Too many questions...

[UDMarionette]

Hello,

I am new to this website, I found it yesterday on Facebook and became very intrigued. I cannot speak to a recruiter yet and I have a ton of questions to ask! Sadly, I have so many I don't know where to begin..

I guess I'll post a little bit about myself, my name is Brandi, I went to school online (I don't know if that affects anything) at Connections Academy, I am 5'1 and weigh 80 lbs. My boyfriend has been a Marine for eight years now and I am hoping to join soon as well. As short and skinny as I am, I am not in shape at all (sadly I used to be).

I noticed that everyone on this website uses http://usmilitary.about.com/ but my boyfriend told me that some of the information on that website is not updated, or correct I guess I should say so I'm trying not to look there for all of my questions as if I did I would be very upset..

1. According to that site to be Military Police you must be 5'5 (waiverable to 5'2) and you must be 19 before completing MP School, is this correct? I want to check to see if this information is correct, considering I am only 5'1 and 18 years old I am going to be very upset if I cannot do my dream job because I'm 1 inch too short and 1 year too young, the age I can fix, the height I cannot.

2. A question for the WMs, do we get enough time or any time for that matter to shave.. things? Is that only to be done during free time?

3. How should I go about starting a workout routine? I have a pull-up bar installed in the doorway to my room, also a workout bench, a punching bag, and a treadmill in the basement. (There is no heat in the basement and using the treadmill is horrendous by the way)

4. Piercings. I have 15 piercings, I got a wee bit carried away when I was younger.. I only wear two of them now which are my spider bites (lip piercings). I was under the assumption that I could wear the jewelry if I was in civvies, off base, but I was told today by someone that even if I was off duty on my free time I am not allowed to have my jewelry in as higher command would chew me out if they saw me. What is actually true?

5. Joint Spousal. Does anyone have information about this? I have read about it on http://usmilitary.about.com/ and my boyfriend has told me that there's pretty much no way we'll ever get separated unless one or both of us is deployed. I don't know if it's just me but everything sounds too rainbows and cupcakes for me to buy into that. (We'll both be Marines, which I suppose helps a lot)

6. Is my weight going to be an issue? I have always been very small, no matter how much I eat or drink I never seem to gain anything. My boyfriend tells me that the gear and backpacks weigh more than I do... I got very tired of trying to eat so much to gain weight and failing that I don't eat much anymore at all. I drink juice all day and maybe have a couple slices of bread.


I probably have more questions but I can't seem to remember them at the moment. I think that's enough questions for one day though, eh?

[kmarier2001]

Hi Brandi and welcome to the Hangout. Questions are good ~ so never be too shy to ask them. Hopefully, someone on here can give you some of the answers to them. I, myself, can not. I'm no Marine, just the Mom of one! One thing I will wager a bet on, though, is the piercings. I will say that those will not be allowed, regardless of whether you are on duty or off. This is because even off duty, as a Marine, you must present yourself to certain standards. I will see if I can find the regulation's on this and maybe some of your other questions, as well. Now I have a question for you....why can you not speak with a Recruiter yet? They are the best ones to ask questions, as they will know first hand the present rules/regulations. They will also be able to let you know what things can be wavered, for enlistment and for certain jobs you are interested in doing. As far as the WM question, one of our members here has several WM friends and I'm sure he would happily ask them to help you out there. Some are active duty, some are not. Hopefully, he'll be around shortly to respond to your post. I wish you the best of luck in your quest to become a Marine :)

[DearMilSpouse]

For piercings you will only be allowed to have your ears pierced in or out of uniform (unless they have changed it which I am 99% sure they haven't). Does this mean that Marines follow it, no. Many don't, it's up to you to risk your own career. All it takes is the wrong person seeing you out in town. So any other piercings you have now, would need to go away.

For joint spousal, what he told you is unfortunately a HUGE misconception. There is never EVER a guarantee you will be stationed together. The military will try and accommodate, but their needs come first before yours. You can increase your chances of being stationed together by being the same rank in the same MOS in the same branch. All joint spouses I personally know, are not stationed together. This was the deciding factor in why I did not join. The only joint spousal couple I know that are stationed together met in their unit, started dating then got married.

As for the MOS requirements, I can no loner find them on Marines.com, guess they removed them. I search for a little while but could not find anything. I will search more tomorrow, but your best bet is to ask a recruiter.

[UDMarionette]

Hi Brandi and welcome to the Hangout. Questions are good ~ so never be too shy to ask them. Hopefully, someone on here can give you some of the answers to them. I, myself, can not. I'm no Marine, just the Mom of one! One thing I will wager a bet on, though, is the piercings. I will say that those will not be allowed, regardless of whether you are on duty or off. This is because even off duty, as a Marine, you must present yourself to certain standards. I will see if I can find the regulation's on this and maybe some of your other questions, as well. Now I have a question for you....why can you not speak with a Recruiter yet? They are the best ones to ask questions, as they will know first hand the present rules/regulations. They will also be able to let you know what things can be wavered, for enlistment and for certain jobs you are interested in doing. As far as the WM question, one of our members here has several WM friends and I'm sure he would happily ask them to help you out there. Some are active duty, some are not. Hopefully, he'll be around shortly to respond to your post. I wish you the best of luck in your quest to become a Marine :)

I apologize for the long wait, my boyfriend came to visit and I have been glued to him for the past week or so. I cannot yet speak to a recruiter because I still live with my parents whom do not agree with my wanting to join the Marine Corps. I cannot drive yet to see a recruiter and I know if I call one they will ask me for information and what not and if they start calling or mailing me things it will not be pretty. I did get to talk to a recruiter I found on Facebook, sadly enough I found out that I must be 19 to conceal a pistol, which is needed to become an MP. So I have to wait another year or so before I can start thinking about enlisting.

[kmarier2001]

Parents can be like that, I know first hand :) They don't want their children to be in harms way and it's their instinct to protect them at all costs. I wasn't keen on my son joining at first, either. It hit me like a ton of bricks when he really started bugging me about it at the tender age of 16. He had spoke of enlisting in the Service before that, but wasn't as adamant about it. The present state of things, doesn't bode well from a parents perspective when it comes to their child wanting in the Service. We tend to think the worst instead of looking at the bigger picture. We want our children to go to College and get a high paying job and live a good life - eventually getting married, buying a home of their own, raising their children,etc. The dreams we have for our children don't include putting on combat boots, camo, carrying a rifle and being overseas in a War zone. Your parents may or may not come around. Some do, some don't. What matters is that you look deep down into your own heart and follow your dreams. You are the one that has to lead the life before you. No one else can do that for you. You say you have to wait a year to be the age required to obtain the job in the Service that you want. Well, this could be a good thing. You are still young and this next year or so will give you some extra time to think about what you really truly want to do with your life. Who knows? Maybe you will still want that same thing, but then maybe you won't. Time will tell. In the meantime, explore your horizons :)

[UDMarionette]

Amazing, my dreams of becoming Military Police were ruined because I am too darn short.

[boxout226]

I apologize for the long wait, my boyfriend came to visit and I have been glued to him for the past week or so. I cannot yet speak to a recruiter because I still live with my parents whom do not agree with my wanting to join the Marine Corps. I cannot drive yet to see a recruiter and I know if I call one they will ask me for information and what not and if they start calling or mailing me things it will not be pretty. I did get to talk to a recruiter I found on Facebook, sadly enough I found out that I must be 19 to conceal a pistol, which is needed to become an MP. So I have to wait another year or so before I can start thinking about enlisting.

Remember that once you enlist, you don't ship to boot camp right away. I've talked to lots of recruiters because I went through the entire DEP program and switched to NROTC a few months before shipping. Since you're a female it may be a little quicker but you're still going to have some what of a waiting period.

If you know that MP is out, do you still want to be a Marine? Are there other similiar jobs that intrigue you? Being an MP is usually one of the closest jobs to "infantry" as a female can technically. But that doesn't mean that there aren't other great jobs out there. Question, have you taken the ASVAB? Your score will also determine what jobs you can get into. My advice, once you talk to a recruiter, is to look at your ASVAB score and to not let him give you anything less than the best. I could write down 3 choices. My 3rd choice was the easiest for my recruiter to get me into (he had to do some extra work to get me into my top choice) so that's what he picked. I was fine with it at the time because all that I cared about was becoming a Marine. Have standards and know where you want to be!


For piercings you will only be allowed to have your ears pierced in or out of uniform (unless they have changed it which I am 99% sure they haven't). Does this mean that Marines follow it, no. Many don't, it's up to you to risk your own career. All it takes is the wrong person seeing you out in town. So any other piercings you have now, would need to go away.

For joint spousal, what he told you is unfortunately a HUGE misconception. There is never EVER a guarantee you will be stationed together. The military will try and accommodate, but their needs come first before yours. You can increase your chances of being stationed together by being the same rank in the same MOS in the same branch. All joint spouses I personally know, are not stationed together. This was the deciding factor in why I did not join. The only joint spousal couple I know that are stationed together met in their unit, started dating then got married.

As for the MOS requirements, I can no loner find them on Marines.com, guess they removed them. I search for a little while but could not find anything. I will search more tomorrow, but your best bet is to ask a recruiter.

As for the pierced ears, we got reminded about this time and time again. Your ears can be pierced once. You can only wear a certain size balls with officers wear gold/silver and enlisted wearing the other. I don't remember which is which. Pearls are okay for special occasions. To echo what others have said, I'm sure they disobey the rules off base but it's you're career you're jeapordizing. The other piercings would have to go. They're not going to put up with that at boot camp. I went to a field meet where we had a special visit by some drill instructors (1 male DI and 1 female DI). For lunch, the male DI talked to the 300 or so males there. The female took the 13 of us females to the side for lunch. Let's just say we got lots more one on one attention! During the few minutes we actually got to eat (after standing up, sitting down, running there, running back, running in place, putting our food above our heads, leaning back, Aye Ma'am! Aye Ma'am! Aye Ma'am!...), she let us know a few basic rules to not forget when we went to boot camp #1 No piercings! Some have tried to put safety pins in there at night to keep them and when she found out...

I'm just going to echo what the others have said about joint spouses being stationed together. In a dream world, you would. But, this is the Marine Corps. Once you sign that paper, it is the needs of the Marine Corps. They will put you where they need you, which is not necessarily where you want to be. Sure you can write down your top 3 choices but that doesn't mean that's where you're going to be. My boyfriend was told that if he picked east coast he'd get stationed out here because they need his MOS here. Where'd he get stationed? West Coast and moving to Hawaii. This is one of the reasons why I decided not to stay in the NROTC program. I knew we'd never see each other if we were both in, especially with me as an officer and him enlisted.

As I reread this over, it probably doesn't sound very positive but becoming a Marine is a great thing. Just make sure that it's what you want. If your dream job, keeping your piercings, and being with your boyfriend are out of the picture, is it still something that you want? I guess I feel like I've seen all sides being in the DEP, NROTC, and as a girlfriend I've seen a lot of sides of the Marine Corps and talked to a lot of active duty Marines. Recruiters are great resources for basic information and job questions. Just make sure you know what you want before talking to them.

As for getting in shape, make sure to do that before boot camp! Run, run, run! Don't worry about pull ups, do the flexed arm hang. Shoot for 70 seconds (which is a perfect PFT). 44 is good for starters but work your way up to 70; it's a mind game to stay up there. Just focus on breathing. Your initial IST will only be a mile and a half but work on running 3 miles. Don't shoot for just passing, shoot for as close as you can to max out your PFT. (especially if you have a year to train). And shoot for 100 sit-ups in 2 minutes. It may sound like a lot but if you do acouple sets of 100 sit-ups a day, it'll become a breeze in no time. Just get as many as you can before taking your first break. It's all about form and concentrating on breathing right. All other exercises should build off of these three.

I know you said that you're tired of trying to eat a bunch to gain weight, but you have to eat more than bread and juice! Make sure to hit all of those food groups! Beef up on your protein (nuts, meats, etc) and your carbs (pastas, breads, etc)! Build a bunch of muscle and you should gain some. :) Don't go crazy eating a bunch of junk food just to eat. Get your veggies, fruits, etc. Your body needs them, even if you decide not to join the Corps!

This post is getting very winded and long, good luck on your decision to join the Corps and welcome to the Hangout! Ask as many questions as you have! If someone doesn't know the answer here, they'll ask!!!

[boxout226]

And as far as parents go, mine weren't thrilled either. They'll come around. If they don't, it's your life an not theirs. You are the one who has to live it.

[boxout226]

And if you have specific recruiter-type questions, I have a few recruiter friends that I still keep in contact with. If you'd like me to ask them, just let me know!