Marines after USNA

[lovethenavy]

My son seemed very interested and animated when telling us that he thought he would like to choose to go into the Marines following his graduation from USNA. Being that I know zero about the Marine Corp, could someone explain, in layman's terms, what the mids do to select this and what types of career paths they could choose. I appreciate the information.

 

[asenopoulos]

Sure I can try! I've put some thought into this as well.

From USNA: (Very important as NROTC marine option is different.)

When one chooses Marine ground or Marine air as a path out of USNA, they DO NOT have to go through Marine OCS. They do however go to The Basic School (TBS), where all Marine Officers MUST go. That is a 26 week training I believe. Not as physically intensive but more on the academic side from what I have heard.

At the end of TBS, everyone will choose what MOS they want. Everyone ranks certain MOS's. Selections are given out in order on how well they perform in TBS.

Then they go into their MOS training!

 

[jtoye]

^From what my BGO told me classes at TBS are broken up into thirds to make sure their officer talent is evenly distributed throughout all MOS's. For example if a class has 300 2nd Lts then they are broken up 1-100, 101-200,201-300. They then let 1, 101, and 201 pick across the board. So instead of being 101st out of a class of 300, it is like being 1st out of a class of 100. It creates an interesting game for officers to play. USNA graduates have an advantage because they can arrive with a guaranteed aviation contract and not worry about the system in place.

edit: USNA Mid's don't go to OCS, but USNA Mid's interested in Marines go to Leatherneck for summer training, while NROTC MO Mid's go to Bulldog. I believe this occurs 2/c summer.

found this on google. http://www.usna.com/Document.Doc?id=581