My daughter and her post high school plans

[Jim Richards]

Marines is OK, Navy is best. Forget the rest.

[MRM]

First and foremost, congratulations on raising such a fine young woman. I am curious about her arrangements. If she is deferring her admission for one year, how is she going to complete her obligation to the Marines in time to get back to school before her deferment expires?

The JAG Corp is a fine career. I strongly considered it myself, but with a family that was pretty tied to one city it didn't seem like an option. A former clerk of mine went into the Navy as a JAG and it was a great experience for her. She ended up in the field with special forces advising what targets were legal to attack and then interrogating insurgents. It was quite intense.

[Rick Lee]

Congrats. It's been a while, but when I did ROTC, there were plenty of cadets who had been through basic and were reservists, going to school, but also doing ROTC while in school. A few were activated and sent to the sandbox during Desert Storm.

[GH85Carrera]

It sounds like you raised a fine young woman.

Tell her thank you from the grumpy old men of Pelican. She gives me hope for the future of the country. She is not another spoiled clueless millennial. She understands the meaning of WORKING towards her goals.

If she is willing to work through the Marines basic training, law school and officer's training to achieve her goals she understands the concept of hard work.

Congratulations to you and her!

[Hard-Deck]

Congratulations! She's right on track and obviously a result of good parenting.

[jhynesrockmtn]

Congrats. She sounds amazing. My 22 year old is Army, went through college in ROTC and started, commissioned last year, in fact started Ranger school today. I would say, like others here, top physical condition before basic. Focus on the PT tested areas. Upper body, core and running. Learn how they test in terms of expectations for time/reps and also body position. It is surprising how many will show up without having done the training. Build into longer run distances over time, then start hiking with a backpack with weight in it to simulate ruck marches. I don't know if this is part of basic for Marines but it sure is part of their physical training in ROTC and so far what he's experienced as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army. Good luck to her!

[T77911S]

i use to live in beaufort (paris island). i had a great time there. played tennis, sailed, i loved it. oh, my dad ran the exchange there.
she is too pretty to be a marine. (no im not being a perv). i have seen too many female marines, and i use the term female losely.

be careful of the time of year she goes in.
the summer is brutal. the early summer is bad because of the bugs. nats, mosquitoes.
right now the nats and black flies are coming out and when you have to stand at attention that can be torture.
try to go in sept- oct or if she can deal with the cold feb time period.
also dont let the recruiter BS you. if it is not in WRITING it wont happen. if they tell you she can get the job she wants AFTER she joins, that is not true.
i am prior air force and i just went thru this with a friend that joined the army. they told him the ONLY job they had was a cook and that he could maybe swap once he went in. he wanted to join the military police. he held out and they got him what he wanted.

once you talk to a recuiter if you have any questions post them here. there are lots of service guys that can guide you.

she needs to start running NOW.

you might check into the air force JAG and OSI.
in the air force its more like going to work at a professional office with a little military stuff, IE your job really comes first. in the mairnes/army its really the other way around.

[gassy]

Thanks for all of the support and comments. My daughter is checking this thread regularly. Much appreciated!

[Halm]

Congratulations to you and your daughter. She sounds like one in a million.

My God-Daughter and the daughter of one of my better college friends both are now Navy JAG's and either had any connection to the Navy prior to law school. I am like Flintstone, and I have never heard of a program with a one year commitment. I would suggest that unless she has it in writing, it may not happen the way it is now being represented.

Why not wait until law school, and I bet the various services will be fighting to see which one gets to pay for her schooling.

[fintstone]

My daughter did college ROTC because it ensured she would get a scholarship to med school. Instead, she almost went to Iraq right out of undergrad as a Security Policeman because she didn't get into Med school until the following year. Interestingly, even with a full scholarship on hand, many med schools turned her down even though she was competitive.

An admissions guy (ex AF missile officer like me) shared with me privately that she should have kept her military scholarship private instead of proudly mentioning it and her AF commission in her essay/application because many of the people on the boards at state schools were quite anti-military and that hurt her chances. Also, since the schools were state funded/subsidized, they primarily were interested in doctors who would remain in the state and serve that population (and they realized she would be gone for many years and likely never return to be a local doctor, alumni contributor, etc).

When she actually got to med school, the military recruiters were there to offer everyone the same scholarship as her's. In fact, pretty much everyone who could get accepted to med school had someone there to offer them money in return for a commitment of some sort. The only difference between her and the folks who signed up in med school is that they only owed the AF 7 years after they graduated (including a 3-year) residency. She owed 11 years.

The fact that they "own" her for much longer is a problem in two ways. One is if she wants to get out for higher pay or to pursue a specialty that they don't need (she wants to be a dermatologist but they need family practice) and two, if she wants a better assignment. Even if she wants to stay, she has no leverage. Others in her career year group are "kept happy" with respect to assignments, etc. so they will not leave at the end of their first assignment after residency. She cannot (owes twice as long), so she is stuck with the remote assignment, little choice in specialty, etc.

[DavidI]

Semper Fi to your daughter! I suggest she start running and exercising as much as possible. The better physical shape she is in, the less stress she will have. She should start learning to march with all the commands such as right face, left face, about face, mark time, etc. This will again alleviate some of the stress.

Get everything in writing from a recruiter. Some are less ethical than others and you want to ensure she knows exactly what MOS she agrees to.

Never give up...never. You did a great job of raising a future leader!!!

[Rikao4]

well done ..
and I wish her nothing but the best..
as other's have said & I will again..
in writing..and double check..
Army fibbed to me & JAG gave them 2 choices..
do what you promised in writing or let him go..
I got what I wanted & agreed to..
her..
start running...
drop her and tell her..
give me 20..
and learn to be ready in 10...
some Jodi cadence tapes to make her laugh while hurting..

Rika

[HHI944]

Oh, for the love of god, teach her how to navigate with a map and compass. I was Army, but when I went through, the number of people who had absolutely no clue how to use a map and compass was staggering....

[gassy]

Well if anyone is remotely interested, I thought I'd update the thread. My daughter started boot camp a couple weeks ago on October 13th. I got my first letter from her today and she sounds good. All of her training during the summer paid off-- she said the PT wasn't too bad so far. She's asking for lots of letters and pictures and I'm happy to oblige. She of course misses home but didn't complain about a single thing. She'll be down there for Thanksgiving and Christmas which will be tough on both ends, but graduation is on January 8th and I can't wait to see her. She's a good kid. Here she is a couple weeks before she left. Confident and calm! Thanks again for all of your support.

[Rick Lee]

Very cool. Thanks for the update.

[Seahawk]

Very, very cool.

This is a big deal. I wish her every possible success.

[Rot 911]

Good time of year to be at Parris Island. Heat is dropping off.

As a reservist in college she will definitely run the risk of getting activated. But, that is part of life. I got called up my third year of law school for Operation Just Cause in Panama. Everyone else is on Christmas break and I'm in the ******* jungle. Then after graduation, off to the desert for DS1.

[DonDavis]

I'm very happy for her and Paul is right. This is a BIG deal. Looking forward to updates and pics from graduation.

[Halm]

Yes, keep the updates coming.

[nostatic]

Congrats - the Marines have always been my favorite branch to work with (don't tell the Army that). Best of luck to her.