Did four years in the Marine Corps, hated it, commissioned Air Force in 2020. My life is a little too easy now and I have always regretted abandoning my Marines at our old unit to deal with the shit leadership and mission we had. I am in great physical condition and am signed up to run the Marine Corps marathon this year (again). I am wanting to give back to the Marine Corps and be the leader I never had while in. I am an O3 with just over 10 years in service hoping to apply for an IST. Has anyone else done something similar and if so, what does the process look like?

I’m 25 and considering joining the Marine Reserves. I served five years active duty in the Navy and got out honorably in January 2025 as an E-4.
I’ve always wanted to earn the Marine title, and I’m interested in going 0311. I have a kid now, so I’m looking at the Reserves to serve again while keeping my family settled at home. I understand training and deployments would mean time away.
Has anyone here joined around my age or older, especially coming from another branch? What was boot camp like as an older, prior-service recruit? Were you treated any differently, and what was the hardest adjustment?

Any honest advice is appreciated.

Anyone else leaving to San Diego Monday?

Anything helps

I am interested in knowing anyone’s jobs station in Japan and following questions:

What was your daily routine.
What kind of things you do in your free time/lifestyle
How long did you stay there.
Do you recommend dating?

to make it short, I want to be a marine. I am an 18 year old high school grad.

I scored 67 on the ASVAB.

google searches are mixed mostly and there is no big source on it, but I know that waivers are possible.

I went 16 years of my life without even knowing I had it until i got my wisdom teeth removed.

I have only had 1 medical event which was the wisdom teeth removal, no incidents since.

I played basketball heavily in high school and all the injuries I did have (mostly knee/ankle) healed fine without me knowing

I had talked to a navy recruiter about it and he made it seem like not a big deal a few months ago when I first started considering the military.

What are my options?

I had a set date for October but my recruiter told me my ship date changed to November. I was ready to have twos week off of work to wait for bootcamp but, it then turned into a month. I workout and run already, What else should I do in the mean time?

Curious how often recon hits the range compared to regular infantry.

Any 1371 Combat Engineers former or current that are availbe to explian to me the timeline and requirements from the ASVAB to the school? im thinking about joining up and want to have a informed veiw on it before i do

It is easy to believe an infantryman’s life is in his own hands. That if he fights hard, shoots straight, keeps his head, and endures, he will come home.

This is not the full truth.

The infantryman is there to be spent. A commander will spend him when the mission requires it, and another man will take his place when he is gone.

Courage may keep you alive for a time. Skill may keep you alive longer. Neither makes you indispensable.

Remember this before you volunteer for war.

You may give the Army or the Marine Corps your service. But understand that you are also giving them permission to spend your life at their discretion.

Sometimes for futile ends.

Sometimes at the hands of incompetent commanders.

Make sure it’s worth it.

God Bless our Infantrymen!

I’ve been weed free for 77 days now and yet still positive, am I something wrong here? I’ve quit smoking bc I want to be a marine but this is the only thing holding me back rn I’ve already taken the picat and all my paper work . I’m 5’10 and 195-200 pounds atm and work construction for work is there anything I can do to help or am I just SOL until this clears up ? I also don’t want my recruiter dropping me bc he thinks I still smoke

Im looking lat moving into parachute rigger 0451, what is day to day looks like and hows job looks like. Also how is schoolhouse? I want to get much information as possible before make my decision. Im LCpl going 3 years in airwing.

i'm sure this question has been asked here plenty of times, but i'm going to ask it anyway. i'm 19f and considering joining the marines. is it extremely difficult to find acceptance as a woman, is there lots of judgement?

i've read that women get criticized more, and have rumors spread about them which i would expect, but is it possible to be respected at all as a woman, especially nowadays? i'm wondering if also scoring high on the pft and proving yourself physically would help. i see a lot of comments online saying that female marines are only there for diversity, are no help in actual military efforts, etc. i don't want to be seen as some kind of weakling who can't do their part. i'm 5'10 so idk if that would help my case in becoming stronger and being respected.

obviously i'm not going to base my decision entirely off of what other people may think, but don't necessarily want to subject myself to extreme gender-based mistreatment either. any insight would help!

I just finished bootcamp at parris island and now I go to MCT next and I was wondering what I should expect

I was told they don’t do it anymore anyone who’s gone recently is this true?

So I am currently a fat-body. I'm 195 and 6 foot 1. Can't do a pull up but more importantly, I cant run for shit. Maybe like 15 minute mile time. What should I do to improve that. Other than obviously "just running". The problem is I can't run for more than a minute without being gassed and walking doesn't really seem to help much.

My recruiter said not to get new glasses cause they’ll provide. Mine are fucked up and I don’t wanna leave with broken glasses

Hi,a couple weeks ago I went to MEPS but was denied a physical for having went to a “Ryan White HIV clinic” in the past. I tested a week after, and it came back negative. Whew. I kept asking my recruiter when I could go back to MEPS but he kept saying that they were still “digging into my medical history.” After waiting for two more week, I called MEPS and they told me I needed a waiver for my HIV result. my recruiters boss then called me and told me that I was an RBJ, and that my medical history was so complex that the MEPS doctors didnt even want to bother conducting my physical. My recruiters boss told me that it was most likely due to my history in the past (approx 5 years ago I went to therapy for OCD, and therapy following a suicidal ideation/attempt hospitalization , and was prescribed Lexapro for a month which I stopped since). My recruiters boss told me I would need a $1k psych evaluation, hospital records, multiple letters of rec, to even get a waiver to join, which would still be a 1-3% chance.

Currently I’m in the process of filing my HIPPA so the hospitals can release my medical records.

do you think, at this point, it’s better to find a new recruiter and lie that this psych ward visit and previous mental health treatment never even happened?

I just want realistic outlooks. Is attempting to join Marines a waste of my time and energy? I really wanted to join Marines out of all the other branches because it has the toughest bootcamp. I wanted to become an officer since I have a physics degree and wanted to become a pilot. That, and I thought the uniforms looked cool, but that’s probably a stupid aesthetic reason.

Should I start working on speed?

Hello! I was just wanting tips of maxing everything out before I ship out. My max plank is 4 minutes with max one pull up, 20 push ups in a row and 9:20-9:17 mile when I go all out and I try to do 60/120s for 6 rounds on mondays with a pull day body weight mostly and then 10-20k steps with mma jujistu and kick boxing and then Tuesday rest/pt also 10k min steps
Then Wednesday same mma classes with 1.5 easy run slower than mile pace and min 10k steps, Thursday rest/pt and Friday 3 mile easy run 40min/rest or leg day with run or Saturday leg day
Should I do stair master everytime I go to the gym for 15-30 min on 10 incline to improve? How else can I lower mile time and improve pull ups?

I graduated Charlie company at boot camp and hotel at MCT, what questions we got? I can also answer questions for the ladies and what my experience as a woman was

Hello just a general question I’m joining the marine corps soon and i always wondered is boot camp at Parris Island a bit harder during the winter when sleeves are down and it gets darker much earlier before the training day is over compared to the summer time.

Hey everyone, I'm 16 and currently living in New Zealand. I've been seriously considering joining the Marine Corps when I'm old enough, ideally going into infantry (0311) or combat engineering (1371), with the long-term goal of potentially attempting MARSOC selection.

I'm currently completing a Level 3 Mechanical Engineering course and plan on working full-time while preparing physically and academically for enlistment.

My father was born in the US, so I believe I may already have US citizenship through him, although I still need to sort out the documentation. I also have family in Colorado where I could stay while going through the recruiting process.

I've started training for the Marines, mainly running, pull-ups, planks, and general fitness. I'm currently at around 5 strict pull-ups, a 2-minute plank, and roughly 2 km of continuous running. I'm hoping to improve significantly over the next 6–12 months.

I'd really appreciate any advice from current or former Marines, especially those who served in infantry, combat engineering, or MARSOC. I'm interested in hearing what life in the Corps is actually like, what I should be doing to prepare, and anything you wish you'd known before joining.

Thanks in advance!

I ship november 2nd and my first choice was PR so I could jump out of planes. But i ended up getting DB and I asked if I could just go infantry instead and my recruiter said no. My main goal is to be good at my job and be a squared away good marine. But I also want to do marine shit and get to deploy and shit like that. I’m scared comms could either give me a lot of what I want or absolutely none of it. I don’t want my first unit to ruin my dreams and make me want to get out. I already have this feeling of regret for signing DB am I just overthinking i don’t know what to do. I’m excited to be a marine it’s something i’ve wanted my entire life and i’m ready to go my process has taken a year due to a broken leg. what should I do?

edit: i’m especially scared of getting attached to a non deployable. I know even infantry guys aren’t doing much right now but I still really want to deploy and do some shit with my career.

I’m currently at the hotel before MEPS, Anything that I should keep in mind or know before I ship to help me do the best I can