Monday, January 17, 2011

The Decision... USMC

When I first thought about joining the military, I thought I wanted to be a soldier in the Army. I did alot of research on requirements, pay, deployment, how many years of service I'd be contracted to, etc. I even talked to an Army recruiter about joining. It was kind of by mistake that I actually made the change to the Marines. I was browsing around military.com (a great site to visit if you're thinking about joinng the armed forces) and whilst I was nosing around, and creating an account I was asked what other services I was looking into joining. Without putting much thought into it at the time, I checked the box for the Marine Corps, and Lo and Behold a couple days later Staff Sargeant Long was calling me up on the phone asking me about my interest in the USMC. I was living in California at the time, but was planning on returning to North Carolina soon, so I agreed to meet with him and talk about joining when I got back to the Queen City (Charlotte, NC).

So what made me decide to join the military in the first place? Well, one day I just was sitting at home, on my mother's couch thinking "what the hell am I doing with myself, where do I want to go, and what do I want to be?" I'm a 23 year old kid who's got nothing going for him right now. I'm stuck at a dead-end job, relying on my parents to take care of me, and partying it up all the time. I realized I needed to inject some discipline, and responsibility into me life, and I needed it soon. I'm of the personality type that I ain't gonna get something done unless it's an absolute necessity and someones pushing me to do it.

What better place to get those important life skills than in the military?

So, the Marine Corps... "Thats pretty hardcore T.J." you might think. Well, if you're going to do something, why not be the best? Why not go for the biggest challenge? I made this desicion thinking "I'm not doing this just for money, or for a girl, or for anyone else... Which branch is going to seriously toughen me up, and give me the best training on how to survive, and how to have pride in myself, and  how to have pride in the branch I'm in? From that perspective it was a no-brainer... the Marine Corps was for me.

After that part of the desicion was done I went into research mode, finding out everything I could about the Corps. I visited countless websites, and watched a hundred youtube videos, and even talked to a couple marines. The more I learned about them, the more I knew I made the right choice. There's tons of benefits the Marines enjoy, but I wont get into the details of that right now.

If you have specific questions about the USMC, lemme know!

6 comments:

  1. Great post man, keep it up! Following now

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  2. Oh nice, this should be helpful. I was going to try out for SEALs once upon a time. Trust me, I've already done my research on it. Guess I'll be able to see a similar path.

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  3. Sweet, dude. If i joined the military, the Marine Corps would be my obvious choice.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Wow, I wish you the best of luck. Will definately be following, if for nothing else other than sheer curiousity.

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