Army going Marines...?

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Disposable_Hero

New Member
First off I hope this is in the right section.
A little about myself (didnt see a section to introduce myself).
Im 24 years old, about to be 25 in May. Ive been in the Army for 4 years as a wheeled Mechanic. Ive been deployed to Iraq twice (just got back in Oct). I'll be heading to Afganistan for my 3rd deployment soon.

Anyhow on with my question.
Ive wanted to join the Marines since I was 14 years old, yes yes I ****ed up and joined the Army and cant really give a reason why I did it other then they seemed to be more focused so to speak toward life after the military if that makes sense. IDK....

Anyhow I would like to know what requirements do the Marines require for me to go from Army to Marines. I know I will have to do basic over again and Im completely fine with that, I wouldnt feel like a Marine if I didnt.
Im a mechanic and hate the job though both times I deployed I was a .50cal Gunner or 240B Gunner on a HUMVEE or MRAP.
Id really like to do Infantry in the Marines. I get alot of crap from my friends in the Army for wanting to switch but to be honest I could give a crap less what any of them think. I personally feel no pride in saying Im a soldier in the US Army. Maybe the Army has changed and they just dont seem to have any pride or heritage/background like the Marines have.

Thanks for any advice/help and sorry for rambling on
 
It's alright. I was very close to making the reverse switch last year. Just make a decision that's right for you. If you join the Corps, you'll make new friends there anyway.
 
If you have no pride in being in the Army or being a Soldier, that's on you, not the Army. The Marine Corps isn't going to make you have pride in it either, you have to believe in it and want to have pride in it. You should readjust your attitude, because not having pride is YOUR issue, not the Army's. I've been out of the Army more than a day now and I still have just as much pride in having been in it as the day I enlisted, and now I'm in the Air Force.

Frankly, you talk like a star struck teenager that just watched the latest scale the mountain and slay the dragon commercial. There's no massive or fancy indoc to get into the Marine Corps. It's basic military training, man. You know, facing movements, run around and hurry and wait, shoot a rifle and do some PT? So you get an EGA after a short FTX, will that suddenly make you feel more pride in yourself than you've gotten your entire Army career with two combat deployments down?

Unless you just want to start at the bottom and try to work your way back up again only to find out that the grass isn't greener and that the same problems you face right now exist over in the Corps too, then just look at different MOSes in the Army. Army has infantry, so why not go that route?

Anyway, if it's something you want to do then you need to finish your Army contract and then go talk to a Marine Corps recruiter. Understand they don't take a lot of prior service so the only way to know if you can get it is to visit a recruiter.

Good luck in whatever you try to do.
 
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PJ24 said:
If you have no pride in being in the Army or being a Soldier, that's on you, not the Army. The Marine Corps isn't going to make you have pride in it either, you have to believe in it and want to have pride in it. You should readjust your attitude, because not having pride is YOUR issue, not the Army's. I've been out of the Army more than a day now and I still have just as much pride in having been in it as the day I enlisted, and now I'm in the Air Force.

Frankly, you talk like a star struck teenager that just watched the latest scale the mountain and slay the dragon commercial. There's no massive or fancy indoc to get into the Marine Corps. It's basic military training, man. You know, facing movements, run around and hurry and wait, shoot a rifle and do some PT? So you get an EGA after a short FTX, will that suddenly make you feel more pride in yourself than you've gotten your entire Army career with two combat deployments down?

Unless you just want to start at the bottom and try to work your way back up again only to find out that the grass isn't greener and that the same problems you face right now exist over in the Corps too, then just look at different MOSes in the Army. Army has infantry, so why not go that route?

Anyway, if it's something you want to do then you need to finish your Army contract and then go talk to a Marine Corps recruiter. Understand they don't take a lot of prior service so the only way to know if you can get it is to visit a recruiter.

Good luck in whatever you try to do.
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Your thoughts mirror mine exactly. I`m guessing this guy has been in trouble, and wants to attempt a fresh start somewhere else. Again, that`s just a guess. If he has no pride in what he is doing, then by all means, he should ETS if he can`t transfer.
 
I have never been in trouble, no UCMJ or Article-15's. I had alot of pride when I joined the Army. I did Air Assult, I did Airborne right out of AIT, and I flew my 101st Flag with pride. I guess its all the **** bags and guys trying to kill themselves that made me kind of lose my pride. I completely understand that each branch has their own problems... etc.
The Marines are something Ive always wanted to do and I dont think the Army is for me, just seems like they let to many "retards" in so to speak. Not saying everyone who joins the Army is but I think people are getting promoted to fast and its just running down hill. Thats my personal opinion, and I know others dont agree with me and thats fine.

And PJ24, how do I talk like a star struck teenager that just watched the latest scale the mountain and slay the dragon commercial?
I just know each branch has different requirements for prior service. Ive heard different things, I heard you have to keep your prior MOS and they dont allow people over 29 years old that are PS.

 
A Can of Man said:
BS.
Only the Army thinks that Army boot camp is as hard as US Marine boot camp.
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Army Basic is a joke, they give out stress cards now and even let them us cellphones sometimes or take them to subway for being good.
We just got a bunch of new privates in the motorpool and they dont stand at parade rest when addressing a NCO. Actually we had a brand new E-2 tell one of our E5's to shut the **** up.

Not going to sit here and bash the Army but things have changed from 2005 and now, I've been seeing how much its changed since I joined.
When I got the my first unit as a E-3 and saw another E-3 joking around with a E6 I was shocked. I understand I just got out of Basic and AIT and had drill SGT's and I wasnt used to seeing soldiers **** around with NCO's.

But I also noticed everytime we got new privates they started to go from squared away to just **** it attitudes. I guess maybe when they got rid of drill sgts in AIT things wernt enforced and they gained that **** you I dont care attitude.
 
Disposable_Hero said:
Army Basic is a joke, they give out stress cards now and even let them us cellphones sometimes or take them to subway for being good.
We just got a bunch of new privates in the motorpool and they dont stand at parade rest when addressing a NCO. Actually we had a brand new E-2 tell one of our E5's to shut the **** up.

Not going to sit here and bash the Army but things have changed from 2005 and now, I've been seeing how much its changed since I joined.
When I got the my first unit as a E-3 and saw another E-3 joking around with a E6 I was shocked. I understand I just got out of Basic and AIT and had drill SGT's and I wasnt used to seeing soldiers **** around with NCO's.

But I also noticed everytime we got new privates they started to go from squared away to just **** it attitudes. I guess maybe when they got rid of drill sgts in AIT things wernt enforced and they gained that **** you I dont care attitude.
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It appears that that the unit, or units, you have been in, have had weak NCO leadership. I understand your frustration, but don`t judge the entire Army based on this.
 
Look I'm definately not the most qualified to be saying this, I would trust A Can of Man and PJ on this one but do you honestly think that if you go into the Marines, everything will be magically ok?

You should take another look at your situation and as someone pointed out, it may be your unit. If you want to go USMC Infantry why don't you go Army Infantry (though with some trades its hard to switch and all that b******t but you get my point). You're already in the Army, to switch to the USMC would be very difficult and I think you would end up having the same problems as you did in the Army.

Bottom line, make the best out of the Army. Switch units, switch trades, try something new, whatever, but the USMC won't fix your problems.
 
Actually on that note, odds are if you joined the USMC, the things that were "ok" now might be far worse off!

1) Far more difficult promotion
2) Far less perks

If getting strippers' phone numbers is your thing though, the USMC is THE way to go! :lol:
 
Cdt Matteo said:
Look I'm definately not the most qualified to be saying this, I would trust A Can of Man and PJ on this one but do you honestly think that if you go into the Marines, everything will be magically ok?
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A Can of Man might not be a good source, as he has never been a US Marine or in the US military and lives in Korea.
 
A Can of Man said:
BS.
Only the Army thinks that Army boot camp is as hard as US Marine boot camp.
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Negative. I had 3 drills who came from the Marines. Use some logic here. Why would they train the Army to a lower standard when they are doing 80% of the fighting. Hate to break it to you but the Army is in the worst areas, take baghdad for example. Have fun with the idea though.
 
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I'l preface my remarks with the fact that I was never a Marine. I had 6 years in the Navy & 21 in the Army.

Having said that I personally know of 3 Marines that are either trying to get into the Army or are new in the Corps (1+year) & already planning on going Army as a reenlistment. The reasons are the same - they want the opportunities that the Army provides. This is from them, not me. I don't know schitt about it. Each loves the Corps but would like to get something more out of their service. All are planning on making it a career toward retirement with a minimum of 20 years, hopefully more.

None of these three know each other & all have said the same thing.

Take it with a grain of salt but I thought I'd pass it on.
 
CDT Matteo,
Chugspunk likes to disagree with me regardless of what I say and as for Big_Z, I did say that only the Army truly believes their training standards are just as high did I not? ;) Actually, let me tell you the real reason: NUMBERS. The higher your standards, the less people you will get. The less people you pick, the higher you can set the bar. And you are right, the Army very well could be doing 80% of the fighting because there are simply more of them. If you had to build an Army of 200 people, you could get the best and the brightest. If you needed 2 million, your bar just cannot be that high. You are right Big_Z, use some logic. If the US Marines expanded to the size of that of the Army, I have NO doubt at all that the standards would drop as well. Which is why it cannot be that big. But that does not mean every unit has to be small and at a very high standard or else you just will not have enough troops to secure areas that have been taken. On the same note, Rangers are no doubt at a higher standard than most Marines. Again, this is due to selectivity. It is not really a crass knock on the Army. It is simply universal.

As for MSG Glenn, he is precisely right.
Every Marine that has either gone over to Army or has planned to go over to the Army (including myself) has gone because they wanted to get more out of their service. More opportunities, more chances for promotion, etc. With very few exceptions, these folks still like the Corps but realize that due to various factors the time to part and go to the Army has come. Often it involves family commitments, certain injuries (so they move to an MOS that requires less physical activity) or sometimes when they feel they are simply not good enough.
Before anyone starts going over the edge, yes there are jobs in the Marines that are not very physical but again, there are not as many spots as in the Army.
 
A Can of Man said:
CDT Matteo,
Chugspunk likes to disagree with me regardless of what I say and as for Big_Z, I did say that only the Army truly believes their training standards are just as high did I not? ;) Actually, let me tell you the real reason: NUMBERS. The higher your standards, the less people you will get. The less people you pick, the higher you can set the bar. And you are right, the Army very well could be doing 80% of the fighting because there are simply more of them. If you had to build an Army of 200 people, you could get the best and the brightest. If you needed 2 million, your bar just cannot be that high. You are right Big_Z, use some logic. If the US Marines expanded to the size of that of the Army, I have NO doubt at all that the standards would drop as well. Which is why it cannot be that big. But that does not mean every unit has to be small and at a very high standard or else you just will not have enough troops to secure areas that have been taken. On the same note, Rangers are no doubt at a higher standard than most Marines. Again, this is due to selectivity. It is not really a crass knock on the Army. It is simply universal.

As for MSG Glenn, he is precisely right.
Every Marine that has either gone over to Army or has planned to go over to the Army (including myself) has gone because they wanted to get more out of their service. More opportunities, more chances for promotion, etc. With very few exceptions, these folks still like the Corps but realize that due to various factors the time to part and go to the Army has come. Often it involves family commitments, certain injuries (so they move to an MOS that requires less physical activity) or sometimes when they feel they are simply not good enough.
Before anyone starts going over the edge, yes there are jobs in the Marines that are not very physical but again, there are not as many spots as in the Army.
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Keep telling yourself that. You have never served in the US military. You are a little to niave I think, don't believe everything you see on TV. Take a look at the Vietnam war. The Marines were getting ****ed up and the Army was pulling them out. The training is the same, the mentality is different.
 
Big_Z said:
Keep telling yourself that. You have never served in the US military. You are a little to niave I think, don't believe everything you see on TV. Take a look at the Vietnam war. The Marines were getting ****ed up and the Army was pulling them out. The training is the same, the mentality is different.
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Sure...
I am taking whatever you say with a spoon (not just a grain) of salt. You thought Special Ops Missions was realistic. So obviously I am not the one with problems regarding believing what I see on TV.
I think KJs avatar pretty much sums it up for you.
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So much for plurality of thought.
Believing that US Marine training on average is tougher than US Army training on average = UnAmerican???
You know, I try to cut you some slack, but you really are an idiot of epic proportions.
 
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