Hello All!

Kingsnakechris · 04-18-12, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollbie

Ugh I know. I'd take 29 palms over carolina... West coast or overseas would be my top choices haha. I really wanna go on a MEU too. And do the survival school in the snow.

And as a female Corpsman, I'd probably get stuck in a hospital. I want to be in the field dealing with combat related wounds. It sounds weird, I know haha.

I was engaged to a marine so I lived in Pendleton for a summer and made a lot of friends from all kinds of MOSs. And I was also really lucky with one of my recruiters. He was awesome and didn't lie to me like most do. But I've pretty much had all my questions answered. Thank you though! I'm a little concerned now that there's talk of pulling out of Afghan though. I really wanna go there and experience it. And I'd hate to be stuck stateside not doing much. Know what I mean? I'd also love to go to Afghan and set up little clinics for especially the kids there that get burned and hurt in kitchen accidents and such. Something I'd like to do on my "downtime" while I'm there.

I've also been looking into the Lioness?FET teams

My recruiter was my best buddy till I enlisted, never saw him again. I was one of the guys who stumbled into the mall and talked to him, I actually bummed a smoke from him outside the mall and figured why not go sit and listen to what he had to say... Before I knew it I was at M.E.P.S. then a few months later ( I was a little to heavy to go right in so I had go through the delayed entry program) I was at FT. Benning Georgia.

Trollbie · 04-18-12, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingsnakechris

My recruiter was my best buddy till I enlisted, never saw him again. I was one of the guys who stumbled into the mall and talked to him, I actually bummed a smoke from him outside the mall and figured why not go sit and listen to what he had to say... Before I knew it I was at M.E.P.S. then a few months later ( I was a little to heavy to go right in so I had go through the delayed entry program) I was at FT. Benning Georgia.

I wanted to join the Navy and I was always talking smack on the Marines... And then I got the call from the MC recruiter sr year so I was like fine, I'll see what you have to say. Went in pretty much to argue with them (Anything to get out of the house) and walked out smitten with the Corps lolz

Plus Marines have the best uniforms. I was in AFJROTC, and I hated the uniforms. No uniform look better than the Marine Corps Alphas in my opinion

And their camis are the coolest also

I really liked the dark green Army uniforms too... I don't get why they switched...

Kingsnakechris · 04-18-12, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollbie

I wanted to join the Navy and I was always talking smack on the Marines... And then I got the call from the MC recruiter sr year so I was like fine, I'll see what you have to say. Went in pretty much to argue with them (Anything to get out of the house) and walked out smitten with the Corps lolz

Plus Marines have the best uniforms. I was in AFJROTC, and I hated the uniforms. No uniform look better than the Marine Corps Alphas in my opinion

And their camis are the coolest also

I really liked the dark green Army uniforms too... I don't get why they switched...

You don't like the army digitals!?? Lol. I do like how the MC do up their BDU's I.E the sleeves being rolled back perfectly, I often thought they made us look lazy haha

BarelyBreathing · 04-18-12, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingsnakechris

You don't like the army digitals!?? Lol. I do like how the MC do up their BDU's I.E the sleeves being rolled back perfectly, I often thought they made us look lazy haha

All I have to say is: Velcroe.

Kingsnakechris · 04-18-12, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarelyBreathing

All I have to say is: Velcroe.

LOL see they DO make us look lazy dam!

USMCgunner11 · 04-18-12, 01:28 PM

If it's combat you seek then military police is about as close as you could get as a female. MPs are split between garrison (on base) and field (security ops, route recon, foot and mounted patroling, detainee handling, etc).

As far as pulling out of Afhan, there's still a lot of fighting left in the country. And even if we pull out, Iran and N. Korea are next anyhow!

Kingsnakechris · 04-18-12, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by USMCgunner11

If it's combat you seek then military police is about as close as you could get as a female. MPs are split between garrison (on base) and field (security ops, route recon, foot and mounted patroling, detainee handling, etc).

As far as pulling out of Afhan, there's still a lot of fighting left in the country. And even if we pull out, Iran and N. Korea are next anyhow!

Don't quote me on this but I heard that ALOT of local PD's frown upon MP training due to the difference in training? I'm not positive on that tho.

USMCgunner11 · 04-18-12, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingsnakechris

Don't quote me on this but I heard that ALOT of local PD's frown upon MP training due to the difference in training? I'm not positive on that tho.

In my experience, they don't. A lot of my freinds left the USMC and went on to become police officers for various departments. The training is different but no so different that they wouldn't want to acquire one fo us.

I opted to stay with the fed gov as opposed to go an work for a civilian LE agency. My retirement and seniority all transfer over from the military that way. Plus, better job security in this economy.

Kingsnakechris · 04-18-12, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by USMCgunner11

In my experience, they don't. A lot of my freinds left the USMC and went on to become police officers for various departments. The training is different but no so different that they wouldn't want to acquire one fo us.

I opted to stay with the fed gov as opposed to go an work for a civilian LE agency. My retirement and seniority all transfer over from the military that way. Plus, better job security in this economy.

Yeah unfortunately for me I was a full time grunt, and now I'm a busted up lol.
I was on military leave at my old job but due to injuries sustained I'm still waiting to go back to work. Luckily they were completely understanding and offered to let me have my job back as soon as I'm able to go. And thank you for clearing that up for me ( my question regarding the difference in training) I've often wondered about that.

Trollbie · 04-18-12, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by USMCgunner11

If it's combat you seek then military police is about as close as you could get as a female. MPs are split between garrison (on base) and field (security ops, route recon, foot and mounted patroling, detainee handling, etc).

As far as pulling out of Afhan, there's still a lot of fighting left in the country. And even if we pull out, Iran and N. Korea are next anyhow!

I don't think I want to "fight" anymore (although I probably wouldn't be able to say no to sniper school lol). I want to be near combat, but be the one making it better. As in saving lives or interacting with the locals and helping to make them see the "better" side of the US military. I for sure want to learn Farsi and/or Arabic if I go in.

RandyRhoads · 04-18-12, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollbie

As in saving lives or interacting with the locals and helping to make them see the "better" side of the US military.

Interact with them by killing them before they get you killed. They don't want you there and being all lovey dovey won't make them want you there or see "the good side".

Kingsnakechris · 04-18-12, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandyRhoads

Interact with them by killing them before they get you killed. They don't want you there and being all lovey dovey won't make them want you there or see "the good side".

Agreed. As I said before, IMO the ones were helping are just as nasty as the ones were against. They have no interest in seeing the good side of our presence there... At least none of the people we encountered. Some of the kids were pretty cool tho...

Trollbie · 04-18-12, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandyRhoads

Interact with them by killing them before they get you killed. They don't want you there and being all lovey dovey won't make them want you there or see "the good side".

There's always that risk. But the one deployment I went through with my ex, they were in Helmand and ran supply convoys between Camp Leatherneck and all the surrounding FOBs (he was Motor-T). They would always talk about how excited the locals would get when their convoy came through and interactive they were. Since things were calming down in that area, they ended up breaking one of the FOBs down and the locals were apparently very sad that the troops were leaving their village.

I think you just have to gain as much of their trust as possible in a short amount of time and maintain it. All this before Taliban turns them against you... It's hard and I know you can never be too careful, but if you try to not kill their fellow civies, and don't destroy their land and resources, you're on the right path to gaining their trust. A lot of those people are obviously scared to death of Taliban and don't want them there. So many of them are banking on the troops to protect them.

I swear I'm not trying to sound like I know everything because I don't. But I think that a lot of people (mainly thanks to the media) don't see the few good things that are happening over there. I'm know it's not rainbows and butterflies. But if I go, I'd want to do my best to find the positives and make them better, and if I can't find any, then I'd create them.

As silly as this probably sounds to those of you who've been there, I promise that I'm not making any of this up. A close family friend is an Army (Sgt I think) who's been in over 20 years, and he always made it his goal to do more than he was sent there for. He's had some awesome and inspiring experiences.

I'm sure a lot of it depends on where you are and who your commander's are though.