He has about 60 hours of college credit, but ended up flunking out because he couldn't seem to get himself to class most of the last 2 semesters.  He got dumped by a girlfriend a year ago, and it messed him up more than it should have.  He spent 2 years on a church mission when he was 19-21, serving in Mexico.  He is fluent in Spanish.

Since quitting school last fall he has worked manual labor jobs.  He called me last night saying that he had been speaking with a Marine recruiter, and is going to MEPS this weekend for some type of testing.

Assuming he signs on the dotted line, what is a 24 year old in for?  I told him that he would likely be the "old man" as a recruit.  He is in decent shape, and played college football as a wide receiver for a season a couple of years ago.  I told him that he may as well start running and doing pull ups right now...

He will have an oppurtunity to stand out and become the "guide" of the platoon, if they see he has the maturity level, Most times the guide gets promoted upon graduating boot camp, this will help him in a big way.

Start running, start doing pull ups, depending on when he leaves for boot, have him work with a recruiter on drills/marching , they use to have poolee meetings when I was in (20 + years ago). If he can learn that stuff before going in, he'll be ahead of the game and trust me, it will benefit him in every way.

Drill instructions will recognize him being older and will probably lean on him to help out with the rest of the platoon ,even if he doesnt become guide, he will probably be squad leader. The guide is the person incharge of the platoon when the drill instructors are away, they are the leader that helps keep the platoon from fucking up.

Ahem, former guide speaking here.

 

No they will do none of those things and more. I was 27 when I went in 2011 to good ol MCRDPI no fucks were given to my age the only way they care about ones age is if they do not act it. I still got hazed just as much as everyone else did. now a days the only way they care about guides and squad leaders is if you can drill at least that is how it was in most of the platoons I saw, they do change em from time to time to people who actually deserve it but most of it is all based on drill the tallest mother fucker will be guide at first itll be the one with the highest IST on black friday.



Now to the OP does youe son have a degree? or was all that schooling for nothing?  He could rate a Meritorious PFC based on schooling. Also make sure he does his research all the way on everything to make sure he isnt going to get screwed over, figure it like a job interview because thats what all of this is up until you hit the FMF. The beginning is the only point at which you can negotiate for what you want. I wanted the 02 field and I wasnt going to ship until I had a job in the 02XX/26XX field.



When he gets to MCRD which ever one hes going to its mentally tough and physically demanding, its the hardest yet easiest thing ive ever had to do. Hard because everything is demanded and expected of you, easy because all you have to do is what you are told and it makes everything all that much easier. it goes by pretty quick first phase you're getting acclimated to boot teaching you how to be a recruit, second phase you work on shooting, and third phase they work on getting you the hell off the island pretty simple and quick.

Sounds advice.  I don't know if the age will help a whole lot, but hopefully his age will allow him to process all the crap faster than the 18 year olds.  He needs to remember that once you step on those yellow boot prints, nothing you did before then matters.  Everyone, regardless of age or eduction, starts exactly at zero.  The better physical shape he is in, the better.  Learning to run in running shoes is good; learning to run in boots is better.

Best of luck to him, and I guarantee he will come out of it a better man.

Thanks for the feedback.

I am optimistic that this will help him get a better focus on what he wants to do with his life.

What is he in for? Four years of being called "Grandpa", that's what.

After that much college, he should wait and do OCS between his Junior and Senior years. You can graduate from it and still not have a service obligation if he changes his mind.

He wont be an old man recruit. When i went we had guys that were 29-30 years old. The Drill instructors dont give a fuck about your age. Some of mine were in their low to mid 20's. None of them joined at 18 which blew my mind how they can pick up Sgt in that little time but i guess if you have an MOS with retarded low cutting score...

Regardless hes going to get fucked up, but in a good way. Maybe not as much as they used to, because i think now i saw they have fucking rubber mats on the quarterdeck and they gotta walk around with Incentive training flash cards while they beat you down. Who knows, but either way i would recommend Enlisted over Officer any day. You get the full experience (good and bad) of the Marine Corps.

I was in my mid-twenties when I joined.  I was mostly in shape when I went in, meaning I could easily "pass" the PT test.  Just passing, isn't good enough, as I later learned.  By the end of boot camp, I was a first class PFTer, nearly all of us were because we had to.  I wished I had quit smoking earlier.  Everyone is, for the most part, treated equally, like a boot ass, know-nothing, nasty civilian, bad habit, RECRUIT.  Anything that has any value in life is earned.  The Marine Corps makes you earn every privilege.  Our Guide was a brick.  Strong as an ox farm kid that could shoot and had a big voice, that was all the DIs wanted and needed.

Don't be, this will change his life for the better.  

I am also a former guide. As said above, they won't give a shit about his age and treat him equally but they will also build him up so that by the time he's done he'll know there is nothing on God's green earth that he can't accomplish.

YUT!!

A whole lot of fun...Congrats to you

Lol also tell him to be prepared to be treated like a child for a while when he hits the fleet. I'm running up on 30 and haven't picked up cpl yet because our cutting score is in the 1650's until I got switched into this new command I was treated like a child because most of the other junior marines were significantly younger than yours truly. One can only hope I pick up by August.

Before it's over he'll wish he had passed college instead of failing out.  For future reference, failure is not an option for him now.  The sooner he realizes that, the shorter boot camp will be (that is, he won't be dropped back and half to repeat it).

Drill Instructors are NEVER "away"!  

He's going to be joining a "peacetime" Marine Corps so it will be a lot stricter and a lot more "mickey mouse".  

What's his MOS going to be?  Make sure he gets a guarantee for it before he signs the contract.  And by "guarantee" that means at least he will be sent to training for that job but NOT a guarantee he will actually be assigned to that position.

But there WILL be more chances for him to work on personal development.  He will be able to go to school on the gubmint's dime (if congress doesn't completely fuck over the Post 9/11 GI Bill) and will get some great MOS training.

If his recruiter is on the ball, he should be taking them out on weekends to school them on the Marine Corps culture and pt'ing their asses off.  If he's not, recommend your son do a lot of cardio and upper body work.  PT in the Corps is a religion, it's why they are who they are.

I have a Handbook for Marines if you want it, just PM me your addy.

I think he's in for an ass whipping.
He will probably do fine, hate it, not re-enlist, and be a better person when he gets out.
Just like most of us.

I forgot about this thread, with all that has gone on with my son.   As with most of his life there was "more to the story" that took a while to come out.

His desire to enlist was due to getting a girl pregnant.   They went to a JP and got married, and he reports to MCRD San Diego on April 28.   I won't get into the issue of him deciding to marry, but at least he is, in his way, trying to change his life direction now that he has a wife with a baby on the way.

Thanks again to all of you for your comments and insight.   I did the best that I could with this kid, and leave it to The Corps to do what I could not.  

Semper Fi.

I wish him the best!

4073

If he decides to go to the grunt field, tell him to be ready to be treated as a child and to have 19 year old team leaders to be in his face all the time. For his sake, I hope he's like the one half of the older than average Marines. The older guys are either great Marines, or they are straight up terrible. Never a big in-between.

Update.

We received an envelope addressed in our son's handwriting that included a form letter from his company commander and some pamphlets about Family Day and places to stay when his company graduates in July.  No letter from him, though.   I suspect that his first officially allowed letters home willl follow this week.

Inside the flap of the envelope was micro writing from my son, expressing love and appreciation for his family.  It ended with a post script:

There is no God here!