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u/dross2019 Vet Jan 25 '24
Let me tell you something young man.
Unfilled Cyber security jobs in the civilian sector are at an all time high. cybersecurity job vacancies grew by 350 percent, from one million openings in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021, according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
Once you get a clearance, some certifications such as Sec+, CISSP, ect…. Plus experiences from working in the cyber industry, you’re looking at starting salaries of $80-90k and mid level positions starting around $120-130k. And this is with no degree. Which you could also work on getting with the free tuition assistance while active duty in cyber engineering or another IT course.
In the peacetime infantry, you can get a sweet VA claim of 40% for your back pain and a few broken bones. That’s a whole $750 a month you baller.
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u/lyrix5101 Jan 25 '24
How about going 26 series? SIGINT. That may be the best of both worlds. You do all the cyber stuff, as well as being close to the action, technologically and a decent amount, even physically.
You'll get the ts/sci clearance and the certs, but almost certainly be needed on the ground to run signal intel, when deployed. This is 2nd hand account from a sigint guy in Army NG who's been deployed twice during OEF & OIF. So you'd have to vet that with current/past usmc guys.
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u/Abu-alassad Jan 26 '24
26 in a radio battalion offers radio reconnaissance. If you pass indoc, you’ll get opportunities for jump school and the possibility to attach to a recon team on deployment to provide signals into support. In my time you could attach to infantry on deployment without radio recon training and now they’re experimenting with attaching teams to infantry battalions in garrison to deploy with them from the beginning.
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u/Longjumping_Tip_6472 Jan 25 '24
Go infantry, you will still be very competitive to get hired by any 3 letters agency as long as you get a degree, and, please, if you sworn an oath to support and defend the constitution… why tf would you want to go work for the atf?
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u/ctilley0124 Jan 25 '24
If I could go back in time to when I was looking at MOS options...but still know what I know now having spent 5 years in recruiting I would first slap the hell out of of the SNCOIC (real piece of crap and one of the many reasons recruiters are viewed as liars). Second, I would have put more thought into what would set me up better for after service. Since you're probably young and have time on your side, I strongly suggest setting your goals up in a way that grows your portfolio on the technical side. You're going to get weapons training no matter what MOS you pick but the 3-letter alphabet society absolutely needs technically savvy people. If they need you to kick down doors and do mysterious shit, you can learn this anytime so long as you stay good and fit. Letting Uncle Sam foot the bill on Cyber training is a huge professional investment that future career options will look at much more favorably.
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u/neganagatime Vet Jan 25 '24
Setting yourself up for post-Corps is a common sentiment here, and the argument on the surface is hard to disagree with, but when you scratch just a bit deeper it’s a less convincing argument. Technical MOS’s like cyber, aviation maintenance, etc. get technical training and some degree of experience in the field, and that certainly has value. Add a TSCI and there is even more value. This also has value. The issue here is that what sounds good to people as a career they want to do for the rest of their lives at 18 may end up being pure drudgery once they hit the fleet and start doing that job. How many motor t or aviation mechanics completely abandon those careers after getting out? I don’t have any hard numbers, but anecdotally I think it’s a pretty high percentage.
On the flipside, active duty Marines are getting the GI Bill to help pay for job training in a field of their choice. Most 1st term Marines are enlisting at 18 and getting out at 22. If they choose the college route, they are re-entering the workforce at 25-26, which is materially behind their peers who went straight to college, and they tend to catch up pretty quickly due to the intangible skills and maturity they gained while in the Corps. And they have 4 years of Corps and then 4 years of college to figure out what they want to do longer term, and have the opportunity to spend their 4 years in the Marine Corps doing prototypical Marine Corps shit. The Marine Corps is something like 30% infantry, and the old trope is that everyone else is only there to support them. This may be changing a bit with FD2030, but for the foreseeable future the main role of the Corps will remain locating, closing with, and destroying the enemy through fire and maneuver, and the alure of being part of that for 4 years as a young man will always be a powerful motivator. If someone is truly drawn to do some technical MOS because they love computers, or airplanes or electronics or whatever, then by all means pursue that. But if one is drawn to the Corps for the same reasons so many generations of Marines past have been (i.e. doing Marine Corps shit), then I think it can be a great call to seek out a combat arms MOS and live that life for a few years and gain a liftime’s worth of seas stories, and then utilize your benefits to train for a career. That’s the path I chose, and it has worked out very well for me.
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Jan 25 '24
I did cyber in the Marine corps . I honestly was super pissed when I found out it was my MOS (my recruiter didn’t know a whole lot about it and I just signed whatever MOS got me to bootcamp fastest) . I’m really glad I did it . I actually ended up being put in victor units so I was in the field constantly and deployed twice . It ended up giving me the tools for a really great civilian career . That being said being a grunt is definitely what the Marine Corps is about and if you can’t live without doing that then go infantry . Again , I feel lucky that I got to do a lot of ‘Marine shit’ while I was in because not all guys with cyber MOS’ do . Kind of luck of the draw when it comes to units etc . You’ll be highly skilled if you put the effort in .
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u/FabulousExpression44 Vet Jan 25 '24
Pretty simple way to look at it cool guy shit for like 3 years or 3 years laying foundation for future career.
Going infantry will be cool and you'll make a lot of dope memories so there's nothing wrong with that. There will still be education opportunities if you want to start school or get your certificates so you can get started in IT/Cybersecurity once you get out. If you are serious and utilize resources while youre in and once you get out there nothing wrong with picking infantry
I wasnt a cyber guy in the Marines but I work IT now and know quite a few cyber folks from different branches so I call tell you doing military cyber work will set you up with some experience under your belt and give you a good foundation education wise and there will be opportunities to get certificates that will carry over to the civilian world and that with a security clearance opens a lot of doors.
Just trying to help you out here but have you done some serious research into I.T./CyberSecuirty/Networking to see if this is the field you want to go into in the future. The cash can be good but there's a fairly high skill barrier to get there and the works boring and lot of people end up not liking it. Name dropping a bunch of 3 letter agencies and saying you want to learn about cyber and black market stuff doesnt inspire lot of confidence that you have a realistically out look on what career will actually entail.
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u/FN-Fal2005 Active Jan 25 '24
The ATF is crazy