming an officer and the different ways to do so. The first thing he mentioned to me was the BOOST (Broadened Opportunity for Officer Selection and Training) program which as far as I understand is a preparatory program for enlisted personnel who desire to go to college but are educationally deprived or not yet at college level. I’m not sure why he mentioned this program to me considering it is only available to enlisted personnel while currently you need fifteen college credits to even enlist in the USMC. I guess that’s something I couldn’t hear and missed but I don’t think I’ll have to worry about it very much because I doubt I’ll have need of this program.
I soon asked him about programs that actually pay for your college education and he told me about the PLC (Platoon Leaders Course). From what I’ve gathered about this program it is open to most college students regardless of if you’ve ever served in the military. You attend summer training to help prepare you for becoming a Marine and the length is dependant on your year in college. I believe that most colleges even give you credit for completing this program. You can also receive tuition assistance however until you do accept the assistance you are not required to serve in the USMC. Once you graduate you then have the chance to serve as a second lieutenant provided you meet the requirements.
I then decided to ask what it would be like if I were to enlist immediately when I attained the minimum fifteen credits required but continued with college all the same. The recruiter then told me about another way to become a commissioned officer called MECEP (Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program). As I’ve understood this one you can apply at any enlisted rank but must be between the ages of twenty and twenty-six. You also have to score well enough on certain tests to qualify and once qualified you need to submit a package of all relevant records and documents to be accepted. You also have to submit an essay which even undergoes handwriting analysis. However if you are accepted your college classes will be fully paid for and you will go to school full time while still receiving active duty pay.
After everything else one of the only things left that I wanted to know was about the contract that you sign when you join. My questions were specifically about your MOS (Military Occupation Specialty). For those who don’t know your MOS is basically your job title and in the military they are broken down into fields each with their own numbers and every job under that specific field also has its own numbers. If you want to learn more you can go here.
I’ve heard many things from many people; some of it contradictory. Some have told me that you don’t get to choose your MOS while others have said that they would never sign their contract if their MOS wasn’t in it. I have additionally heard that it can be very hard to change your MOS (such as working your way up from enlisted to officer so you can become a pilot). When I asked my recruiter about this he told me that it usually isn’t hard to change your MOS. He further explained to me that you do get to select which field you want to work in but how you perform on certain tests determines which specific job in that field you get assigned to. He continued by saying that he wasn’t sure on the exact process for officers but that the Officer Selection Office knew everything I could want to know about this sort of thing since I wanted to be a pilot and thus would be required to be an officer. My father also told me that the top 10% of each class in TBS (The Basic School) gets to choose their MOS themselves but I’m not sure how true this is as I have not personally confirmed it.
The final question I was going to ask him I nearly forgot to do so. Once a few years ago I knew a guy who was in the Army and told me that once you sign the contract any original work you create would be the property of the Army. For example if you were to write a book while in the Army they would own it. I wanted to know how true this was or if there was any basis to it at all. He remarked that he had never heard anything about that and he did not recall anything similar to that being in the contract but that he would have to re-read it to be sure. Another answer that gave me some relief considering I do also want to be a writer.
Finally as I no longer had anymore questions to ask he told me to call him back as soon as I had the minimum fifteen credits required and then he would give me the number to the Officer Selection Office who would be able to better answer a number of my questions. I kind of wish I could ask them about these sorts of things right now however patience isn’t an issue for me. I really don’t know if I want to enlist as soon as possible and then work towards officer and pilot or just go straight for officer and pilot from the start but I have plenty of time to decide. For now all I need to do is get to work.
There are other options and programs to become an officer in the USMC though the two mentioned here (PLC and MECEP) are the most likely ones for me. To see other programs and learn more visit these links:
To learn more about PLC (Platoon Leaders Course) visit these links:
To learn more about MECEP (Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program) visit these links:
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