USMC

[1982 flareside]

I am thinking about joining the marine corps. I want to be fish and wildlife out of school. What m.o.s do i need for that. Also any tips from the vets are helpful.

[ford4x4fun]

I don't really know of a job in the Marine Corps that will let you have a job like that when you graduate from AIT. Set your goals now though and stick to them. If you want to work in the fish and wildlife area you have lots of options. My advice to you would be go National Guard, and have them pay for your college and get a degree in the line of work you want to be in. My goals where to do 4 years than go to college, that was over 12 years ago now. STICK TO YOUR GOALS, no matter how impossible they seem at the moment. Life is about to get crazy on you, some advice from someone that has seen and done about everything in the military.

1. Don't marry a girl after knowing her for 2 months (Or small amount of time)
2. Don't give anyone you don't fully trust with your life a power of attorney
3. Be prepared, expect and be mentally ready to deploy
4. Maintain a positive attitude and learn all that you can while your in
5. If you go active duty take advantage of all the programs the military offers I.E. them paying for school and such
6. Listen to the NCO's that have experience, and don't let emotions cloud your decision making skills

The military is an excellent way to begin a life, but there are so many traps that a person can fall into. If you want to make it a career, do it because you want to, not because of bad decisions, and now you have to. I have seen so many people that stay in because they feel they have no options. Sorry to get on a soap box here, but it is important to stay true to yourself and your dreams. Talk to all the recruiters, and don't fall for the you have to sign right now or these options won't be available to you speech. If you scored good on your ASVAB test you will always have options. Good career fields to get into for promising jobs when you get out, are communications, military intelligence, and jobs like this. Not to offend anyone on here, but there isn't a big demand for trigger pullers once you do get out of the military. So remember that when they are showing you these cool videos of Infantry guys blowing things up, and jumping out of helicopters and such. I am not cutting on the infantry or ground pounders, because they have my utmost respect, I am just speaking the truth when it comes to getting out. So I guess what I am saying with all of this is do your research, and don't fall for all the gimmicks. If you have specific questions about deploying, or military life in general shoot me a PM, and I will answer all your questions the best I can. I am currently in a Joint unit that has Marines, Navy, Air Force, and Army so I can get any question answered for you in a couple days time. Good Luck!

[67camper]

I used to be stationed at Ft. Riley Kansas a few years back. There were a couple MPs who got assigned to be Game Wardens- i think that's kinda what youre talking about. it's pretty much a one in a million slot to get into tho. What ever you go with man, good luck!

[amishbuggy]

I'm all Army and I like anything that starts with 11, but I gotta say I'm really diggin the Air Force these days. The AF has all kinds of career options from special ops to high tech and last I knew you could change your MOS at reup time, I would definatly talk to them or check out their web site to see if they have want you are looking for.

[Mancar1]

If you qualify for the tech school you want, ask the recruiter if you hold up your end and pass the school after boot are you guaranteed to work in your chosen job field. I know the Navy guarantees the job field, the school comes with that. Some branches will guarantee you the school and after the school you may very well be doing something else, like ground pounding.
CPO USN Ret. (I did a tour of recruiting. A good recruiter will be honest, but will only tell if you ask.)

[r3vo_3vom]

ford4x4fun has some good points. But the only thing I could tell you if you want a Fish and Game job after the military is go ROTC and get your Wildlife deg and become a pilot in the army. I was in army aviation for 6yrs and the commissioned officers had degrees ranging from art history to engineering to biology. You won’t be doing anything relating to wildlife management while in the military but when you get out you will have the degree(which the military paid for) to get the job and have a veteran’s preference for all the jobs you look at. Plus being a pilot in the Army will transfer to the civilian side so you will have your pilot’s license plus the flight hours you need to get a job.

Right now I’m in the Pre-Wildlife Program at Boise State University but I’ll be transferring to University of Idaho next fall.

Good luck with whatever road you take.

[flyboy2610]

When you get to boot camp, (and you will go to Parris Island, SC) just remember: the DI is the best friend you have there!
But for the first eight weeks, he'll do everything he can to keep you from finding that out! No matter how well you and your platoon do in training, you will be 'punished' twice a day.
You will get there around ten at night, and you will be up all night and all the next day. They will start the 'shock and awe' treatment as soon as get off the bus.
Good luck!

[lrjetmech]

First things first-To all my fellow former, and current, Marines: Happy 235th Marine Corps Birthday! (tomorrow, November 10th, of course)! As a former Marine, I will tell you honestly, there are some good job training opportunities, if you score high enough on the ASVAB. I wanted to be a Marine pilot when I was younger, but my vision wasn't good enough uncorrected. I decided I wanted to be in Aviation anyway, so I chose the Avionics field (aviation electronics), and did my four years working backshop on all kinds of navigation, radar, and communication equipment for A-6 Intruders, A-4 Skyhawks, C-130's, F-18' Hornets, and last, but not least, my favorite, the F-4 Phantoms. I still work in this field today, for a corporate jet manufacturer, doing service, repair, and modifications in the company's Service Center here in Little Rock, Arkansas. This job, with overtime-alot of it unwanted, mind you-put me over $100K last year. Someone earlier said to use your time in to go to school, take college courses, etc.-I couldn't agree more. You will not regret training in a field that will allow you to have a great career later on in life, and you can't beat the benefit of a VA loan when it comes time to buy a house. Just be determined to be the best Marine you can be, no matter what field you go into. And remember, once a Marine, always a Marines-brothers-in-arms forever...SEMPER FIDELIS! (ALWAYS FAITHFUL) 1983-1987 MOS 6415 COM/NAV/RADAR

[69F110]

All good tips and advice. My understanding is that the only MOS the USMC will guarantee is Infantry. A noble profession indeed, but far away from wildlife management. My advice is to look at the USMC or Army Military Police Corps. You will get two benefits from either one of the branches MP Corps....
1. Law Enforcement Experience to propel you into a wildlife management position afterwards.
2. Military Experience, which is invaluable.

Beware though, I entered the United States Army in Nov 1987 with the intention of doing 4 years as an MP, then getting out, going to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia to get my degree in Wildlife Technology and becoming a Wildlife Office (Game Warden) in my home State of Florida....what really happened was that I retired from the Army 22 years later.

although I never attained my original dream- I do not regret a second of service to our country. I met people from every walk of life, lived in Europe for 10 years and did things I never would of done otherwise.

So, go for it. Be flexible and enjoy it.

[ezernut9mm]

this has nothing to do with your original question 82, but i had to laugh once army aviation was brought up.
my dad retired a colonel in the army and did 2 two tours in viet nam and commanded an aviation battalion in germany in the 80's.
when i was a kid he told me a joke about helicopters.

in the army we call them choppers, those air force pansy s call them whirly birds, the navy salts call them helos and the marines...
well, they just point at the sky and go UGH-UGH-UGH!
i laughed my butt off at that joke when i was a kid.
sorry, resume conversation.

[averagef250]

I don't think your mos matters much. Your attitude and your desire to learn, lead and achieve is more important than what you think you will be doing.

Before you actually do the job you have no idea what the jobs you will be doing will be like. No matter how many people tell you thier military experiences you really cannot fully understand it.

I don't recall my asvab score (95? Maybe and I skipped the entire section on writing/grammer), but I had the choice of any field I wanted at the time. I chose GS in the Navy (gas turbines) and finished 8 months of school missing one question on one test (For the first time I realized I could accomplish goals when I put my mind to them). I got to my ship, tried hard, made rank, learned what I was supposed to, but found over the next few years that most of the stuff I did had nothing to do with what I signed up for. Most of the schools and training I went for was shipboard firefighting. Most of the actual mechanical work I did was on our big diesels, not the gas turbines. Something broke, I was there. From the helo winch system through all of main and aux propulsion, refers, etc up to the missile launcher. I was a sponge, learned a lot.

Eventually I figured out I really hated certain aspects of military life. I hated the instability of military life, continuosly losing friends and developing new relationships. The lack of personal freedom, the control your superiors have over your personal life. How quickly your world can be turned upside down if a superior feels you pissed in his cheerios. A turning point for me was realizing I signed away my personal rights when I volunteered for this. I was a number in a big pool of numbers and could very easily become a stepping stone for someone elses advancement.

Also, alcoholism is rampant in the military. If you're like the vast majority of soldiers/sailers out there you will spend most of your free time in a drunken blurr. Not puking on your shiny boots will likely be a bigger priority than completing an online college degree. In the military you will meet 10 times more bad influences than good ones. I met thousands and thousands of people of all walks of life while in. I can count on one hand the number of married men I knew that did NOT cheat on thier wives.

If you aren't a very, very mentally strong individual real combat action, even just basic, sensory depriving deployments will probably mess you up for years, decades or the rest of your life.

If I knew what I know now I would have worked much harder, spent and saved wisely and paid for some college machine and business coarses myself. I would have stayed a civilian and traveled around the world on MY terms, not the Navy's.

If I didn't join I never could have seen a 400 pound samoan woman pick a friend up by the throat and shake him for puking on her car, sleep on the roof of a lifegaurd shack on Hermosa Beach, CA or empty full ammo cans with tracers through the twin 50 cal over the bridge at dusk.

[ford4x4fun]

I don't think your mos matters much. Your attitude and your desire to learn, lead and achieve is more important than what you think you will be doing.

Before you actually do the job you have no idea what the jobs you will be doing will be like. No matter how many people tell you thier military experiences you really cannot fully understand it.

I don't recall my asvab score (95? Maybe and I skipped the entire section on writing/grammer), but I had the choice of any field I wanted at the time. I chose GS in the Navy (gas turbines) and finished 8 months of school missing one question on one test (For the first time I realized I could accomplish goals when I put my mind to them). I got to my ship, tried hard, made rank, learned what I was supposed to, but found over the next few years that most of the stuff I did had nothing to do with what I signed up for. Most of the schools and training I went for was shipboard firefighting. Most of the actual mechanical work I did was on our big diesels, not the gas turbines. Something broke, I was there. From the helo winch system through all of main and aux propulsion, refers, etc up to the missile launcher. I was a sponge, learned a lot.

Eventually I figured out I really hated certain aspects of military life. I hated the instability of military life, continuosly losing friends and developing new relationships. The lack of personal freedom, the control your superiors have over your personal life. How quickly your world can be turned upside down if a superior feels you pissed in his cheerios. A turning point for me was realizing I signed away my personal rights when I volunteered for this. I was a number in a big pool of numbers and could very easily become a stepping stone for someone elses advancement.

Also, alcoholism is rampant in the military. If you're like the vast majority of soldiers/sailers out there you will spend most of your free time in a drunken blurr. Not puking on your shiny boots will likely be a bigger priority than completing an online college degree. In the military you will meet 10 times more bad influences than good ones. I met thousands and thousands of people of all walks of life while in. I can count on one hand the number of married men I knew that did NOT cheat on thier wives.

If you aren't a very, very mentally strong individual real combat action, even just basic, sensory depriving deployments will probably mess you up for years, decades or the rest of your life.

If I knew what I know now I would have worked much harder, spent and saved wisely and paid for some college machine and business coarses myself. I would have stayed a civilian and traveled around the world on MY terms, not the Navy's.

If I didn't join I never could have seen a 400 pound samoan woman pick a friend up by the throat and shake him for puking on her car, sleep on the roof of a lifegaurd shack on Hermosa Beach, CA or empty full ammo cans with tracers through the twin 50 cal over the bridge at dusk.

I tend to disagree with some of this... You go to college you have the same drunken groups, you go to any job you have people cheating on there spouses and such. My wife works at a hospital same things go on there, it isn't just the military that has distractions. And your a number in any job unless you are the boss man. There is good and bad in everything, if your able to man up and know what is right and wrong you can't go wrong, WITH ANY JOB OR CAREER FIELD.

[lrjetmech]

Agree with FORD4X4FUN-most anything you go into in life-you get what you put into it. I somehow managed to not become a drunk after 4 years in the Marines, because I chose NOT to be one, and am still not to this day at 45. Scoring higher on the ASVAB DOES allow you some flexibility in chosing your career path, and most of the career choices are pretty easy to decide if they will help you out with employment opportunities later in life. Aviation-related MOS has sure worked out good for me... No lack of police officer jobs, either, so being an MP is almost a guarantee of future employment...

[fireguywtc]

Take your time and consider each of the branches has to offer and which may be a best fit for you.

I joined the Air Force because I wanted to be a firefigther. Many had the job, but the AF was the better of the branches to do that job. I am not very knowlegeable about the other branches, but each has something unique to offer, including different jobs.

The only job I know of personally that was closest to what you want to do was a game managment officer when I was in the AF. But it was an officer only job, no enlisted.

Good luck with your decsision, either way I think the military is a great life decision if it is something you would like.