Can you request combat duty if you join the Marines?

[Dari]

I don't want to ask my father, who fought in Vietnam, since he and my mother share everything. I plan on enlisting in the next week or two since I've kept all my promises to my wife. However, I do not want to guard some embassy or work in the United States.

 

[jlee]

I think you can request to go into infantry, but whether you get what you want or not is not for you to decide.

That's my understanding anyway - I'm sure someone with experience will give you an accurate answer.

 

[Nitemare]

When you enlist you pretty much sign your soul over and do what they want you to do and where they want you to go. Officers do get a little say so, but usually people want to get out of the combat zone and not in it. Ask the recruiter?

 

[FoBoT]

there are two wars going on, if you want to go to Afghanistan or Iraq, i don't think that'll be a problem

you should tell them you want Afghanistan, that'll be more like real war battles than Iraq

 

[mugs]

I plan on enlisting in the next week or two since I've kept all my promises to my wife.

What does this mean? You promised your wife you would enlist in the Marines? Or she's letting you enlist in the Marines because you've kept all of your promises?

 

[Matthiasa]

Well if you try to request it they might deem you unintelligent or foolhardy then reject you.

 

[Dari]

What does this mean? You promised your wife you would enlist in the Marines? Or she's letting you enlist in the Marines because you've kept all of your promises?

The latter. She wanted to get pregnant. I never realized it would take so long to get someone pregnant.

 

[pontifex]

The latter. She wanted to get pregnant. I never realized it would take so long to get someone pregnant.

so your wife wanted to get pregnant and is, now you're joining the marines and requesting combat duty? and she actually agrees with this? if this isn't the most ass backwards thing i've heard then i don't know what is.

 

[shiner]

Benjamin B. Whitledge: Every man in my whole family's been in the infantry, clear back to my great-grampa. You know what he done?

[Will shakes his head "no"]

Benjamin B. Whitledge: Fought with Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, that's what.

Will Stockdale: [laughs] Licked him good, too, I bet!

Will Stockdale: Hey, Ben. Maybe you'll get to like the Air Force. Zoomin' all over the sky - and shouting, "Roger" and "Wilco" and everything. Maybe it won't be so bad.

Benjamin B. Whitledge: Bad? You know what they call men in the Air Force?

[Will shakes his head "no"]

Benjamin B. Whitledge: Air man! Like somethin' out of a dang funny book! Air man! How you gonna like it when somebody calls you "Air man"?

Will Stockdale: By dog, I just don't think I'll stand for it.

 

[jpeyton]

so your wife wanted to get pregnant and is, now you're joining the marines and requesting combat duty? and she actually agrees with this? if this isn't the most ass backwards thing i've heard then i don't know what is.

I'm glad someone said it.

 

[jlee]

so your wife wanted to get pregnant and is, now you're joining the marines and requesting combat duty? and she actually agrees with this? if this isn't the most ass backwards thing i've heard then i don't know what is.

Wow, yeah, no kidding...

 

[Train]

If you're in a hurry to get to war, you better be patient.

93 days in bootcamp. 10 days boot leave, ~9 weeks in Infantry School, then the latest you can join a unit that is getting ready to deploy is usually 60 days out, and thats cutting it thin, most units want you at least 6 months before they trust taking you overseas. If you are LUCKY you can be deployed within 7 months of joining, but thats unheard of, maybe 9 months more like it.

But thats assuming you do a good job and keep requesting a deploying unit. But they could just as well stick you on West Pac MEU (western pacific readiness group) and youll spend 12 more months training, then 6 months floating around the phillipines, australia, etc. doing humanitarian missions.

They could also just ignore your requests and stick you into a unit that just got back, and you sit on your thumbs for 2 years doing the same training over and over, wanting to rip your hair out, while they get refitted with gear and re-manned.

As you will soon become aware "The needs of the Corps outweight the needs of the Marine."

After your first enlistment though (4 years), you will likely be in a much better position to volunteer for cool shit, and switch to deploying units. But your first few years, you're basically a commodity.

 

[Dari]

so your wife wanted to get pregnant and is, now you're joining the marines and requesting combat duty? and she actually agrees with this? if this isn't the most ass backwards thing i've heard then i don't know what is.

This is tradition. Someone in my or my extended family has been in every single American war since the Revolutionary War. Maybe even before. However, I also like to keep promises. I'm also tired of office politics at my job.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I don't want to ask my father, who fought in Vietnam, since he and my mother share everything. I plan on enlisting in the next week or two since I've kept all my promises to my wife. However, I do not want to guard some embassy or work in the United States.

yeah, you can.....if youre a complete friggin idiot...


hey why dont you just join a streetgang, that way you could screw things up without even having to move

 

[ViviTheMage]

so your wife wanted to get pregnant and is, now you're joining the marines and requesting combat duty? And she actually agrees with this? If this isn't the most ass backwards thing i've heard then i don't know what is.

qft

 

[Train]

The latter. She wanted to get pregnant. I never realized it would take so long to get someone pregnant.

Well shit son, I hope you're better at firing a rifle than you are at shooting your pecker.

 

[Dari]

If you're in a hurry to get to war, you better be patient.

93 days in bootcamp. 10 days boot leave, ~9 weeks in Infantry School, then the latest you can join a unit that is getting ready to deploy is usually 60 days out, and thats cutting it thin, most units want you at least 6 months before they trust taking you overseas. If you are LUCKY you can be deployed within 7 months of joining, but thats unheard of, maybe 9 months more like it.

But thats assuming you do a good job and keep requesting a deploying unit. But they could just as well stick you on West Pac MEU (western pacific readiness group) and youll spend 12 more months training, then 6 months floating around the phillipines, australia, etc. doing humanitarian missions.

They could also just ignore your requests and stick you into a unit that just got back, and you sit on your thumbs for 2 years doing the same training over and over, wanting to rip your hair out, while they get refitted with gear and re-manned.

As you will soon become aware "The needs of the Corps outweight the needs of the Marine."

After your first enlistment though (4 years), you will likely be in a much better position to volunteer for cool shit, and switch to deploying units. But your first few years, you're basically a commodity.

Thank you. I guess I'll have to be patient.

 

[jpeyton]

This is tradition. Someone in my or my extended family has been in every single American war since the Revolutionary War. Maybe even before.

Lt. Dan, is that you?

 

[Mo0o]

Can't you participate in the war without being shot at

 

[mugs]

so your wife wanted to get pregnant and is, now you're joining the marines and requesting combat duty? and she actually agrees with this? if this isn't the most ass backwards thing i've heard then i don't know what is.

Yeah... that's Dari.

 

[ranmaniac]

Most of the Marines are pulling out of Iraq apparently, so I guess you would more likely see action in Afghanistan depending on how the surge goes.

http://cbs5.com/national/troops.exit.Iraq.2.1432795.html

 

[Dari]

Most of the Marines are pulling out of Iraq apparently, so I guess you would more likely see action in Afghanistan depending on how the surge goes.

http://cbs5.com/national/troops.exit.Iraq.2.1432795.html

Great. I expected it to fail anyway so I may still get my chance to fight. Also, the president will be up for re-election in 2012 and I cannot imagine him running away from a war that is not over.

 

[El Guaraguao]

 

[her209]

Doubt that you will have a say. Imagine if an al Queda informant joined and was able to request combat duty. Not good, right?

 

[jersiq]

This is tradition. Someone in my or my extended family has been in every single American war since the Revolutionary War. Maybe even before. However, I also like to keep promises. I'm also tired of office politics at my job.

lol. You will just be trading in one set of politics for another. Don't think for a minute that human social foibles disappear once you wear a uniform. The circumstances are just different. Remember this when one night you are standing watch over a rock because someone thinks it's an important rock.