I'll agree that 1 year TIS and no rank requirement was loose, and moved away from the intent of the program. I thought that was ridiculous, but like you said it is MCRC's show and they can do what they want. What really, really irks me is an education requirement to replace MECEP Prep. The credit requirement wasn't meant to decrease the flow of applicants. It was to save money. MECEP was intended to pick up those E-4s to E-6s that had been there and done that and had shown potential to become company grade officers. By blindsiding everybody with a 12 hour nonwaiverable, nonnegotiable minimum in lieu of MECEP Prep, MCRC is pushing A LOT of potential applicants who would be both well suited to the classroom and outstanding company grade officers out of the game. They could have done that in 2002 and nobody would have really cared. Now, there are guys who have "off duty" education, but most of them took the courses while they were deployed and just couldn't come by 12 hours of college credit between the fighting in every clime and place and all of the PME and training requirements and, God forbid, family life. Sure, there's always next year, but a lot of guys are either at the end of their enlistment and say fuck this, or more importantly, the really salty ones who had their MECEP package by the nuts because they were so qualified under the old rules, but now they will be too old. I believe it is a failure by the front office to recognize that a lot of talent is out on their face this year with no warning, and a lot of them won't be back.