Delayed Entry Program

hopefulfuturemarine

Active member
I am beginning all the paper work necessary to enter the Marines DEP. I am not done yet, still some things with the medical paper work that needs to be taken care of. The problem is that many people have told me that once I am in the DEP program I am stuck, that when I join the program I have made the decision to be a Marine, and there is no turning back. I have every intention of joining the Marines, but a lot of things can change in a year, so I need to know that I am not signing my life away just yet. If that is what the DEP does, I need to know now. I have asked my recruiter who I trust and he says that there is no commitment in joining the DEP program, but recruiters have a bad rep, and many friends and family members swear up and down to me that they know all about this and claim that I would be stuck if I went into the DEP. So please, someone, clear this mess up for me!
Thanks.
 
Yes, you ARE obligated under the DEP. I was in DEP for half a year, fortunately nothing happened to me during that time. If you go into DEP a whole year before your ship date, you leave little wiggle room for an unforeseen injury to heal in the later stages. If you DEP with time left, and something happens, you can delay it up to a year, so you have a buffer zone as an insurance policy.

btw, I used my DEP time to get a higher paygrade going into basic, I don't know how the USMC does it, but Army you can do that.
 
nothing like that for the USMC as far as I know. Well now I am kinda pissed at my recruiter. He told me I had no obligations under the DEP. Christ I am 17 years old I don't want to decide right now whether that is what I want. Well at least I checked it out before I went all the way. Thanks. Makes me feel better.
 
In the old days.... like 1970, I joined the Navy on the delayed entry program. (the marines are a part of the Department of the Navy.)

At that time once you signed the papers you were committed. It was an enlistment with a departure date sometime in the future.

If you are committed now to join the Marines, be committed.

The service is looked down on by many people, in my opinion it is one of the finest organizations around. It takes young men and women and gives them some lifetime training along with giving them an atmosphere to grow into responsible adults. There are some that will serve and never be responsible but that falls to them in the blame game.

Always remember, those that are faiures as Marines are ex-marines, the rest of them are Marines for life. Ask around and you might hear some of the same sentiment.

Good luck at Paris Island and remember that they will not put any obstacle in front of you that you cannot overcome.

Remember the line Clint Eastwood used in "Heartbreak Ridge"?

I don't remember word for word but it's something like this:

Adapt, improvise and overcome.

I don't know what the Marine Corps core values are, but the Navy's is Honor, Courage and Committment.

Semper Fi!
 
I agree 100% on your opinion of the service. I know many people who look down on it, which pisses me off. I hope to become a Marine one day, but I don't feel that at the age of 17 I am ready to commit to a life decision. What troubles me most about this whole thing is the fact that my recruiter lied to me. He has been very honest with me on everything, not feeding me BS on anything. He told me upfront, "You will have a rough time in boot, you will go to Iraq. People won't baby you through, no one will be there to hold your hand. It will suck. Are you sure you wanna do this?" and I said yes. He has been honest about everything EXCEPT this. But oh well I don't care. I just can't wait to go. I am kinda upset that I have to wait.
Thanks for clearing that up. I think my name is going on those papers now anyways, I just feel better knowing what I am getting myself into.
 
Listen LOUD AND CLEAR. you are NOT obligated once you are i the DEP Program. i got off the Island in feb 05! i will clarify in detail with references if you need me to!
 
implicature said:
Listen LOUD AND CLEAR. you are NOT obligated once you are i the DEP Program. i got off the Island in feb 05! i will clarify in detail with references if you need me to!

How about clarifying? I have never signed a contract that didn't obligate you.

When I signed a Delayed Entry contract I was obligated, not only by contract but by my word.
 
You are not obligated with any branch, anyone who tells you that you are is lying, if you want to quit then quit, I dont want anyone in my Marine Corps who dosnt want to be there. Simple as that.
When you signed you did obligate yourself by your word, but not by the contract itself, you have to read the small print.

REMOVED!!!

mod edit: under review
 
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GunnyD said:
You are not obligated with any branch, anyone who tells you that you are is lying, if you want to quit then quit, I dont want anyone in my Marine Corps who dosnt want to be there. Simple as that.
When you signed you did obligate yourself by your word, but not by the contract itself, you have to read the small print.
I think that you are somewhat out of the loop with the definition of delayed entry. As stated, when I signed the delayed entry contract in 1970 it had me for 6 years, four year contract starting at a date in the future (November 1970 delayed until April 1971). There were no loopholes.

I think your use of language in this matter could be a little more adult to give you credibility. Your manner of speaking does not line up with all of the Gunny's I've worked with in my career. Around Marines they are rude, crude and socially unacceptable. In public they are perfect examples of what a Marine should be. If you are a Gunny, go back to school and learn how to deal with the public.
 
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Listen up!

Before posting any advice in this forum, all of you please read the sticky posted here:
http://www.military-quotes.com/forum...ead.php?t=6518


implicature said:
Listen LOUD AND CLEAR. you are NOT obligated once you are i the DEP Program. i got off the Island in feb 05! i will clarify in detail with references if you need me to!
Do not give advice like this without citing official verifiable sources. What island? Fantasy or Parris?

GunnyD said:
You are not obligated with any branch, anyone who tells you that you are is lying, if you want to quit then quit, I don't want anyone in my Marine Corps who doesn't want to be there. Simple as that.
Not the type of reply I would expect from a senior marine. The young fellow is looking for advice. You, by your reply, imply that he is trying to get out of his obligation, which is nowhere to be found in his posts.

Any further violations of the rules as cited above will be dealt with by a temporary or permanent ban depending on each member's prior behavior.
Nuff said.
 
(Paragraph 8a of the Enlistment Contract): "FOR ENLISTMENT IN THE DELAYED ENTRY/ENLISTMENT PROGRAM (DEP): I understand that I will be ordered to active duty as a Reservist unless I report to the place shown in item 4 above by (date) for enlistment in the regular component of the United States (branch of service)."

Note what this means. It means that if an applicant failed to show up to ship out to basic training, the military COULD order the individual to active duty. If the individual refused, the military could legally court-martial the individual, if they wanted to.

Now, let's talk reality. This never happens. Never. Not a single person has been involuntarily ordered to active duty, court-martialed, or otherwise prosecuted in civilian courts for being in the DEP and refusing to ship out to boot camp in *AT LEAST* the past 27 years. Not one single person.
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/joiningup/a/dep.htm

But I agree with the author, if you read the rest of this article, in that I have no use for anyone who breaks their word.
 
These PDF’s might clear up some of the questions being asked here:

http://www.objector.org/helpingout/Helpingoutchapters/04_Delay_Enlist.pdf

http://usmilitary.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/html/133214.htm

In the end it is MUCH better for a person to decide not to join (any branch of the service) before going to bootcamp then to find out (or figure out for themselves) that the military is not the thing for them halfway though or once boot camp is completed.
 
ive been a US Marine for 2yrs now and i know that if you dont swear in, or dont feel like you can swear in honestly, you wont go. in order to join the USMC or any other department of defnes you must swear in which states you will defend the constitution...yada yaday yada i dont know the full thing which i should but at that point the contract can be void if you dont want to swear in...btw ive been a US Marine for 2yrs and i wouldnt have changed anything...i think its one of teh best things ive done now and im loving it, hell im in thailand right now. well make a decision you wont regret, and sometimes the best decisions you make are the biggest ones.
 
FYI, the wording of the current oath of enlistment (for the USMC) is as follows:

"I__________, do hereby acknowledge to have voluntarily enlisted under the conditions prescribed by law, this_____day of_____, _____, in the United States Marine Corps for a period of_____years unless sooner discharged by proper authority; and I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so help me God."​
 
DTop said:
FYI, the wording of the current oath of enlistment (for the USMC) is as follows:


"I__________, do hereby acknowledge to have voluntarily enlisted under the conditions prescribed by law, this_____day of_____, _____, in the United States Marine Corps for a period of_____years unless sooner discharged by proper authority; and I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so help me God."​


My question stands, do you take the oath when you sign up for the delayed entry program? If so, it seems as if you are committed. I know that in '70 when I joined the Navy's delayed entry I took the oath.
 
implicature said:
I joined in '05 and didn't take the oath until i went to MEPS on the day that i shipped out to boot.

Did you join the delayed entry program?

As I stated before, when I signed the DEP paperwork in KC I took the oath. That was in 1970.
 
As has been stated before: When you sign the DEP paperwork you re obligating yourself by word and contract to an obligation. If there is a health issue that pops up in the meantime you will be allowed time to heal. If that means dropping you from the DEP so that you can do so, then it will be done. I have talked with one Marine who broke his arm in a car accident two days before he was supposed to ship. They dropped him from DEP (he was at about a year mark in the DEP). He healed up and they re-enlisted him and he shipped within 30 days of re-enlisting.

If you are concerned with sustaining an injury while in the DEP, If you are concerned with making a contracual obligation and being unable to fulfill it, if there are any doubts in your mind about any of it then there is an easy solution to all of these problems:

Do not join until you are ready to go to bootcamp within the month. It is nice to have a group of people to hang out with and you all have common interests and goals. But why stress yourself over something like this?

If you get injured during that time you will have lots of time to recover if needs be. If you change your mind. . . . well even I changed my mind once I put my feet on them yellow footprints :cool: then you are pretty much out of luck.

Being a Marine is something you should earn. It is not given freely nor should it be. We are the world's finest fighting force. "Tip of the spear" and all that.

Semper Fidelis
 
Senior Chief said:
I think that you are somewhat out of the loop with the definition of delayed entry. As stated, when I signed the delayed entry contract in 1970 it had me for 6 years, four year contract starting at a date in the future (November 1970 delayed until April 1971). There were no loopholes.

I think your use of language in this matter could be a little more adult to give you credibility. Your manner of speaking does not line up with all of the Gunny's I've worked with in my career. Around Marines they are rude, crude and socially unacceptable. In public they are perfect examples of what a Marine should be. If you are a Gunny, go back to school and learn how to deal with the public.


I am a current Marine and have been for the last 16 years, to include a tour 99-03 on Recruiting duty and have just returned this April from Iraq. I posted what I did, because as a Company Gunny, the last thing I want is some kid who doesn't want to be there, in my Company. As for you Senior Chief, you sound a bit like you might be in Recruiting Duty right now. I am telling this kid the same thing I told my kids in my DEP, If at any time you DO NOT want to be a United States Marine, let me know so I can get rid of you before I waste any of the taxpayers money. I did not lie to a kid when I was a Recruiter and I will not lie to them now. As for my "sounding like a Marine Gunnery Sergeant" send me an email and I will give you my number for you to call me and see if I sound like a Gunny to you. Gunny Davis
 
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