re: Does anyone here have a son who recently joined the Marines?

Insist he at least look at Navy ROTC Marine Corps Option
navy.mil Matine ROTC Option
Has he applied to any universities and did he apply for ROTC scholarships? If not, he is kinda late to just begin those but could get in somewhere and move in Spring semester. Hard to believe waiting til last minute to explore path forward with a good student.

Why not one of the academies? Is he not wanting to do more schooling?

I know several that enlisted and then went to school later and became officers. One friend retired a colonel going that route.

Recruiter likely won't be help w O route. (Unless things have changed since mid 90s)
The Navy ROTC dept at a nearby Univ or one he is already accepted to or interested in is probably best for officer track info.
Way back, as a HS Jr/Sr in 90s I almost got convinced by Matine recruiter that best path to O was enlisted w him. Even had me training unofficially w recruits when still 16 to prep for boot camp. I figured it out on my own that ROTC was my preferred path and recruiter was zero assist from that point just wanted me to fill his enlistment qouta.
Too late for academy route for this Fall but ROTC will likely still accept him as a non contract cadet probablu just have to compete for scholarship for later semesters.

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They’ll probably start the Iran draft soon anyway so we’ll all be going

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I'm ready!

It can be a great experience for a lot of people but can also be absolute hell for others. A lot of the kids who enlist in the USMC do it because they have no other options and don’t know what they want to do with their life. It’s why the demographics of enlisted USMC skews heavily towards kids who come from working class/low-middle class backgrounds with weak family structures.

Since your son is well-versed academically, I’d try to convince him to look at one of the service academies. They’re extremely difficult to get into and there’s a lot of BS politics in the admissions process, but you’re basically guaranteed a career in the military if you get accepted to one of them.

2012-2016, 4.5 years here.

Your son sounds a lot like I did coming out of HS. I'll say this, all of these people talking about how the conditions in the USMC are the worst of all branches - they're right. It's also why we consider ourselves to earn a Title, have the esprit de corps we have, and why Marines worldwide celebrate our Birthday like no other branch does.

I could've had the shiny instead of flat black, but I learned so much about myself through Parris Island that I don't think I ever could have through OCS. There are always options to go mustang if he decides to, such as MECEP (which is awesome from all I know that went through it), but I wouldn't trade my boot camp experience for anything.

If your son is set on being Marine, that's probably about the end of that conversation. There are lots of benefits to joining the other branches, from quality of life to enlistment bonuses; however, for most of us Marines it's about that Title and brotherhood we share.

Semper Fi to my brothers in here, and to your son if he decides to join our gun club and complete recruit training.

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Tell him to ask to be an Embassy Guard(MSG). It’s probably the best kept secret in the military.

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Only possible after the first enlistment.

And even then, that gets iffy based on needs of the Corps with world events.

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Only possible after the first enlistment. And even then, that gets iffy based on needs of the Corps with world events.

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Nah man they changed it. You can go in right after SOI now. They beefed up a lot of the embassies after Benghazi.

I worked as a contractor in Niger for a while. In the old days a post like that would have like 7-8 MSG Marines but they had I think about 14. So they had to expand the pool.

I kept in touch with some of those guys and when they finished their MSG tour and had to go back to the fleet they got a rude awakening

With his grades and ACT score, have him take a look at Navy Nuke school. He should be able to get a qualifying ASVAB score and it is the best paying job in the military when transferring back to the civilian world. Only thing is that will basically guarantee that he will be on a carrier unless he volunteers for sub duty.

My oldest just signed his second contract with the Marines. Past 6 years he’s seen a bunch. Lived in Cali, Hawaii, currently in Mobile and after this year becoming a drill instructor and moving to SCar. He’s enjoyed his time in.