so, i'm 16 and i really want to join the Marines. i plan on doing it out of college, going in as an officer and hopefully staying in for 4 years. Is there anyone who is/was a Marine? What is the experience like? How is boot camp? Was anyone an officer? I don't think the physical part of book camp is gonna be tough, but i know mentally it will be straining as hell cause the DI's are insane but awesome.
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Marines
- Thread starter acdc554
- Start date
I was in the Marines from 1973-1979, left as a Staff Seargent; then I was an officer in the Navy from 1979 until I shattered my knee in 1984. I am sure things have changed in the last 20 years, but I assume not all that much. If you are not a fat slob, the physical part of boot camp is pretty easy. They try to make it mentally tough more than anything. If you have half a brain and realize it is all a mental exercise to break you down, and don't take anything too personally, that part is pretty easy too. Just remember, you can never do anything well enough to please the drill instructor. It is their job to push you as far as they can and never give you any praise, because you could always have done just a little better. Of course the purpose of boot camp is to teach you to follow orders without question and to the limit of your ability and beyond.
Officers do not go through boot camp. They go to OCS (Officer Candidate School), which is a little less demeaning and a little more geared toward creating leaders rather than order followers.
Whichever one you do, the best thing you can do to get ready is run and do circuit type training, or combine them: run, do pullps, run, do pushups, run, do situps, run some more... It is all about endurance: running, marching, hiking with heavy packs, running obstacle courses, etc. If your legs are fit and your overall cardiovascular fitness level is high, it will be easy. I ran cross country in high school, along with doing a lot of weight training in my basement and that was probably the best preparation for the Marines I could have done.
Officers do not go through boot camp. They go to OCS (Officer Candidate School), which is a little less demeaning and a little more geared toward creating leaders rather than order followers.
Whichever one you do, the best thing you can do to get ready is run and do circuit type training, or combine them: run, do pullps, run, do pushups, run, do situps, run some more... It is all about endurance: running, marching, hiking with heavy packs, running obstacle courses, etc. If your legs are fit and your overall cardiovascular fitness level is high, it will be easy. I ran cross country in high school, along with doing a lot of weight training in my basement and that was probably the best preparation for the Marines I could have done.