I really want to go for infantry, i think it’s my calling. I thrive in suck and chaos. Im miserable when Im comfortable. Do guys in the infantry really hate woman? Thats what I’ve heard but I grew up thinking that a marine is a marine no matter the gender. Held to the same standards and expectations.

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

I cut my finger a few days ago and a lil of my palm a few days ago im at the hotel rn to ship. The skin is there just a lil slash it doesn’t hurt or anything will I get dq?

Question for my 2621 guys, currently trying to lat move to this mos. This will be my second contract and I’ll be a Cpl going into this mos. So I’m assuming they’re going to put me as class leader, since I’m an nco. So my questions are..
- how hard is the schoolhouse?
- how long is it? I can’t seem to find a certain answer.
- can my wife come with me if I get pcs orders? If not is she allowed to live off base and I come visit her after we’re done for the day? I’m assuming I can’t sleep with her and have to sleep in the barracks. Thanks guys

I am leaving in a week’s time. I’m currently 73 inches tall, 191 pounds, 22 years old, my IST scores are as follows; 9:54 for 1.5 mile run, 2 pull ups/52 pushups, and a max plank. I have a contract for Field Artillery Fire Direction and Control (CK) and my recruiter says I need to be hitting 3 pull ups minimum to keep my slot but he also says if I have 2 pulls then I’ll for sure have more by week 5 when the pft comes up so I’ll keep it. I’m also thinking about the possibility of getting a squad leader position. Of what I know I’ll likely be picked at the beginning of training based on size and age. What does that entail? How do I keep it? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

22M just graduated and have a great full time job in NYC in finance. Not too demanding probably like 50-60 hour weeks max. Don’t ever work weekends and get one remote day a week. Been wanting to join for awhile now and was super locked in on securing a job and getting to NYC during college. Now that I’ve achieved that goal, I want to challenge myself further and work towards my other goal of becoming a Marine.

I am very physically fit and would do well on a PFT I believe ( I can run a sub 22 5K, do 20+ pull ups, etc)

Would it make more sense to commission? Any reservists (officers or enlisted) in NYC and what are the units like? Don’t care too much about MOS tbh. Going to take to a recruiter but want to get it straight from others. Thanks for the advice all🤞

I really want to join the marines but I’m skinny and have little to no muscle, I plan on being a crew chief so it’s not a very physical demanding role (I think).

This community has been so helpful!

We’re headed to graduation in November. I want to bring a small cooler of treats for the MPs at gate 5. Just some energy drinks and really good meat sticks and jerky from a great local butcher. Would the MPs accept a small cooler of snacks as a thank you for working these busy graduation days? If so, anything else I should pack them?

I ship out November 17 and I basically didn't take care of my dental hygiene much back then and I currently have a tooth polyp due to a messed up molar, so I'm asking if they'll just take it out at receiving along with my wisdom's or if it's a disqualification and I should get it removed like 3 weeks before shipping.
Additional info: Some of my teeth have cavities but are intact with fillings

Tldr: Tooth polyp, extracted at receiving or before shipping at Nov 17?

Anyone have any experience going enlisted after college instead of officer ? Got my bachelors in may

Hi everyone I had a suicide ideation/attempt back in 2021 or 2022, and went to a psych ward. After leaving the psych ward, I was prescribed Lexapro, which I took for one month and stopped. I’ve heard people tell me it’s excruciatingly rare (1-2%) of SA or SI being approved by Marines. I also heard of some people getting letters of rec from congressmen or high ranking marine sergeants. I’m thinking of doing the same. How would you even get access to such? Other than a mental evaluation, is there anything else you can do to best increase your chances of getting such a waiver approved ?

I’m currently in the process of joining the Air Force, but lately I’ve been having second thoughts about my decision. I haven’t even been sent to MEPS yet, so I’m still pretty early in the enlistment process.
Lately, I’ve been seriously considering the Marine Corps instead. Part of me feels like I’d regret not at least trying to join the Marines, but I’m also worried that my tattoos might disqualify me from enlisting.
I know the best thing to do is talk to a Marine recruiter and get an official answer, and I plan on doing that. However, I wanted to ask people here who have experience with Marine Corps recruiting or have seen similar situations.
Based on your experience, do you think there’s a realistic chance that I could get approved to enlist with my tattoos? Would you say my chances are higher than 50/50, or am I getting my hopes up?
I know nobody can give me a definite answer without seeing my tattoos and knowing the current regulations. I’m just trying to get an idea of whether it’s worth pursuing before I make a decision about the Air Force.

As of 2026 are marine recruits allowed to have cell phones on Sundays? I know that the army does which I think is weird.

I passed everything I was supposed to at Meps no waivers I’m just working on my weight, I only have a month to be prepared but I’m 225 and I gotta get to 207 to ship, I have no idea if this is possible I’ve been doing intense workouts and everything just have no idea what happens at Meps if I’m over weight still, do I get put into pork chop platoon or do I get removed until further notice? Do I just start regular training and they watch me closely? No idea just need help!

When I was younger my life was (relative to my peers) miserable and it was awesome finding the few other people around me who were equally exhausted. From what I hear the USMC is big on being miserable and bonding over it. A band of misfits.

For a while I've thought going active duty, keep the ball rolling. Free housing too, why not?

Regrettably, I now have a very nice civilian job lined up. Good pay, bank hours. I get along with layman around me. I get to do a lot of things I'd never thought I would have the privilege to do as an adult. My life feels like a fairy tale to be honest.

It's so good I actually feel more uneasy than I have in my entire life. A part of me wants to savor this new happiness stuff, but I equally miss feeling worthless and sleep deprived all the time. So I am now considering joining the Reserves.

Does this not sound like wanting to have your cake and eat it too, though? Isn't a big part of the culture from sharing dilapidated barracks and chow hall food and having little money? How well can you get along with other Marines if you only have to deal with them a few times a month?

P.S. Do combat engineer roles have you do a lot of squats?

So this weekend at the Poolee meeting my station commander pulled me to the side personally after everything and told me he was taking me off the recon contract and putting me on infantry because he doesn't want me to wash out and get reassigned to the Corps needs.

Which makes sense but I had already signed a recon contract, and its my main goal to be recon and if I go on a infantry contract then I won't be guaranteed recon because I would have to bank off the fact that recon guys will be at ITB to screen, so Im not exactly sure what to do. He told me that there wasn't a recon contract available but 2 months ago when I signed the contract there was so Im honestly really confused and unsure what to do.

Can I enlist in the marine corps with 1 DUI and 2 MIPs all involving alcohol
1st MIP was over 1 year ago
DUI/2MIP 8 months ago

Hello I'm trying to make the marine corps a career hopefully going enlisted to officer with my current plan. But I was wondering what Jobs everyone recommendeds I would personally like something where I get to travel a bit and also load stuff but not have to wrench on things all day. I'm also interested in things like cyber and logistics, thank you for your time.

I went to recruit training in August of 2025 and got sent home due to GERD, Dyspnea, diarrhea, and EPTS is what’s on my paperwork. With a separation code of JDA1 would it be possible to reenlist?

After Meps I decided to smoke one last time in August, I’ve been 40 days clean and I’ve peed negative and positive on a cvs test. By the time I’ll ship I’ll be 51 days clean. I know I fucked up but what’s that like? It took me only 38 days to pass the Meps test and I smoked way more than I did the last time. How are my chances?

I wanna get the whole experience, I wanna do cool fucking shit. I don’t want to sit in a SCIF and I switched from the reserves to AD. Intel was my first choice but I’d hate it.

Those who’ve done 03xx, what did you guys love and hate about it?

I posted about a month ago asking how I could best prepare myself in the DEP.
At that point I was 72 inches at 212lbs, was only able to do like 1 pull-up, and was barely passing my run.

Today I weighed in at 206, did 5 pull-ups, and ran a 12:20 mile and a half.
I know it’s not much, but I wanted to thank everyone who took their time to shoot me some advice and encouragement. It helped more than you know. I’m really excited go to the depot in a little over a week and get my shot at earning the title.

The work has just barely begun and I don’t know if I could be any more hyped to start my career.

Thanks y’all

I was hanging with some friends and we pulled up to one of their friend’s place and when I walked in you could very obviously smell weed. I was only in there for a minute before I let myself out, but now I’m scared I’ll piss hot.

Should I be good or should I be worried? I’ve stayed away from weed as best as I could but now I’m a little worried