Does this sound like a real Marine?

[Tobe]

He is an older guy. He told me he was a RIO (radar intercept officer) in the F4 phantom in the 70s. I asked him to tell me about some of his experiences and this is what he said,

"Hmmm. I guess why I like the movie "The Great Santini" is that it confirmed why I gave up my regular commission. I went in the Corps with a reserve commission, which meant that you had to re-up every 3-4 years. With a regular commission, you were in for good—unless you received poor fitness reports. So, when I was at Pensacola, I applied for a regular commission and received it. Well, once I learned that I would be committed to overseas, unaccompanied tours for 12 to 15 months every 3 to 5 years, I said, "Ah, I am committed to my wife and son first." I then resigned my regular commission and reverted to a reserve commission. Nevertheless, serving in the Marine Corps was one of the best things that I did in my life time."

Is there any way I could know for sure he was legitimately a RIO in the Marines? It matters because he said he could write a letter of recommendation for Marine OCC.

 

[Gatordev]

If you know his full name and roughly when he served, you can try to look him up online in the service database. If you know his birth date, it's even easier. Here's the link:

https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/scra/single_record.xhtml

It won't tell you anything other than if he served, but at least it's a start.

 

[Tobe]

The records only go back to 1985.

 

[brownshoe]

Check here: http://www.pownetwork.org/

They've helped in the past. Just email Mary Schantag, the owner of the site. Good folks indeed! Just explain to her why you are asking, they have history on many posers. They actually had a link on the website (The fake warriors project link) where you could look up people but the freedom of speech act changed in 2005. They still have the database but you have to contact them for information.

 

[Fallonflyr]

Sounds legit, most posers will tell about their heroic war adventures. His in the weeds story about reserve vs regular commissions tracks with that time frame.

 

[Flash]

Hard to tell from the limited info you have but I would agree with Fallonflyr, usually fakers have much cooler stories and don't get in the weeds about reserve vs regular commissions. Plus, who actually fakes being a RIO?!

 

[sevenhelmet]

Sounds legit, only because he was griping about something administrative, rather than telling you how he saved the world with an F-4, a bobby pin, and a piece of duct tape.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Back in the day...when you commissioned, you commissioned as either USN/USMC (regular) USNR/USMCR (reserve). Both commissioned to active duty.

Regular commissions were hard to boot off active duty. You had to get passed over twice or do something illegal. It was assumed regular commissions wanted to remain on active duty unless they submitted a resignation. They were automatically issued orders at the end of their current assignment. Regulars who attrited out of a training program could not just be let go. They had to be predesignated and trained in another designator. Regulars could not be RIFed either.

Reserve commissions could be release from easily. The government had no requirement to keep them. Attrite and you could find yourself a civilian the next day. The end of your tour? Ask for new orders but you could find yourself a civilian instead. A RIF? Gone. The guy used the term "re-up" but he did not mean the same as you think of an enlisted guy reenlisting. A reserve officer had to request orders to stay on active duty. Bad papers, request denied. While it was possible to do a 20 year career as a reserve commission, must that wanted to applied for "augmentation". If accepted, you were "augmented" to a regular commission and had the associated protections.

Navy Academy graduates were commissioned as regular. Something like the top 5 to 10% of ROTC and OCS/AOCS were commissioned as regular. Everyone else commissioned reserve.

Most reserve commission tried selected for augmentation after they selected for LT. Some got augmented as LTJGs. It was not automatic and it was pretty competitive. Normally about 1 out of 3. If you selected for O-4, you automatically augmented the day you pinned it on. I augmented in 1986 as a LTJG.

This all changed to the current way in somewhere around 1989-90 (I think). At that time everyone on active duty became USN/USMC and everyone not on active duty became USNR/USMCR. All the former regular commission protections were lost.

So yes, his story is completely believable.

 

[nittany03]

ancient history

Funny; I commissioned in 2003 as USNR, and it wasn't until I was in Primary that they did away with the whole "having to augment your commission" deal. It was a Rumsfeldian idea IIRC; I want to say they replaced it with the whole "probationary officer" thing now in the MILPERSMAN (a phrase I still find insulting even if it doesn't apply to me). As it was explained to me, it was to avoid having to pay severance to officers attrited out of flight or nuke school or who were SWO non-attains. Rumsfeld around 2005 timeframe said words to the effect of "this is stupid; USN should be USN." Poof, everyone gets REGNAV commissions. And apparently, according to the correspondence manual or some other reference, even a dirty SELRES like me is now still "LCDR John Doe, USN," not "USNR." "Total Force" and somesuch, dontchaknow.

 

[Flash]

...Rumsfeld around 2005 timeframe said words to the effect of "this is stupid; USN should be USN." Poof, everyone gets REGNAV commissions. And apparently, according to the correspondence manual or some other reference, even a dirty SELRES like me is now still "LCDR John Doe, USN," not "USNR." "Total Force" and somesuch, dontchaknow.

The USN idea wasn't Rumsfeld but the SECNAV or CNO at the time, the Navy is the only one that doesn't make a distinction while the other services still have USAFR, USMCR, etc.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Is there any way I could know for sure he was legitimately a RIO in the Marines? It matters because he said he could write a letter of recommendation for Marine OCC.

Back to the original question...if he doesn't know you all that well, a letter of recc from him isn't going to do much for you, whether he was real or fake or the actual COL Donald Conroy USMC.

 

[Tobe]

Back to the original question...if he doesn't know you all that well, a letter of recc from him isn't going to do much for you, whether he was real or fake or the actual COL Donald Conroy USMC.

I have letters from several people who know me well. The OSO suggested I try and get one from a congressman or someone in a position like that. I recently met this retired Marine RIO and he offered to write a letter to help me get into the program. I thought it a great idea since he once did what I am trying to do.

 

[Uncle Fester]

No, I got why you want it. What I'm saying is a LOR from someone who can't speak to your qualifications, maturity, work ethic, etc etc, is kind of pointless. What's he going to say, I just met this kid and I like the cut of his jib?

 

[Tobe]

I spoke with him today for quite awhile. He told me more about his experiences and I told him why I wanted to this, about progress towards OCC, physical training, motivation lots of things. You're right he hasn't known me long so it would have to be a very formal, generic letter. But so would one from a congressman.

 

[Recovering LSO]

You also probably don't take to an inter web forum asking whether or not we think the Congressman is real. I think Uncle Fester is giving good advice.