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Question on the Reserves

K-Dub1220

New Member
hi
I am planing on joining the Marines soon hoping to become a pilot. I am just currently confused how to do it. I know that there are many options and one in particular I am curious about involving the reserves.

After high school if i enlist, I want to go to basic and then go reserves just until I finish college and get my degree to be an officer. I was just curious about how I could use the GI Bill to help pay for my tuition and how exactly it works. I am new to this so forgive me if I am coming across wrong. But any help would be greatly appreciated...Thanks a bunch for any help and/or advice.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
hi
I am planing on joining the Marines soon hoping to become a pilot. I am just currently confused how to do it. I know that there are many options and one in particular I am curious about involving the reserves.

After high school if i enlist, I want to go to basic and then go reserves just until I finish college and get my degree to be an officer. I was just curious about how I could use the GI Bill to help pay for my tuition and how exactly it works. I am new to this so forgive me if I am coming across wrong. But any help would be greatly appreciated...Thanks a bunch for any help and/or advice.

Please do a search on Marine OCS, PLC, NROTC and some of the other things you asked about. It will be a good starting point and most of your questions will be answered.
 

phrogpilot73

Well-Known Member
After high school if i enlist, I want to go to basic and then go reserves just until I finish college and get my degree to be an officer. I was just curious about how I could use the GI Bill to help pay for my tuition and how exactly it works. I am new to this so forgive me if I am coming across wrong. But any help would be greatly appreciated...Thanks a bunch for any help and/or advice.
As Flash said, a search is usually the best way to start, as most questions have been asked and answered ad nasuem.

The reserves can be a double edged sword. If you opt for the 90-day reservist program, you probably won't garner a whole lot of respect from your fellow Marines. However, if you go with a normal reserve contract, you may well find yourself in Iraq or Afghanistan in short order.

Just some food for thought.
 

K-Dub1220

New Member
So if i go with the regular reservist contract would i still be able to go to school using the GI Bill?? even with the possibility of Iraq?
 

Mustang83

Professional back-seat driver
None
That is exactly what I did, though keep in mind, the Reserve GI Bill varies from the active duty GI Bill. You get less per month, and I believe you have fewer months to use. Going to Iraq (or Afghanistan...) is always a possibility. If you goal is to become and officer, go to college. You will not become a better officer because you where enlisted, nor will you be worse...
 

Mustang83

Professional back-seat driver
None
Was becoming an officer easier? Put it this way, when I went to OCS (did two 6 week sessions), I knew the game, was familiar with Drill Instructors, and knew how hard it was going to be physically, and I still thought it was very tough... if you can hack it you can hack it, if not... join the Air Force :icon_tong Just don't enlist 'to become a better officer' I've seen plenty of priors who either dropped on request from OCS or couldn't hack it and were kicked out.

Refer to my previous post, if you want to fly, go to college, apply to one of the commissioning programs and get your bars, then go to flight school.

I enlisted because I hated school and didn't want to look for a 'real' job, they convinced me to apply to PLC and a flight slot and get my degree
 

invertedflyer

500 ft. from said obstacle
There are definite perks. Mustang I have to respectfully disagree with you in your "no better no worse" comment, it depends on what YOU make of it. It is my belief that being in the boots of an enlisted Marine is invaluable experience, especially if you make it into the NCO ranks before commissioning. If you do, then thats more useful leadership experience that will help you. My experience with priors was that our top 3 candidates were all prior. So I guess it varies. Regardless, I wouldn't trade my enlisted experience for anything.

K-Dub. To save you some time.

1. GI-Bill varies, but is about $320-350 per month, you have to activate it through your school's VA representative and verify your class load every month. After you verify, they send you a check. When you add this to your monthly drill pay, it comes out to about $600 per month.

2. You could do the PLC program which is two 6-week courses, or OCC in one 10-week course.

3. Talk to an enlisted recruiter AND an OSO about this, and make sure you are going enlisted first for the right reasons (IMO just plain wanting to be an enlisted Marine for a while)

4. You will earn over 40 quarter units worth of college credit with MOS-school and other training combined with OCS, which helps to make up for lost time.

5. Your package looks much better if you're enlisted first, you're a safe bet because you're already a Marine.

I work in recruiting right now and talk to many students about these options. Make sure to research this as much as possible in order to see the big picture. If you think you'd rather stay in school and not enlist, by all means do just that. The earlier you get on it, the smoother the process. good luck to you!
 

Mustang83

Professional back-seat driver
None
There are definite perks. Mustang I have to respectfully disagree with you in your "no better no worse" comment. It is my belief that being in the boots of an enlisted Marine is invaluable experience, especially if you make it into the NCO ranks before commissioning. If you do, then thats more useful leadership experience that will help you. I wouldn't trade my enlisted experience for anything.

I like the way you put that. I was just trying to emphasize that by enlisting, she will not be guaranteed to become a better officer, that will depend upon her. I have seen both in my short time. Some of the priors who commissioned were S!ht hot and attribute that to enlisting first, while others who touted around the fact they were priors where less that desirable.
 

K-Dub1220

New Member
There are definite perks. Mustang I have to respectfully disagree with you in your "no better no worse" comment, it depends on what YOU make of it. It is my belief that being in the boots of an enlisted Marine is invaluable experience, especially if you make it into the NCO ranks before commissioning. If you do, then thats more useful leadership experience that will help you. I wouldn't trade my enlisted experience for anything.

K-Dub. To save you some time.

1. GI-Bill varies, but is about $320-350 per month, you have to activate it through your school's VA representative and verify your class load every month. After you verify, they send you a check. When you add this to your monthly drill pay, it comes out to about $600 per month.

2. You could do the PLC program which is two 6-week courses, or OCC in one 10-week course.

3. Talk to an enlisted recruiter AND an OSO about this, and make sure you are going enlisted first for the right reasons (IMO just plain wanting to be an enlisted Marine for a while)

4. You will earn over 40 quarter units worth of college credit with MOS-school and other training combined with OCS, which helps to make up for lost time.

5. Your package looks much better if you're enlisted first, you're a safe bet because you're already a Marine.

I work in recruiting right now and talk to many students about these options. Make sure to research this as much as possible in order to see the big picture. If you think you'd rather stay in school and not enlist, by all means do just that. The earlier you get on it, the smoother the process. good luck to you!

Thanks that actually helped out a lot. Now enlisting right out o high school then going reserves...would that cause me to not be able to start school until 2nd semester because of the 12 week BMT?
 

Mustang83

Professional back-seat driver
None
That all depends on what MOS your going for. Some have really short schools (6-8weeks), some have really long (15 months...)
 

invertedflyer

500 ft. from said obstacle
Yes, you would be delayed in school. So thats something that you have to consider. I took an entire year off to do boot camp, MCT, and my MOS-school. However, I graduated almost a year early because of all of the college credits awarded me from OCS. So it balances things out a bit. However, previous posters are correct in that you could deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, which could potentially further delay you.
 
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