Marine Officer?

[justchaz]

As was obvious from my post, I am an "OORAH!", gung ho Marine.

You sure are, motivator.

To the thread starter - if you join the Marine Corps for the sole purpose of being selfish, you're going to be surely disappointed. You won't get out of it what you would if you went in with a different attitude, namely, to be a part of something bigger than yourself. If a little eighteen year old butter bar came into my shop reaking of selfishness and careerism, he'd be chewed up and spit out very quickly. Not to mention the fact that the other O's would stomp his d*ck as well.

Now, with that being said, the benefits of serving in the U.S. military are great. Had it not been for CNN, FoxNews, etc., I would never have known the economy took a crap. All of these DANTES tests - yeah, they're free. We all know the benefits.

On top of these, however, come the benefits of being a Marine. Those are things that you will not be able to put on a resume. They are those intangible substances that only other Marines know about for sure - others can only speculate and assume. Not to say that the other armed services do not have these things, I just haven't seen it in them personally.

Pursuing candidacy for a commissioning in the armed services would be a good deal for you. However, for the reasons that you state, the attitude that is portrayed in your posts seem inconsistent with the values of the Marine Corps. Talk of "resume builder", "40k a year", "not many people can say... at 21 or 22" will make your life excruciatingly hard in the Corps, whether you actually say it or just think it.

Let's speak of perspective. If your future employer is a retired Army/Air Force Captain or Navy Lieutenant, they would be a lot more impressed by "Army Captain" "Air Force Captain" or "Naval Lieutenant" than "Captain of Marines", for sake of their own camaraderie. And there's a hell of a lot more "other service" O-3's out there than Marine.

Have you ever noticed the commercials of the various armed forces? The Army and Air Force strongly promote their educational benefits. Right on. The Navy advocates its worldwide nature. Outstanding. All very good points. The Marine commercials, however, only speak of difficulty, pride, esprit de corps, and belonging.

You give to the Corps, not the other way around. Your paycheck deposits don't say USMC - they say DFAS Cleveland. Your GI Bill and home loan doesn't say USMC - It says VA. The ONLY things that the Marine Corps gives you are intangible. Try putting those on a resume.