My 20 year old daughter told me last night she is talking to a Marine recruiter and is going through the asvab/meps process this week. I retired from the Coast Guard and am somewhat familiar with the process but I have a few questions.

When do you choose your MOS, after boot camp or during the recruitment process?

Are there any current enlistment bonuses for certain MOS’s?

After boot camp when does specialty training (A-school for us Coasties)happen, and does she have input for the location of her first duty assignment?

Is the standard still 4 years active and 4 IRR?

Any other insight or guidance is welcome.

Ps. I’m going to try to talk her into the cushy life of the Air Force.

ETA. Is there a better forum for this?

Air Force would always be my recommendation for a woman - Navy second. I would never recommend any woman join the army or marines. They hate them in those services.

To your other questions, I believe that the USMC doesn’t care much what marines or recruits want. They go where the corps wants them to go and learn what the corps wants them to learn. That’s the general attitude.

Why though?

Why not be a Coastie?

NO. Discourage this.

I could write a book but I'll spare you. The enlisted ranks are no place for your little girl. Send her to college and ROTC.

Navy would be my last choice. I’ve seen how they treat their new apprentices. No thanks.

She is independent and wants her own identity.

That must be somthing new.

My office admin is a female ex navy and I had a class mate that worked her way up to chief before retiring and going to college.

They both loved the Navy

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the Marines the most homogenous group of the armed forces?

As in if you ask someone who served what they did, a marine will say...I was a marine.

Someone who served in a different branch would say, Army...I was airborne, cavalry, etc?

What MOS exactly did she plan on getting in the Marines?

I second your plan to have her try the Air Force. A little more easy going from what I have seen for enlistees. Unless your daughter is a tomboy, that Barbie girl attitude won't cut it in Marine RT.

But, the best option would be college and ROTC. I wish I had listened to my parents when I was 20.

I know my daughter. College is not in her future for now, she doesn’t want it.. I really think some form of military would be great for her (and so does she) at this point in her life. She wants this. I know the risks, as I said I hope to steer her towards the Air Force. Is there a recent Marine that can answer my questions.

She doesn’t have an MOS selected yet. She really wants to see the world good or bad.

The Marine Corps is awful, with terrible leadership from inept youth, and it's a beer-soaked T-laden frat house rife with risks for a female.

Still  far better, far better, than being a faceless employee supporting the zipper-suited golden boys of the Air Force or the cheap dumb disrespected labor of enlisted Navy service.

If your advice is "join the Air Force" or "go to ROTC," you're basically saying, "be a civilian."  If you want to be a fucking civilian, be a civilian.

Tell her good luck at PI and get out in four years.

I’ve seen it first hand and don’t like it.

Are you a Marine ? Do you have any insight to my original questions?

I've been a Marine and even a recruiter,  the particulars about contracting change all the time.

If she needs a job with benefits, she should look elsewhere.

If she is looking for the experience (and a job with benefits), the Marines might be a good idea.

She’s looking for more. I can’t stop her. But I will guide her.

Any current info on the recruitment process is appreciated.

I'd push hard for either a very technical/cyber security.. or an f35/newer airframe maintenance type MOS with the airforce. I can't speak for usmc, but the army was a shitty culture for females, and I'd assume it's pretty similar with them too. I wouldn't want a daughter in either of those branches.

Not a Marine, but I have served 16 years in the Army. Regardless of which branch she chooses, she needs to choose one that will enable her to learn a skill that will apply to the civilian world. The Army is ramping up credentialing opportunities for various MOS', (it may be DOD-wide, I don't know)...for example, 88M can get their CDL, 15 series can test for their A&P certification, the Signal and Crypto guys can get Microsoft certs, etc, etc.

its been a while since I went through the process but from what i recall,

Occupational fields are chosen at MEP's, so she would chose a field of interest, say communications, and according to the Needs of the Marine Corps, she could be anything from a radio operator to an electronic tech.  or transportation and be something that ranges from a mechanic to a drive .

I thought i signed up for EOD, but actually singed up for the explosives and ordnance field and became an ammo tech since only the Marines prohibit first term Members from doing EOD.

generally the Marines don't do enlistment bonus's.  The bonus is the title of Marine.

its around a 3 month bootcamp, followed by boot leave, followed by i think 2 to 4 weeks of combat training at Camp Gieger NC, and upon graduation, then you go to your MOS school which can range anywhere from a couple months to a year.

enlistment should be the 4 and 4.

And as others have mentioned, i would highly suggest your daughter avoiding the Marines. as a male, Life as a Junior Marine blows. In additional to all the basic run of the mill fuck fuck games, your daughter is going to be surrounded by savages 24/7.

I don't regret my time in the Marines, but Damn... Shit is retarded

I suggest urging her towards the army, better quality of life, guaranteed MOS's, better deployment and school options.  its still retarded, but more so like that nice weird kid retarded that everybody likes vs that weirdo who everybody can see doing a mass shooting

Thanks for the info. I’m going to see her today and hopefully talk her into the Air Force.

The job selection should be after the asvabs to see what youll be qualified for.  And like m4hk33 said youll pick something and it doesn’t mean youll get it.  I did the same as m4 and picked eod, they placed me in aviation ordnance.

I actually enjoyed my time in (2000-2005 got out late cause of injury) and yes there id definitely shitty shit days. Women I worked with we’re treated a bit different as in they got easy stuff to do while the rest of us got crap jobs. Which in turn makes resentment towards the women.

Have her talk to the airforce recruiter before going to far if she hasn’t already just for more options and possibly a nice bonus ,  but if she really wants to go Marines then good luck and welcome to the family

I spent five years in the Marine Corps.    I never regretted it but I discourage people that I love from joining.    BUT if I knew that I was going into harm's way then I would only want to go as a Marine.   We did some things there that I am immensely proud of.    And had I known where my squadron was going after I left then I probably never would have left.

I served in the Air Wing so I worked around WM's (Woman Marines) and they often did the same jobs that we did.   The problems arose when they failed.   If a WM failed to do a job it wasn't because they weren't capable.  It was because leadership failed to train and guide them properly.    Some times operation tempo was on the frenzied side so we didn't always have time to work on new training techniques.   So the leadership made sure to find things that the WM's could do, which often ended up being the paper type jobs under direct supervision of the OIC (officer in charge).    One time we had a WM try to remove a load bearing bolt from an air-frame.   Her thought process was that if she inserted her finger into the hole from the other side, as she removed the bolt, she could keep the pieces lined up.    I cannot begin to understand how a person could not see that this would go badly so many different ways.   Yet, she was expected to work along side of us and not get hurt or killed or us hurt or killed in an already dangerous environment.   Now, don't get me wrong, some WM's could do the job and do it well.   I don't know of anyone that had issues working with a WM that could do the job.    The problem is not being able to remove the ones that couldn't.   I understand the mission that HQ wanted us to complete.    They wanted us to figure out a way to make it work.    Figure out a way to train everyone and anyone to do the job that we were doing.    Eventually it will happen but we weren't able to complete that mission while completing the others at the same time.   Does that make the leadership bad?    By the standards of the era, no.   But today they might be judged differently.

Sexual assault is supposed to be pretty common in the military.   I cannot recall any specific issues from my service but the amount of booze that was consumed pretty much guaranteed that it would happen.   I was assigned to MCAS New River, right next door to Camp Geiger mentioned above.    The ratio of Male to Female Marines at the time was probably 50 to 1.    And a lot of these Marines were fresh out of High School so they weren't the most mature bunch to begin with.    Get them through boot camp, booze them up, and turn them loose in an environment where one of the few WM's gives a guy a little attention and then rejects him,  what could happen?

We did have an issue out in the desert once.   We had some guys that had done some drinking and thought that it would be funny (and possibly get a peak) if they made sprints unexpectedly through the WM's quonset hut.   Well on their third pass through they got a surprise.   The WM's had posted a watch and once the guys got in, they couldn't get out.   The WM's fell upon them with the ends from their cots and beat the living crap out of them.    There was an investigation but I think everyone dropped it.    Although the guys were in an authorized area it was decided that the WM's were not authorized to use force to resolve the issue.    I think the guys got the worst of it as some of them were seriously injured.    No one messed with the WM's for a while after that.   Would the unauthorized sprints be considered sexual harassment?

As for leadership, I don't know about the experiences of the poster above but we did have pretty good leadership in the squadrons that I was assigned.   I cannot recall any time that we left other Marines hanging in harm's way.   I know that our squadron pushed beyond the envelope that policy and procedures allowed to support the Marines that needed us be it medevacs, resupply, or reinforcements.    We were reputed to be one of the Go To squadrons around when things needed to get done.   I believe that we completed every aviation based mission that we were assigned while I was there.   A few were a pretty serious challenge though.

If your daughter joins the Marines then I really believe that she will have to watch herself carefully throughout her entire career.   It could be the best decision that she could ever make or the worst decision of her life.    It will all depend on her.   She could do everything perfectly and still become a victim, be permanently disabled, or be discriminated against.   How she handles that would make or break her.

Let me know if I can help.

2Hut8

Hell of a lot better than the marine corps does.

ETA I’m a retired Senior Chief.

I think that it depends on the unit.    The grunts (infantry) can be very hard on their new guys.   But considering what they go through, I can understand wanting to ensure that the guy beside you can live up to your expectations.    The Air Wing tends to be different.   Yes, the new guys deal with a bit of "hazing" for lack of a better word but everyone in my units seemed to understand that the sooner that we got new guys up to speed the faster they could begin carrying part of the load.

All branches of service have their strong points and their weak points.    I spent fourteen months deployed about naval ships.    One thing that I saw in the Navy that I didn't see in the Marine Corps was some pretty severe attitude problems.   Some times guys were punished, some not.   When I was aboard the USS WASP, I served a couple of weeks of mess duty.   There I was assigned to the bake shop.    There was a PO-2 in charge and he had some say in what was made in the bake shop and what was not.   He would avoid making things that people liked because when he did, he had to make more of it.   It was common knowledge and I personally heard him say that when he explained what we were making.   More than once we didn't make what we were supposed to make.   Personally, I think that Navy would be better off if all of their ranks ate the same food.    Instead the officers might be eating steak on china while the enlisted men are eating semi-warm hamburgers or hot dogs on steel trays.   And the guys cooking the food don't eat it either.   They make whatever they want for themselves.

All the messes on a ship eat the same food, officers, Chiefs and junior enlisted. Yes, the cooks often cook food for themselves but they’re not really supposed to.

The Wasp has been a shithole for decades, since commissioning probably.

I appreciate everyones input. We talked today and discussed the pros and cons of all the services, with the helpful input from here, and she is hell bent on becoming a Marine. I’ll do my best to prepare her for the challenges that lay ahead.

Even though not my first choice, I think it’s a good decision for her, where she is at in her life.

LOL.   Well the WASP was a whole lot better than the first ship that I was on, the USS INCHON.   Now THAT ship was a shithole.   Literally.

They couldn't keep the plumbing for the heads functional to save their lives....    But I think that I am showing my age.

OP, I suspect that you may have already answered this but is there any chance that you can get your daughter to join the Marines AFTER she gets a college degree?

Being air wing we had a lot of interaction with our officers and as a general rule, they at tried to act more mature than the enlisted men.   Most them at least considered the ramifications of doing stupid things before they tried to do them.

are the standard arms still m9 and m4? what optic on the m4? we will be doing some training in the coming weeks.

ETA; I have an M9 and M4forgery. and I can hopefully upgrade my optic.

If your daughter wants to see the world and do it professionally, then Naval Aviation is the way to go.

Ergo, if she should end up as an aircrew sensor operator in a P-8 squadron (I'm an old P-3C E5) , the sea duty is such that she'll never set foot on a boat or ship, and she'll be on dry land after every mission.  We used to be called AW's, but now they seem to call all aircrew AW's so some investigation will be needed.

But I can tell you that the best mix of enlisted/professional/male-female professions are in the VP Navy.

having talked further with  her. she really wants this.

I recommend an MOS with a high ASVAB score requirement, and/or an MOS with a marketable skill, e.g., air traffic controller, UAV operator, signals intelligence, translator, etc.

OP, I admire. your daughter.  She respects you enough to discuss it with you, obviously she loves you and values your input.  She is also strong enough to make her own decision and live her life on her terms.   I wish you both well.
As someone who has had adult kids (4), just love her dude.  No matter what decision she makes let her see you support her 100%.

This. Boot camp the drill instructors will either make her or break her at boot camp either in California or at the Island "Parris Island". I wish her good luck if she wants to continue on becoming a Marine.

You have a choice of contracts but YMMV. I signed an infantry contract, got injured at boot and got reclassed into a GSE technician.
Tell her not to join the Marines. I'ma be totally honest, most of my brothers are more interested in sleeping with female Marines than serving with them.

I went in in 2006.
The SOP change every so often so it might not be like it was when I went in.
And I don't know hoe POGs do things.

When I went in, You had the opportunity request an MOS.
If I wanted to be an Infatry Rifleman (0311), the recruiter requested MOS 0300 (basic infantryman).
After boot camp, go to ITB (for infantry), and there you have the opportunity to select which 03 field you'd like to be in. Nothing is guaranteed, except for 0311 mostly once you're in ITB...if you can't make it in the other 03 MOSs (meeting IQ reqs and passing the written tests, along with whatever physical tests there may be) .

I recall some guys in boot who had a guaranteed MOS field given they could meet the requirements or something. I think they were some reservists. I don't remember. I never kept track of how POGs did things other than make it through boot camp - go to SOI, and then go to whatever school is for their MOS.

The other option is open contract. Basically the Corps will tell you what you will be. If she wants to go in the Marines, it's best for her to decide now rather than later, because if she waits too long, the slots for that MOS might fill up and she would either have to look at other MOSs, or wait for the next rotation, or go in as open contract.

Tell her to go in the Air Force ! I wouldn’t have a problem with my daughter doing that at all . I’d do everything I could to stop her from going in the Marines!

Lots of mis-information on the recruiting process here....

The Marine Corps does not guarantee specific jobs (with rare exceptions).  The programs are bundled into occupational fields or things like Combat Arms.

So i could guarantee that someone could be "aviation support" (or whatever it was called) but that could be air traffic control or some other mundane air wing job.  Those get assigned during boot camp or MCT.

It all depends on how hard the recruiter and ops work to get her what she is interested in AND QUALIFIED FOR.

<--------USMC Retired and did a tour on recruiting duty and was the NCOIC of a sub station.

Mind you I retired almost 25 years ago, after 24 years active duty. In fact the huge influx of females into the Corps occurred during my career.

I realize things have changes considerably, but; if you raised the girl to have a good responsible head on her shoulders she'll be fine!

Wish her my best!

Tell her to come post on here, after basic, and tell all of us to shut the fuck up... because she kicked asses and took names.

Either way it sounds like your ahead of the game. A lot of kids her age drink, smoke, vape, do drugs, and are pregnant.

If you were one you would understand.

Thank you for all of your insightful replies. She ships out in March and I’m very proud of her, especially considering what she has been through. She is now leaning towards an aviation MOS. What firearms are they training with at basic now? More specifically what optics?

I have a daughter, and I would steer her clear of the Marines.  I only served with one WM that was up to speed, and the rest of us protected her like she was our sister.  The other WMs seemed determined to either be a barracks whore or permanently on light duty.  Due to political correctness, the WMs have an entirely different set of expectations for performance and discipline.  The male Marines know this, and treat them accordingly.

She is doing physical training and it shows. I just want to do some firearms training with her as not only a training head start, but also as a bonding experience with her.

Then train her on an AR with iron sights. Shooting silhouettes 50-300 meters.

But like others have said, some physical training would be good. The Drills take care of everything.

That crap happens in all branches though...

When I was overseas on a small SOF camp (serving as a civvy) we had a 1-room DFAC that could seat 36 at a time. A single Army Sgt w/ 2 LN workers cooking. He was 3 months from getting out and didn't give a darn. His cooktop didn't work so he had a flat top and an oven. We begged him for a little variety because every meal was the same garbage. We had been sticking mostly to salad until worms and crap started showing up in the salad and a few people got sick. Then we stuck to cooked foods only. One day while combing through the retrograde yard we found one of the diesel fuel burner units from an MKU. We got it hooked up to 24V power for the igniter and controls, fueled it up, showed it to him and said, "Man, you can make us some pasta or something now!" His response, "Nah man, I don't know how to work that thing. I'm doing just fine without it." WFT? We just showed you how to work it, and no, you're not doing fine w/o it.

He got rotated out while I was there and the new guy, a private came in. We did the same demonstration and offer for him, he jumped at the chance and we had some really crappy spaghetti that night but you know what? That was the best crappy tasting spaghetti I've ever had. He did good for the food but I heard he got pulled away to somewhere else because he was turning out decent food...

One last anecdote... The best food I ever had in my 3 trips over there as a civvy was at this really isolated SOF camp that didn't even have a DFAC. They had a single PFC cooking out of a MKU and you ate in your room, the MWR room, or on a picnic table outside the MWR room. That guy was turning out some phenomenal food, using all the same ingredients that everybody else had to work with. We complimented him and made small talk about it. His passion is cooking and the first thing he did was put the Army meal-card in a drawer to never return during his trip. He actually put thought into his meals and would google some recipes and improvise when he was missing a certain ingredient etc. Pretty easy thing to do, but most only do the minimum, or in your case, the even defy doing the minimum just because they're sour.

If she wants to join and wants to choose an MOS, then she'd be better off outside the corps.  She'll get to put in a request, then the corps will send her wherever they want.

My brother joined four years before me, wanted to go infantry.  They agreed and promised (not in writing) all the way through boot, then made him avionics electronics.

My good friend was told the same.  After boot, he was a comms guy specializing in digging trenches for cables.

I joined the Army instead, was given infantry/airborne/Ranger Indoc Program in writing

That's sucks on your brother. Nothing worse for morale than a shady recruitment! Times have changed quite a bit in the Suck.
They've realized that retention is vital and have adjusted things to keep good NOCs & SNCOs.

In speaking with a local Recruiter, they do now offer specific a MOS choice dependent on ASVAB scores. Looking back 2 decades  I dont think I'd change a thing.

@surfaxel   How is she doing?

Old thread, but seems hard to believe OP could be retired military and have those questions. Old school USAF and sure as hell USMC = all your answers are the same = you don't get shit to say about any of it. You go where and do what they tell you, based solely on the needs of the service. Only exception is a pre-enlistment contract for the MOS you want, as long as you don't get DQd from it due to screwing up or failing tests.