I have just been informed by my wife that a Marine recruiter will be visiting my step-son and I at 11:00 a.m.

My step-son was planning on going in the Coast Guard last fall. After a somewhat lengthy discussion with me, he seemed excited at the prospect. He then proceeded to have a few "slip-ups", which he apparently concluded would render him ineligible for the Coasties. He has since been working at a restaurant.

This is going to be an interesting morning.

My old goal was to keep him out of the Army or the Marine Corps. My new goal is to keep him out of a Combat Arms MOS. With his "slip-ups", there will be waivers involved, and the question of the day will be if he can get any MOS options with those waiver(s).

My wife also says that he will not consider the Army, because of my smack-talk. If there are any former soldiers reading this, know my smack was just that, and never directed at him, but rather my doggie friends. This I regret greatly. I would prefer he went in the Army. It's a numbers thing, not an Army/Marine thing.

Edit: 10:26 AM--

My step-son has a friend roll up (kid is active duty Marine). My step-son informs me that the recruiter is not coming to the house, but rather, he is going to see the recruiter. My step-son is 19. For what I am sure is a multitude of reasons, my step-son doesn't want me talking to the recruiter ("yet").

I told him that if he is going to continue the process subsequent to this meeting, that he set up a meeting with me either there or here. I told him not to b.s. the recruiter about his "slip-ups", explore MOS options over bonuses, etc.

If he joins the Marines this morning without any MOS options, and this is a possibility, as he says one thing and does others, my wife will have a nervous breakdown...this I know.

Hard to know anything from a paragraph, but he sounds a lot like me back then: Young and Stupid. The military will probably be good for him.

Truth be told, the dirty work has been done, Iraq and Afghanistan is now mostly guard duty. Mind-numbing, skull-busting boredom more than anything. Just don't wander off by yourself.

Remember too, Obama is the Commander in Chief, there is nothing to worry about. Not even Jesus could fill his shoes.

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Well, rest easy, all...my step-son has had his visit with the recruiter, taken the pre-ASVAB, and watched a recruiting video. He is now fully prepared to fight WW111 on our behalf. In the meantime, my wife rolled out of work and sweated (along with me, frankly) the prospect of him joining the Corps on impulse. He has some hoops to jump through, (thank God) but he is apparently going to be able to join. His pre-ASVAB was high enough to indicate that he will have some options other than the grunts, dependent upon his actual ASVAB score.

Naturally he wants to go into the infantry. He is being disabused of this notion by yours truly. GD recruiting videos.

Most of us were gung-ho at that age.

Sometimes though Dave, I'd like to be a "Marley's Ghost" type and take them for one minute to see some of the things that we have seen and done.

That will be his biggest shock, I think. Like I said, the only adventure to be found of late is guard duty and running checkpoints. There are interesting and challenges to be found for sure, but you don't go from boot camp to field operations or other in-country positions where personality and leadership skills are required.

I would suggest researching the types of careers offered and steering the boy into one of those directions. The training and/or discipline received will be enviable and a whole lot more rewarding than checking papers at the front gate or escorting truck convoys.

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Don't worry about the recruiter. He will verbally promise the world, provided you "are qualified & a vacancy exists". He can sign every paper in the recruiter's office, doesn't mean much until he passes the physical, selects & signs for a job & swears in.

If your stepson decides to join, tell him you would like to be with him when he selects & signs for his job (after the physical). That is where he must play it like buying a used car & they love to get kids alone, far from home for the day, to sell what slots need to be filled. If there is an adult along, chances are good that his Councellor/Recruiter there will "talk to the boss" and as the day progresses, better jobs will magically appear. He has to understand he is holding the upper hand because he can always just decide to think it over & come back another day. I believe ASVAB scores & the physical are good for up to 2 years.

I was an Army Reserve recruiter in Green Bay. Toughest job I ever loved, until that pesky first Gulf War started & nobody wanted to join anymore. I guess the main thing is talk to him & find out WHY he wants to join. Find out if he's considered the Reserves ( a recruiter for full-time generally pushes that option off to the side ) Strikes me as strange the appointment was moved, so you are probably right in being curious about the proceedings.

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His natural father is deceased. His natural father made him promise that he would not join the Marines, he further requested that I not encourage him to do so. I wouldn't have done so anyway, but I did make a promise to him that I would do what I could to discourage his son from ever doing so. I think his father and I had that conversation about a week before he died.

I would imagine that my step-son put these things in motion with the intent of presenting it as a "fait accompli". I do not know this as fact, but I suspect that he was feeling a little guilty and decided to tell his mom last night. I'm quite sure that he is aware of my promise to his father.

I am out of the Marine Corps (well, at least I got out of it in 2004) because my wife could no longer handle it. I had my 30 in, but I still had to take a bit of a reduction in benefits in order to accelerate my departure ("freezes" in place at the time, and I was in-theater). These (emotional) things are cumulative in nature, and there is one heck of a lot of difference between me being deployed and her only son being deployed.

The recruiter end of the equation will be handled once he takes his ASVAB. My biggest concern as regards my step-son is that he will not listen and will go ahead and join the grunts. If he does, and if/when he gets deployed to wherever, I guarantee my ass will be flying class VI space-a to check on his young dumbass to appease my highly neurotic (really) wife. Even if he winds up running some friggin' gedunk stand in Kuwait, I'll be visiting...

I sincerely hope he loses interest in this latest grand scheme, but please don't confuse that sentiment with some thought on my part that he shouldn't serve, or some other parent's son should instead of him...that isn't it. He can't get in the Coast Guard, the Air Force, or the Navy. It's the Army or Marines. (He is getting a waiver via a letter from a probation officer)

He doesn't belong in the Marines, in my opinion, and I know what I'm talking about, in my opinion.

I just wish he could go scrape seagull shit off buoys somewhere...he'd be good at that. :icon_smile: (Sorry Coasties--jarhead humor)