A hello, and some questions...

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone... I am (hopefully) a future marine reservist, and am very glad to have found this group! I've been in to talk to a recruiter, and was almost convinced to ship in May, but ended up deciding to wait until after my next year of college... so I have about a year to make a final decision, and get myself as prepared as possible. This is a very difficult decision for me, about 80% of the time I'm completely motivated, and the other 20% i'm absolutely terrified =) It certainly doesn't help that most people I talk to are completely uncomprehending of the idea that an intelligent girl with a lot of options would want to "sell herself to the government" (as my mother put it)... So I would love to hear from anyone who could further convince me, especially anyone with experience in the reserves.

Also, some random questions: How physically prepared should I be before leaving for boot camp? I've never been a particularly athletic person, so the PT will be difficult for me. Just wondering things like how far I should be able to run, etc, so I won't constantly be struggling to keep up. And to calm my mother's fears: everything I've read about boot camp has said that they really can't abuse the recruits like they used to (no overly harsh PT, can't touch them, etc) and I'm wondering how true that all is... I think my mom saw GI Jane and now she's scared =)

And I know I had a lot more questions that I can't remember at the moment... hmm.. oh well.

Thank you! Tracy

VZNH@aol.com

[Anonymous]

Tracy,

There will always be people who will question your decision. As long as you don't you'll be all right.

'GI Jane' was a movie, remind your mom of that.

Start working out NOW! :o) They are going to push you to your limits but they aren't going to kill you. Every DI has her career to worry about and abusin recruits does not further that issue. Besides it's against regulations.

I sent you a link to my website, I hope the info you find there helps.

Mon


:
: Hello everyone... I am (hopefully) a future marine reservist, and am very
: glad to have found this group! I've been in to talk to a recruiter, and
: was almost convinced to ship in May, but ended up deciding to wait until
: after my next year of college... so I have about a year to make a final
: decision, and get myself as prepared as possible. This is a very difficult
: decision for me, about 80% of the time I'm completely motivated, and the
: other 20% i'm absolutely terrified =) It certainly doesn't help that most
: people I talk to are completely uncomprehending of the idea that an
: intelligent girl with a lot of options would want to "sell herself to
: the government" (as my mother put it)... So I would love to hear from
: anyone who could further convince me, especially anyone with experience in
: the reserves.
:
: Also, some random questions: How physically prepared should I be before
: leaving for boot camp? I've never been a particularly athletic person, so
: the PT will be difficult for me. Just wondering things like how far I
: should be able to run, etc, so I won't constantly be struggling to keep
: up. And to calm my mother's fears: everything I've read about boot camp
: has said that they really can't abuse the recruits like they used to (no
: overly harsh PT, can't touch them, etc) and I'm wondering how true that
: all is... I think my mom saw GI Jane and now she's scared =)
:
: And I know I had a lot more questions that I can't remember at the moment...
: hmm.. oh well.
:
: Thank you! Tracy


zuma50@hotmail.com

[Anonymous]

I'm not athletic, and I flew through boot camp. They don't PT you nearly as much as it sounds like and it gets EASY after the first few weeks. You get used to it.

GI Jane was a movie!!!! Boot Camp is NOTHING like it. MCT on the other hand.... oh, well, that's another story :-) But hey, I'm still alive and I actually had fun too!

Good luck! K

kathyw46@hotmail.com

[Anonymous]

hello there..


:
: I'm not athletic, and I flew through boot camp. They don't PT you nearly as
: much as it sounds like and it gets EASY after the first few weeks. You get
: used to it.


that's encouraging, thank you =) i do also plan to do some serious working out before i go, so that should help also.
:
: GI Jane was a movie!!!! Boot Camp is NOTHING like it. MCT on the other
: hand.... oh, well, that's another story :-) But hey, I'm still alive and I
: actually had fun too!

yeah, i've noticed that no one really talks about MCT, are they trying not to scare me away?

may i ask what you're doing now in the corps? what's your MOS?

Tracy

VZNH@aol.com

[Anonymous]

: yeah, i've noticed that no one really talks about MCT, are they trying not to
: scare me away?


MCT is a lot different than boot camp. Now that you're a Marine, they can "abuse" you more. That's not to say they smack you around or anything... they just do whatever they can to make you misserable. MCT in the winter is harsh... you don't get any reprieve from the cold and by the time the 17 days are over, the whole platoon is sick. In the summer, I've heard it's bad... lots of heat exhaustion and the bugs are AWFUL! So I guess the ideal time to go is in the spring or fall before it gets too hot or cold. My advice is to take that into account when you pick your ship date to boot. You'll be better off having bad weather in boot because they protect you from it a lot more. I've heard a lot about MCT classes that did NOTHING, but most of those were male classes. They talked about sitting in the woods smoking cigs the whole time. From my experience, the female instructors are a lot more hard core and are all determined to prove they're better than the guys... so your experiences at MCT all depend on your instructors. One thing's for sure, if you aren't used to hearing people cuss about everything, you'll get used to it there... "Morning Corporal, how the f--- are you?"... typical greeting. It's not that bad, just stressful at times.
:
: may i ask what you're doing now in the corps? what's your MOS?

My MOS is 2676, which is Signals Intelligence, Cryptologic Linguist, specializing in Russian. After the holidays I'm heading to the Defense Language Institute in California.



kathyw46@hotmail.com

[Anonymous]

: MCT is a lot different than boot camp. Now that you're a Marine, they can
: "abuse" you more. That's not to say they smack you around or
: anything... they just do whatever they can to make you misserable. MCT in
: the winter is harsh... you don't get any reprieve from the cold and by the
: time the 17 days are over, the whole platoon is sick. In the summer, I've
: heard it's bad... lots of heat exhaustion and the bugs are AWFUL! So I


okay, thanks for the warning. I may not end up having much choice about when I go, however, because I'll be joining as a reservist and I'll be in college, so I'll have to do the training during school breaks... which will mean summer. *sigh* Hey, it's only 17 days, I figure it can't kill me =)

MCT is at Camp Lejeune, isn't it? how cold does it get there during the winter?

Tracy

VZNH@aol.com

[Anonymous]

:
: MCT is at Camp Lejeune, isn't it? how cold does it get there during the
: winter?


Technically it's at Camp Geiger, which is a part of Camp Lejeune. The coldest night we had was 22 degrees F, in December. The instructors told us it gets colder in January and then starts to warm by the end of February. Daytime temps were in the 50's and 60's, but if the sun's out you'll be sweating no matter what.

kathyw46@hotmail.com

[Anonymous]

: Technically it's at Camp Geiger, which is a part of Camp Lejeune. The coldest
: night we had was 22 degrees F, in December. The instructors told us it
: gets colder in January and then starts to warm by the end of February.
: Daytime temps were in the 50's and 60's, but if the sun's out you'll be
: sweating no matter what.


okay, that sounds tolerable, at least... as long as it's warm during the day... i'm from new hampshire, so I'm used to 10 degree days during the winter =)

Tracy

VZNH@aol.com