Enlisting and ROTC -

My spider sense, reading between the lines, is finances. As already stated.

I would STRONGLY figure this piece out. Honestly, you are taking quite a gamble whith this, counting in this being your best route to becoming an officer. @MidCakePa hit the mail on the head…if you lack “finish and focus”, the officer piece will never become an option for you. And if it doesn’t, do you still want to serve??

My oldest was unable to pass a DODMERB, disqualifying medical surgery issues. He rerouted, joined the Guards, and had his college paid for. He LOVES his job. Has since graduated college, drills one weekend a month in an assessment job, and has a well paying civilian career.

He couldn’t be an officer. You may not, either. Keep that in mind!! You may not be who OCS (or whatever xxx officer program) selects. You may not clear a medical exam. You may not have academics that your competition does. It’s NOT a given, although you speak as if it is. I’m not trying to rain on your parade, but am trying to point out that there are still SIGNIFICANT pieces left to becoming an officer.

Maybe you are a dreamer, and this indecisiveness is only expressed here on a safe, anonymous forum (although nothing is truly anonymous…). Perhaps you don’t present yourself this way IRL. IDK. But ‘focus and finish’ is great advice.

I suspect this next year for you will be a clarifying one. You will be able to evaluate yourself in an academic, military and competitive environment that you haven’t yet been able to. And see what/who is your competition. ‘Focus and finish’ strong, and THEN you can adapt and evaluate your next course of actions.

But you really need to keep you eyes forward, and focus on school. Routing for you to have a successful year. How many more days until you leave???
 
justdoit19 said:
My spider sense, reading between the lines, is finances. As already stated.

I would STRONGLY figure this piece out. Honestly, you are taking quite a gamble whith this, counting in this being your best route to becoming an officer. @MidCakePa hit the mail on the head…if you lack “finish and focus”, the officer piece will never become an option for you. And if it doesn’t, do you still want to serve??

My oldest was unable to pass a DODMERB, disqualifying medical surgery issues. He rerouted, joined the Guards, and had his college paid for. He LOVES his job. Has since graduated college, drills one weekend a month in an assessment job, and has a well paying civilian career.

He couldn’t be an officer. You may not, either. Keep that in mind!! You may not be who OCS (or whatever xxx officer program) selects. You may not clear a medical exam. You may not have academics that your competition does. It’s NOT a given, although you speak as if it is. I’m not trying to rain on your parade, but am trying to point out that there are still SIGNIFICANT pieces left to becoming an officer.

Maybe you are a dreamer, and this indecisiveness is only expressed here on a safe, anonymous forum (although nothing is truly anonymous…). Perhaps you don’t present yourself this way IRL. IDK. But ‘focus and finish’ is great advice.

I suspect this next year for you will be a clarifying one. You will be able to evaluate yourself in an academic, military and competitive environment that you haven’t yet been able to. And see what/who is your competition. ‘Focus and finish’ strong, and THEN you can adapt and evaluate your next course of actions.

But you really need to keep you eyes forward, and focus on school. Routing for you to have a successful year. How many more days until you leave???
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8 Days Remaining
 
novanews76 said:
for example - my physical fitness, I've been working on it, and when I go to Norwich, that will be the main goal
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The above is a red flag to me (in addition your "ridiculous indecisiveness"). You have been planning for quite some time to become a Marine, either enlisted or NROTC-MO. You are going to report to Norwich soon and you are not in great shape yet? Honestly, you've had plenty of time to prepare. You should have been working on this all summer at a minimum and had planned to report in great shape, not plan to focus on it when you get to Norwich. It's so important as a Marine to be in great shape and be able to score extremely well on fitness tests. Not to mention that showing up in great shape is one less thing to worry about with everything else you will be dealing with.

I truly wish you well, but I will echo the remarks from others and say that you need to choose a path and focus. You have chosen a path (I think) with Norwich and NROTC-MO. Focus on that path and put everything you have into being successful.

You won't become a successful officer if you continue to behave like a squirrel on steroids chasing every shiny object that comes into view...
 
Lets forget the military Lets say you want to become the president of Apple

You have two different ways of getting in. The first way is to start working in the mail room (assuming they still have those) and work your way up. Or you can get a degree in computer science and enter Apple as a computer engineer. Which way is the more direct and fastest route? You could get a job in the mailroom for several years advance and then get a degree in computer science. Do you think you will be a better computer engineer because you worked in the mailroom ?
 
If Apple has a generous package that has them paying for college, the mailroom doesn’t sound like a bad place to start at 18 years old. Provided I didn’t have a better avenue to pay for school.
 
"Eyes in the boat" is definitely what you need to be doing. You have 8 days. Not much time. But it is time to make peace with the decision you finally made. Attend Norwich, dig in, dig deep, and focus. You have to adjust to being in college, training with a military contingent, being away from home, you name it, and the list goes on.

Focus on that. One day at a time. Stop looking so far down the road, it's time to be laser-focused on your soon-to-be day-to-day tasks. You have had some very patient and valuable SAF forum members give you sage advice, for a few years.

Time to stop asking, stop seeking alternate paths. If you don't commit to the decision you made, and fast, you won't succeed. Turn off the forum, knowing we all wish you success, and check back in after the second semester ends in May and let us know how it went.

Eyes in the boat.
 
Small Team Bacsi said:
And another word of friendly advice. Don’t be the freshman that shows up at norwch the first week and gets known as the guy who is already trying do a another application and go somewhere else.

Any where else
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I'll enjoy it while I'm there... I don't want to act like I'm trying to escape
 
I'm not going to question your current physical state but I will remind you that you've been on here since Oct of 2020 which is over a year and a half and early on you stated that you were concerned about your physical status and a number of folks gave you specific advice to get better. If you aren't in shape now, then when do you think you will be? with this much lead time, there is no reason that you should be on any remedial PT. At this point you should be ready to score at least above average if not better.
 
Old Enlisted Marine said:
If Apple has a generous package that has them paying for college, the mailroom doesn’t sound like a bad place to start at 18 years old. Provided I didn’t have a better avenue to pay for school.
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yes, but what if Apple only gives out 2 scholarships every year and there are 50 people in the mailroom? Also, you get good grades but arent a 4.0 student.
 
Humey said:
yes, but what if Apple only gives out 2 scholarships every year and there are 50 people in the mailroom? Also, you get good grades but arent a 4.0 student.
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Lets forget Apple. Lets say you want to become a commissioned officer but don’t have the funds for college. ALL enlisted after 90 days active duty become eligible for Post 9/11 GI bill. Which is a great package!

example: Jonny Kim
- Enlisted Navy Seal , commissioned officer, physician and NASA astronaut he is only 38 years old. I bet we see more from him too!

There are numerous others I can name. The only thing I am saying is going enlisted first isn’t a bad idea.I am against loans if there is other options.

Just to clarify I do not endorse what was being asked in the beginning of this thread. It is a bad idea to try to both enlist and try to commission at the same time.
 
Old Enlisted Marine said:
Lets forget Apple. Lets say you want to become a commissioned officer but don’t have the funds for college. ALL enlisted after 90 days active duty become eligible for Post 9/11 GI bill. Which is a great package!

example: Jonny Kim
- Enlisted Navy Seal , commissioned officer, physician and NASA astronaut he is only 38 years old. I bet we see more from him too!

There are numerous others I can name. The only thing I am saying is going enlisted first isn’t a bad idea.I am against loans if there is other options.

Just to clarify I do not endorse what was being asked in the beginning of this thread. It is a bad idea to try to both enlist and try to commission at the same time.
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yes, but that is a financial reason. You cant afford college so you enlist and then you the GI bill. In that case, of course, its a great way to go. But you could try to get a Rotc scholarship also to pay for your college.
 
Humey said:
yes, but that is a financial reason. You cant afford college so you enlist and then you the GI bill. In that case, of course, its a great way to go. But you could try to get a Rotc scholarship also to pay for your college.
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The OP states in this thread

“And... if I'm being completely honest... Tuition Assistance as a Reservist would help a lot, and cover the complete costs of the rest of my education that I owe.”

That is why I am referencing Finacial Reasons.
 
I get the impression candidates think that they can do 2-3 years and get picked up right quick for an officer program.

Some do get picked up on the first enlistment, and they are very few. Feels like there's a bunch at USNA, but a couple hundred is really a tiny number.

More likely, it takes some 6-8 years to finish a degree while juggling family, personal, and operational commitments, and maybe another 2 years to finally get picked up for a program on the second try.

Planning to enlist first and commission later ends up being much later. At that point it might not happen at all.

Pretty sure an O-3 paying student loans is still making more an an E-5, and has the same TA and GI bill. If you have an opportunity be be an officer, take it.
 
more and more young people are joining the guard and reserve after high school or even after starting college, the biggest advantage being the GI Bill and the extra paycheck. It is also a huge plus when applying for acceptance into the Marine Commissioning Track out of NROTC as well as for ROTC scholarships. Most prior enlisted officers I have have known are great leaders because they understand how the other side lives, don't pretend to know me until you have walked a mile in my shoes.
 
Well I have to say I did just what you did. I enlisted at 17 went into the Marine Corps Reserve as an 0311 and went to Norwich. You would be attached to B Co 1/25 in NH. At the time there were many of us. Is it hard to do? No. Keep your grades up PT and you'll do fine. Now if you accept a contract for MO that is attached to money I believe they will make you get out of the reserves (discharge) because you are now getting money from the Navy. What most don't understand is that Norwich requires every cadet to enroll in ROTC getting a commission doesn't matter. Did it make me a better officer? I'd say yes. Having a perspective from the enlisted ranks now that you are commissioned can shape your leadership style. The other thing it did was money. My Pay entry base date started and did not stop so when all the other Lts were getting paid as an 01 under 2 years of service I was maxing out the pay scale and continued to do so. If you decide to stay for 20 years all that reserve time gets put into a formula and will be added to your retirement. I will say this.... I got hyper focused on the military aspect of the Norwich and the Marine Corps and my focus was not on grades. That was me, not all of my fellow reservists. I ended up doing 30 total years and retired. Semper Fi and Essayons.
 
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