Archive for the ‘Officer Country’ Category
Marine Corps Officer Candidate School is an intense 10 week course designed to take you from college graduate to Marine Corps officer. It takes place in Quantico, Virginia and you are paid while you are trained. After college graduation and completion of Officer Candidate Course (OCC) you begin active duty training in what is called The Basic School. When you are attending The Basic School you are a commissioned officer and you are on active duty.
Whether you desire to become a Marine Pilot or want to be in tanks, as an officer, it all starts after you complete Marine Corps Officer training and then go on to complete Basic School. Law School, Air School or Grunt School….if you want to become a Marine Corps Officer you will have to prove yourself in Marine Corps Boot Camp ( Yes, for officers) After Marine Corps Boot Camp you will spend six months learning infantry tactics and then and only then you will you begin the specialized training that will be your MOS, or job in the United States Marine Corps.
All Marines are trained to function in the infantry first and foremost because when your plane has no gas, you will need to shoot your rifle. Boots on the ground that are trained is what make The marine Corps so effective in the world today.
If you want to become a Marine Officer you need to prepare for boot camp…plain and simple because it is in your future. The Officer Candidate Course is an excellent way to go and you should check out the link below that will take you to the official USMC Officer Candidate Course Website!
USMC ENLISTED BOOT CAMP PREPARATION
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The United States Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class is an awesome program that allows a person attending college to become a United States Marine Corps Officer once college is completed. Simply put, The Marine PLC program can be referred to Marine Corps Officers Boot Camp.
All training is done at Quantico, Virginia and it is always done during the summer break. What this program allows is a person to attend college full time and then during the summer they complete officer’s boot camp training very similar to Parris Island. The program is awesome and it works….I know because it is what I did in 1980 or so. Below is a video about it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Marine Corps Boot Camp Information Enlisted
Marine Corps Boot Camp Information PLC Officer Candidate
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Tags: Marine Officers, Officer Boot Camp, Officer Candidate, PLC | 
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How to be a Marine Pilot has been asked for almost as long as there have been airplanes in the sky. If you want to become a Marine Aviator there is one thing that you are required to do first, and that is that you need to become a Marine. The reason you need to become a Marine first is because that “bond” of being a Marine is what holds the whole ball of wax together. The air-ground team that makes up the Marine Corps not only sets The Corps apart from the other branches of service, it is what makes The Marine Corps the finest fighting force there is in existence today.
Click Here to learn how to prepare for Marine Corps Basic Training
The bond that makes The Marine Corps is unique because ALLMarine Pilots start their career as a pilot with infantry training. The Corps does not care if you attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated number one in your class, you will be required to complete six months of basic infantry training at a place in Quantico, Virginia called The Basic School. That is where many infantry related things are taught and more importantly….experienced. In order to become a pilot in The Marine Corps, a person needs to be a commissioned officer with a college degree. Whether you went to the USNA, or Podunk University, it really does not matter. The bond of understanding the Marine infantry life is mandatory. Here’s why…
When involved in combat the corps has at it’s disposal what amounts to it’s own personal air force. The Marine Corps takes it air force with them and in those planes are Marines. When combat is taking place on the ground and a platoon of Marines are taking fire and are calling for help, they call the air wing. When the airplane/helicopter shows up on the scene they actually talk to the Marine that is hunkered down calling for help. There is a good chance that the pilot will even know the Marine on the ground because they may have trained together. When the Marine foot soldier needs help, the pilot has that bond that he needs to help not some voice on the radio, but another brother Marine. A Marine will never let down another Marine, and that is the bond that is born in training. Unless you are a graduate of The United States Naval Academy, you will be required to attend what amounts to Marine Corps Boot Camp.
If you desire to be a pilot in The Marine Corps you need to be a college graduate. Unless you went to the Naval Academy, you will be involved in some sort of boot camp. It will not be Parris Island or San Diego but it will be boot camp nonetheless. That boot camp will be more severe than the enlisted training because the graduates will be leading the enlisted Marines. In essence, the Marine Corps Officer Corps is expected to perform better that the enlisted Marines because so much more is expected from the Officers. We will not get into a deep discussion of the physical requirements, but here is an overview.
- Pass MEPS and the Class 1 Flight Physical for pilots.
- Vision better than 20/40 and correctable to 20/20 using soft contact lenses. (PRK eye surgery requires waiver)
- 2.0 college GPA
- 1000 or higher on SAT and/or 22 on ACT
- Pass a background check with the FBI. (not a felon or wanted criminal)
- 225 PFT (Really need a 240 to have OSO forward your packet to USMCHQ)
Now that we have listed the basic requirements we want you to know that an enlisted person can become a pilot only if they are an officer. The only way to become an officer is to graduate from a 4 year college and then complete basic training. (USNA does not complete basic training) Once basic training is completed you attend The Basic School, which is about six months long. Once The Basic School is completed The newly minted Marine Officer heads off to ground school for aviation. After ground school is completed, the flight student then gets chosen for either fixed wing or helicopters. Whether you get chosen for jets or anything else is based first and foremost on what is available. Everyone wants jets and the slots that are open only go to the best in the class at the time of selection.
If there are no slots for jet training open when it is your time to choose, you do not fly jets…case closed. The needs of The Corps come first. If you are qualified to fly jets and there is a slot you will complete with all others that are in your class and you get what you earn. If your father flew jets and was shot down, or some other such drama in your closet, you will have an unofficial leg up on the competition. That is reality, but not written anywhere. It is just the way it is and how it happens. Other than that what you fly is what is available and then within what is available is sorted out by how well you rank against your class mates.
The success of a Marine aviator is the fact that your brother Marine is calling for help and needs it and needs it now. When that Marine pilot comes screaming in from above and drops their ordinance so fast the enemy does not know it is even dead, it is because their fellow Marine has requested it to be done. More often than not, the Marine making the call is a pilot them self assigned to the infantry. Yes, Marine pilots DO get pulled out of the cockpit to work on the ground with the infantry.
The flip side of the coin is that the Marine aviator knows that if their aircraft is shot down, the Marines on the ground will die trying to bring them home. The bond of being a Marine is what sends that pilot into danger and it is reinforced by the knowledge that the ground forces will be there if and when the need comes. The Marine air-ground team is first and foremost a team of brother Marines and that bond is something civilians do not comprehend because they….well, simply are not Marines. That bond is born in Marine Corps Boot Camp and until you complete Boot Camp or Officer Candidate School (OCS/USNA) That bond does not exist.
If you want to become a Marine and do not come from The Naval Academy there really is only one person that stands in the way of your dream. It is the one in front of you, screaming. It is the one with the smokey bear cover. It is your what you would associate as a drill instructor.
Click Here For Help On Preparing For Marine Corps Boot Camp
There is so much to be found on the Internet when doing a search about Marine Corps basic training, that attempting to learn about Marine Corps Officer Training sometimes seems as if it is a mythical subject that is kept a secret.
The truth of the matter is that the Marine Corps officer corps is one of the most elite group of warriors in the world today. If one were just do the math to see how few the ranks of the officer corps were, the mystery surrounding this small group grows even more in reality. If you thought it was tough to complete Marine Corps basic training, you would be amazed to discover how hard it is to enter the rank and file of the Marine Corps Officer Training.
There is a profound difference in training philosophy when looking at enlisted boot camp and officer boot camp. When training as an enlisted, a recruit is told to just get it done, while an officer candidate is asked more often as to how it should be done.
Learn about the mind games of boot camp by clicking here.
Despite this abyss of training philosophy, there is one basic tenet that rings true in the world of either the Marine Corps Officer Training program or the Marine Corps Enlisted Training program. That tenet is one of instilled discipline with the basic knowledge of infantry skills.
If you are a Marine Corps officer pilot that no longer has an airplane, you will still be able to engage the enemy with your rifle and your basic understanding of infantry tactics. If you are an enlisted supply officer with little to supply, you too will still have basic infantry skills embedded into your thinking. That infantry training is what sets the Marine Corps apart from so many other branches of military around the world.
One aspect that is also unique to Marine Corps training for officers and enlisted alike is the mind games that are played while in boot camp. Officers also have to endure many weeks of instruction that is even more fast paced and rigorous than either MCRD Parris Island or MCRD San Diego. If an individual is not ready to deal with the mental trauma that is inflicted upon them while undergoing basic training, they too can crumble under the pressure of the daily reality.
Basic training is designed to weed out the weak minded long before the first bullet is shot. When the bullets and bombs start flying all of the training kicks in and is often even inadequate for the experience. Without killing the recruits, basic training is as realistic as society can get at preparing Marines for war. If you want to be a Marine, it is highly suggested you take the time to study how you will be trained. Take the time to understand how those mind games will be played out. Discover the reason “why” now, while you have the time to ask. Take my word for it…you need to ask “why” now, because when a Drill Instructor is in your face screaming, “why” is not a question you will ever dare to ask. So ask it now and your chances of being a Marine Corps Officer Training success will increase more than 10 fold.
Click here to see if the Marines will think you are a wimp.