Any reservists that can share some insight? I finished my graduate degree last year and lately I've been hearing the call louder every day. I plan on doing officer reserves. Has anyone had any experience with this?

I was not aware the USMC had a reservist. I was only aware of the US Army and the US Navy as having a reservist program. Did something change?

a quick search reveals there is such a program, news to me I never knew. Learn something new every day

The Marine Corps consists of 3 active divisions (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and 1 reserve division (4th). There are also the same number of air wings 3 + 1. It has been like this for quite some time.

a quick search reveals there is such a program, news to me I never knew. Learn something new every day

 

 

Matt- I'll drive you to the recruiter. It makes it easier to get a DOD job...

just spoke with a recruiter. To sum it up I pretty much have to get in shape. Who wants to work out with me? lol

If you are going the officer route, it's going to eat up a year or more of your time. You will go through the same training class as active duty. The one thing about Marines, there is no reserve specific initial training program. Everyone starts out the same (worthless until they prove themselves otherwise). Your officer candidate instructors are going to be battle hardened Gunnery Sergeants who will be absolutely ruthless in weeding out the weak and the incompetent. Your graduate degree or college knowledge won't matter to them if you can't make a sound tactical decision despite not having slept in days and exhausted in ways you can't even begin to imagine. Being in shape helps. Having something you can draw from when you've got absolutely nothing left in the gas tank helps more. The recruit training program and the officer candidates course is designed so that everyone hits a wall at some point or another. Some guys hit it on day one (right after getting on the yellow footprints) and surprisingly some guys hit it when the end is damn near. Whatever your current threshold for pain, I can guarantee you that it's nowhere near where it needs to be. I can only tell you what my recruiter told me right before dropping me off at MEPS in Philly, "Your body can take a lot more punishment than you think it can." Damn if he wasn't right.

 

As far as a reserve career goes, Marines train to the same doctrine. Period. The standards expected from a reserve unit is the same standard expected from an active duty unit. As a matter of fact, your unit SOP may be handed down from an active duty component that your unit is expected to attach to for deployment. I know from first hand experience that once in a combat zone, you can't tell a reservist from active duty. Also, there's that. Expect to deploy somewhere in the world. We have three wars going on right now. It's a busy time for the military...

 

So having said all this, I'll tell you what I ultimately learned from my military experience. It's not worth it to get killed for some politician's idea of foreign policy, nor is it worth killing for them. I did my absolutely best to get into the minds of the combatants we fought in Ramadi. Their prime motivation was that there were foreigners on their home soil dictating how they would live. They were no different than how I would react if a bunch of North Koreans landed on the Jersey shore and started running combat patrols in my town. I wouldn't care if they paid me a lot of money, opened up schools, or tried to educate me on the benefits of Communism, I'd fight them tooth and nail until one of us was dead.

 

I consider myself extremely lucky because I came back from Iraq with two things: my life and my humanity. There are Marines veterans that will probably end up killing themselves for the things they've done. I work with a lady in Philadelphia who had three combat vets living in her neighborhood in Northeast Philly that eventually committed suicide after being home for some time. Two were Marines.

 

Something to ponder when considering a military career.

Good Post Gunny, never have served and wish I had at one point or another as I get older but just wasn't to say thank you to you and the others who have.

 

Harry

Good Post Gunny, never have served and wish I had at one point or another as I get older but just wasn't to say thank you to you and the others who have.

 

Harry

 

Thanks Harry.

...

 

Something to ponder when considering a military career.

 

As someone who has never served, I can only say that this strikes me as very thoughtful and sincere advice. Thank you for your service and your insight.

 

-

Amen gunnyr.

They just built A real nice Marine Reserve center right by ECS 29 on Fort Dix