DanG
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2001
- Posts
- 4,796
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- 10
I've mentioned before that I was pursuing a commission in the Marine Corps via the Platoon Leader Course for candidates still in college. I would have spent 10 weeks next summer at Quantico doing OCS and then received my commission after graduation and been sent (hopefully directly) to The Basic School.
However, I've decided to leave this upcoming summer free as I can still go to OCC after graduation, and this way I can go back to Israel next summer and learn Arabic which would be useful to the military.
Also, I'm now dead-set on serving as an infantryman or in one of the Special Operations units and there are more of those in the Army (Rangers, Special Forces, and Delta Force, from what I understand). The Army recruiter I talked to says that enlistees can now go straight to SFAS. I served a short year and a half in the IDF (the standard length for foreign volunteers) as an infantryman in the West Bank and I think my experience will be useful. It's also just what I want to do -- I don't want to be some desk jockey. Unfortunately, if I go into the Marines as an officer, I won't have much choice as to which MOS I'm assigned after finishing TBS.
So after that long introduction, my question is this -- can anyone suggest what I should be thinking about when it comes to considering which branch I should serve in? The Army recruiter told me that I can apply for OCS out of my MOS and will become an officer in the same field, but he's told me some questionable things before so I'm not sure I believe him. What specific questions should I ask? And does anyone know where I can find recruiters I'm more likely to be able to trust? All the recruiters I've encountered thus far (Army and Marines) are either shady, offer very bad advice (this Army recruiter suggested I drop out of my beloved college, enlist, and get a degree at Army University), disorganized, careless, or a combination of a bunch of these.
I've been training with an aim to be able to get a 300 on the Marines PFT (I can do 15 pull-ups now, up from 4-5 this summer) but I honestly don't know what my real chances would be for getting into the Special Forces (my top choice because of the language skills required).
I know there are a lot of people on Head-Fi who have served in some military branch or are currently serving, and any advice you offer will be highly appreciated. Thanks for your service and I look forward to any suggestions you provide.
However, I've decided to leave this upcoming summer free as I can still go to OCC after graduation, and this way I can go back to Israel next summer and learn Arabic which would be useful to the military.
Also, I'm now dead-set on serving as an infantryman or in one of the Special Operations units and there are more of those in the Army (Rangers, Special Forces, and Delta Force, from what I understand). The Army recruiter I talked to says that enlistees can now go straight to SFAS. I served a short year and a half in the IDF (the standard length for foreign volunteers) as an infantryman in the West Bank and I think my experience will be useful. It's also just what I want to do -- I don't want to be some desk jockey. Unfortunately, if I go into the Marines as an officer, I won't have much choice as to which MOS I'm assigned after finishing TBS.
So after that long introduction, my question is this -- can anyone suggest what I should be thinking about when it comes to considering which branch I should serve in? The Army recruiter told me that I can apply for OCS out of my MOS and will become an officer in the same field, but he's told me some questionable things before so I'm not sure I believe him. What specific questions should I ask? And does anyone know where I can find recruiters I'm more likely to be able to trust? All the recruiters I've encountered thus far (Army and Marines) are either shady, offer very bad advice (this Army recruiter suggested I drop out of my beloved college, enlist, and get a degree at Army University), disorganized, careless, or a combination of a bunch of these.
I've been training with an aim to be able to get a 300 on the Marines PFT (I can do 15 pull-ups now, up from 4-5 this summer) but I honestly don't know what my real chances would be for getting into the Special Forces (my top choice because of the language skills required).
I know there are a lot of people on Head-Fi who have served in some military branch or are currently serving, and any advice you offer will be highly appreciated. Thanks for your service and I look forward to any suggestions you provide.