PLC but I won't meet the age requirements?

J

jtompp

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Hello everyone!

I am currently a junior in high school and I have been planning my way to becoming a pilot for the USMC. Part of my plan involves going to PLC during college to get a guaranteed flight contract. I want to do PLC in my freshman and sophomore year rather than the 10 weeks for junior year. However, when the summer of my freshman year hits, I will only be 19 years of age, when the requirement is 20. Is there a way around this or will I just have to do the 10 weeks in my junior year instead? Also, in PLC are the flight contracts competed for or are they just given out? I've heard they are competed for in NROTC and after OCS if there are any left but I have only read that you can "get" them at PLC..

Thank you!
 
You do know you can do PLC over the summer as a rising junior and rising senior, right? You would sign up for PLC during your sophomore year and start the following summer. So that's 6 weeks each and you're done before senior year. This is actually the normal path. I'm almost certain you can get flight contracts as a PLC participant. You could probably research this through google search to confirm.

You should also check out the USMC Commandant's Planning Guidance where he talks about getting rid of Marine Aviation. It's not clear how fast that would happen
 
I have been researching for years and I have never heard of PLC being split between junior and senior year, and thank you for this information I will look into it.
 
Also, you Only need to be 18 at the time of your application. Not sure where your idea of 20 came from. Look at the officer path on Marines.com
 
kinnem said:
You should also check out the USMC Commandant's Planning Guidance where he talks about getting rid of Marine Aviation. It's not clear how fast that would happen
Click to expand...

With due respect to #kinnem — In his CMC 38 Planning Guidance and Force Design 2030 reports, the CMC calls for reduction in Rotary and Tilt Rotor squadrons, decrease in VMFA (Hornet and Lightning) aircraft/squadron to 10, and an increase in Unmanned Aerial Please see pages 7-10 in Force Design for details.

From FD page 7:

Air Combat Element

• 18 active component fighter attack (VMFA) squadrons, with a reduction in the number of aircraft per squadron to 10

• 14 active component medium tiltrotor (VMM) squadrons (recommended divestment of 3 squadrons)

• 5 active component heavy lift helicopter (HMH) squadrons (recommended divestment of 3 squadrons)

• 5 active component light attack helicopter (HMLA) squadrons (divestment of 2 squadrons)

• 4 active component aerial refueler transport (VMGR) squadrons (increase of one squadron over current force)

• 6 active component unmanned aerial vehicle (VMU) squadrons (increase of three squadrons over current force)

From FD page 8:

“As described in Congressional testimony, our continued pilot shortfalls are a factor we must consider and either scale programs of record accordingly or implement a sustainable, affordable solution. Other Services face similar shortfalls. This issue has recruiting, training, and retention factors – as well as fiscal and industrial base factors – that we must consider in reconciling the growing disparity between numbers of platforms and numbers of aircrew.“

Given the perennial Marine Corps pilot shortage, it’s probably a good time to pursue a flight contract. Good luck.
 
jtompp said:
I have been researching for years and I have never heard of PLC being split between junior and senior year, and thank you for this information I will look into it.
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This can be a bit confusing. PLC can be two summer sessions of 6-weeks each (PLC Juniors and PLC Seniors) or one 6-week session (just PLC Seniors) depending on whether you are on scholarship or not. If you are on NROTC-MO scholarship you will only go to PLC Seniors between your Junior and Senior years of college. If you are not on ROTC-MO scholarship, but participating in ROTC-MO, you will need to apply for Advanced Standing, and if selected you would go to PLC Juniors the summer between Sophomore and Junior year and also take PLC Seniors the following summer between Junior and Senior year. PLC Senior is the same course for scholarship and Advanced Standing. Both PLC Jr and Sr are at Quantico.

Separate from PLC there is also OCS, which is a 10 week course at Quantico that happens after you graduate. You would apply for OCS if you have a college degree and decided you wanted to try to become a Marine Corps Officer, but did not do ROTC in college.
 
@Dadof2 - this is not a challenge because I recognize that things can and do change all the time but...

Back in my day (and more recently in DS' day) NROTC Marine Options went to Quantico in their own companies and PLC (Junior or Senior) were in separate companies. They were not combined.

There has been confusion on the name of that NROTC Marine Option's summer course for years. It was called OCS in my day (I vividly remember the olive green PT shirts with "OCS" across the chest). It was known as Officer Candidate School then and I believe it still is. I think it was also known as "Bulldog".

The path to become a Marine Officer after graduation is known as OCC (Officer Candidate Course). This is a 10 week course.

www.marines.com

Become a Marine Corps Officer | Marines

Becoming a Marines Corps Officer is about proving your footsteps are worth following. Learn about eligibility requirements & the path to become a USMC Officer.
www.marines.com www.marines.com
 
@USMCGrunt - Thanks for the clarifications/corrections. Hopefully my attempt to answer @jtompp questions did not add confusion instead.

I was trying to say that NROTC Marine Options only take the PLC Sr course whereas Advanced Standing candidates take both PLC Jr and Sr over 2 summers. When DS went to PLC Sr there were both NROTC Marine Option candidates and Advanced Standing candidates who had taken Jr's the prior year in the same 6 week session. They were in separate companies, but same 6 week session start and finish and combined graduation ceremony.
 
Advanced Standing midshipmen do the OCS course. PLC and NROTC are totally separate programs. PLC Seniors MAY be folded in with the NROTC options during OCS.. I know they do check-in together. Anyone doing PLC will do both the junior and senior course. That can be over 2 6 week summer sessions or one single, and longer, summer session.
 
Dadof2 said:
This can be a bit confusing. PLC can be two summer sessions of 6-weeks each (PLC Juniors and PLC Seniors) or one 6-week session (just PLC Seniors) depending on whether you are on scholarship or not. If you are on NROTC-MO scholarship you will only go to PLC Seniors between your Junior and Senior years of college. If you are not on ROTC-MO scholarship, but participating in ROTC-MO, you will need to apply for Advanced Standing, and if selected you would go to PLC Juniors the summer between Sophomore and Junior year and also take PLC Seniors the following summer between Junior and Senior year. PLC Senior is the same course for scholarship and Advanced Standing. Both PLC Jr and Sr are at Quantico.

Separate from PLC there is also OCS, which is a 10 week course at Quantico that happens after you graduate. You would apply for OCS if you have a college degree and decided you wanted to try to become a Marine Corps Officer, but did not do ROTC in college.
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It was my impression that PLC Seniors was a 10-week course, i.e. identical to OCS. Taken in between junior & senior year. A side benefit to this is that if fail due to injury you get preference to next OCS after college graduation - an automatic 2nd chance.
 
Both PLC juniors and seniors are six weeks. OCC is 10 weeks.
 
Day-Tripper said:
It was my impression that PLC Seniors was a 10-week course, i.e. identical to OCS. Taken in between junior & senior year. A side benefit to this is that if fail due to injury you get preference to next OCS after college graduation - an automatic 2nd chance.
Click to expand...
Nah, its six weeks for each session. The seniors are rolled into the same class as the NROTC midshipmen.
 
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