Marine Corps Preparation
Being a part of something as prestigious as the United States Marine Corps is something that is no easy task. You will not only have to be in great physical condition, but being a Marine will also take a great deal of mental and emotional fortitude. Preparation for this task is no light matter, and will involve training your body, mind, and spirit before you get off the bus at Parris Island or San Diego.
The first thing that you need to start working on is your academics, especially if you are still in high school. The Marine Corps will require you to take the ASVAB, a lengthy multiple choice exam on subjects ranging from English grammar to automotive knowledge. There is a minimum score that you will need for each career path in the Marine Corps, shownhere. Unless you meet at least one of those scores there is no way to enlist, and if you only make the minimum for a career like Rifleman or Machine Gunner then your options are pretty limited. If you made mostly A and B grades in high school and have some working knowledge ofmechanical and electrical concepts then you should be just fine, but if you struggle in school then you will need to practice until you are confident that you can get the score that you need. Books and websites are available that will help you study and practice for your ASVAB, and a Marine Corps Recruiter will be more than happy to help you succeed in the test as well.
So one you have met the basic academic requirements to get your foot in the door you will need to work on your body. You will not be able to enlist unless you meet weight standards, pass a physical exam, and come up clean on a drug test. The weight standards can be foundhere. Use them to determine how much weight you will need to lose (or gain in some cases) before you can show up to take the physical.
The weight issue is an easy one. The physical training one is not. To be a Marine you will have to pass the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test before you graduate Boot Camp. Theminimum scoresare what you need, but your Drill Instructors and NCOs will expect much more from you. You will also be expected to be able to maneuver through and over obstacle courses, so you need considerable physical strength to pull yourself over some very demanding obstacles. The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program is also mandatory, meaning that you need to work on flexibility to be able to execute basic grappling moves.
While the Marine Corps stresses rifle marksmanship, you should not prepare too much for this, if at all. My old Drill Sergeants (I'm in the Army, but all of the basic principles are the same) used to ask my Basic Combat Training Company about how many of us had shot firearms before. Several recruits (myself included) would raise their hands, and the Drill Sergeant would tell us "I hate all of you." Of course he really did not, but people going into any sort of military recruit training with firearms experience often show up with bad habits. They will teach you to shoot. Do not try to learn yourself just before you go.
Your attitude and ability to survive in challenging situations are what really matters though. Boot Camp will be tough. You will wake up early every day, work out, and train all day long. The Drill Instructors will yell at you at the top of their lungs to intimidate you. There will be many rules to follow that, if broken, come with very harsh punishment. You will learn that you are not special and your own self interests are of little concern. At the end of Boot Camp you will spend several days on minimal sleep and food while you train in a setting that resembles war as closely as possible. This includes having a machine gun firing over your head while you crawl under barbed wire. (That was probably the most fun I had in Army Basic Training.) If you do not think you can handle these realities then either change your attitude or do not go talk to a recruiter.
If you think you can handle that then you still need to think about the other mental factors involved in being a Marine. While in the 12 week Boot Camp you will not have your iPhone, internet, or television. Your only means of communication with the outside world will be through letter writing, and your Drill Instructors may or may not allow you to have pictures of your friends, family, and significant other. After your ten days of leave are up after Boot Camp you will be back at training, either at the 59 day School of Infantry for infantry Marines or the 29 day Marine Combat Training course for non-infantry Marines. Non-infantry Marines will then be sent to schools in their career specialty, which can be quite extensive for technical jobs. Do you think you can handle being completely separated from everyone you have ever known except for the occasional letter for this amount of time? Choose your answer wisely.
Past training, you will have many other things that will challenge you. Do you think you can wake up every morning for physical training, work every day with leaders who will punish you for minor infractions, and go on field exercises where you will be away from the rest of society for several days or weeks? If so then you MIGHT be ready for the ultimate test of any service member: deployment to a combat zone.
You will have to tell your friends and family goodbye knowing that you may never see them again. You will live on a base in some remote part of a war zone. You will have internet access there, but the connection may go down for days on end. Do you want to be in a place like this and know you might not be talking to your family who is losing sleep over you being there? If you have a wife or girlfriend who is pregnant when you leave then you will probably miss your son or daughter's birth. You had better talk to the people you know and care about regarding these things.
You will wake up in the middle of the night to the loud blare of an alarm that is warning you that rockets and/or mortars are flying at you. You might have one or more go off very close to your room. It might even hit your room after your run to the safety of a bunker, destroying everything you have there. You might not hear the alarm or make it out in time. You will go on long patrols if you are a combat Marine. You might get shot at. Your vehicle might get hit with an IED. You might have to save your best friend who just lost a leg. You might watch them die in front of you. You might be the one. You might come back and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. You might have nightmares where you see a dead comrade. You might start to jump for cover when you are home and hear a loud noise such as a car stereo or fireworks. (I know I have.) Your stress might lead you to alcohol or drugs. It might ruin your marriage.
If you think you can handle these many different things then you can feel prepared to be a Marine. Do not worry if some parts of the military lifestyle are intimidating, they are going to be. But with the right attitude and knowledge of what you are signing up for then you will be on the right track to earning the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor and being a proud member of the United States Marine Corps.
