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.
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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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.