quote:
Marine JAG is the real deal -same training as the grunts. All the other JAG trainings are different than enlisted. I was recruited and did interviews but I felt it was too much of a time suck after graduation.

let's not get carried away. you go to OCS and the Basic School all together, and, yes, TBS is 26 weeks of basic infantry tactics. so in that sense, you get the same training as the grunts. but after that careers diverge dramatically, with the the infantry guys go to Infantry Officers Course, and then off to their unit where literally all they do is train, and the JAGs going to the legal course and then on to their duty station where they will work as lawyers.

to the OP - you sound like you are a conservative or, at least, not a woke mind-virus infected do-gooder like so many lawyers are these days. so with that in mind, yeah, absolutely, we can use you in the Marine Corps now more than ever. that said, i can almost guarantee you that within the first week weeks or months of being at your first duty station, you will see things that boggle the mind in a legal sense. and you will almost certainly be pressured to bend ethically and morally based on what a commander wants you to do. you will be asked to prosecute and/or separate good, career Marines based solely on feelings and accusations. POTUS2024 summarized it pretty succinctly above. the SJA / JAG world is a cesspool of backbiting and selling out, and it takes a truly strong individual to navigate that community successfully.

that said, a handful of my very close friends are Marine attorneys, and they are as morally and ethically sound as they come. i mean these guys are rock solid, and they have repeatedly refused to bend to the political / cultural winds. in a lot of ways, they are the figurative FPL (which you'll learn about at TBS).

if you're ready to become a Marine officer and want to actually fight for something, then be aware that as a JAG, you will be fighting against the current political winds inside the institution more than the enemies of the nation, at least in a literal sense. ultimately, of course, the idea would be to strengthen the moral and ethical resolve of the Corps which WOULD fight the nation's enemies, but that's pretty nebulous. it's an ugly time to join an ugly MOS, but to borrow from the saying - hard times create strong men.

ask yourself what your intentions are. even if you only intend to do 4-8 years and then get out, which is perfectly acceptable, are you willing to get in and get nasty and fight for what's right for those 4-8 years? if so, we need you. badly.

are you looking to just shoot some machine guns in Quantico then serve 4-8 years to pad your resume with some military law experience before going into private practice and you hope to just quietly serve your time without ruffling feathers? well then, honestly, you should seek employment elsewhere.

and seriously, start capitalizing "Marine" before you piss someone off.