Sorry I shouldn’t have commented, honestly. I just try to give people a slightly more realistic view of the Marine Corps where it’s not all “high speed trash” and more of the hurry up and wait and get yelled at for something you didn’t do. Good luck and hope you have a better experience than me.
Edit: commas reduce the snark
[quote]johngalt191 wrote:
Sorry I shouldn’t have commented honestly. I just try to give people a slightly more realistic view of the Marine Corps where it’s not all “high speed trash” and more of the hurry up and wait and get yelled at for something you didn’t do. Good luck and hope you have a better experience than me.[/quote]
There’s nothing wrong with being honest. If you had a bad experience tell him or any one thinking about joining for that matter.
But telling him, not to join, is different than giving him reasons not to join. Let him and his family make that choice.
I had a great experience and yes I once spent several hours’ police calling a flight line covered in snow…Not my fondest memory.
Some of the positives during my contract:
-Learning valuable troubleshooting/logical thinking skills (because of my MOS as an avionics technician).
-Gaining perspective on “The bigger picture” of life in general, and the military in particular.
-Have gotten to work with some really dedicated, hardworking, smart individuals from all walks of life.
-Realized that no matter how bad your living conditions, you, and only you, can choose to make the best of it.
-Learned how to put up with lots of bullshit and carry on despite it.
Some of the negatives:
-Dealt with a lot of bullshit and had to carry on despite it.
-Lived in some pretty shitty living conditions with atrocious “food”, and had to make the best of it.
-Have had to work with some lazy, fat, stupid, ignorant pieces of shit. Oh, and quite often they happen to outrank you. So that sucks. See note after this.
-Deploying is fun in its own way. You bond really closely with some dudes who you otherwise never would’ve met. But if you leave a family behind in the States, it’s also really rough at times, specifically with any kids.
Other stuff:
Pro tip; become SUPER proficient at your MOS. Depending on your MOS, if you’re a rock star at it, often you get to basically tell higher ranking people to fuck off since you are more qualified than them. I don’t recommend literally telling them to fuck off though. Just telling them “No, we’re not doing it your way, we’re doing it my way because I know better than you and am more qualified” is extremely satisfying.
Walk the fine line. As long as you keep your ass out of trouble, stay in good shape, master your MOS, and are respectful of those around you, your life will be a million times easier than those scumbags who always try to see how much they can get away with. Not having to look over your shoulder out of fear is a great feeling.
I asked my recruiter about ‘‘making tape’’ and he said that for boot camp they wont do that and I have to be under 191 because I DEPed in at 189. I looked at my height and weight chart and it says I can be 215, but I guess Ill just do what he says because I dont know the rules or anything. Thank you for all the info and advice. I keep getting more excited about going.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
Some of the positives during my contract:
-Learning valuable troubleshooting/logical thinking skills (because of my MOS as an avionics technician).
-Gaining perspective on “The bigger picture” of life in general, and the military in particular.
-Have gotten to work with some really dedicated, hardworking, smart individuals from all walks of life.
-Realized that no matter how bad your living conditions, you, and only you, can choose to make the best of it.
-Learned how to put up with lots of bullshit and carry on despite it.
Some of the negatives:
-Dealt with a lot of bullshit and had to carry on despite it.
-Lived in some pretty shitty living conditions with atrocious “food”, and had to make the best of it.
-Have had to work with some lazy, fat, stupid, ignorant pieces of shit. Oh, and quite often they happen to outrank you. So that sucks. See note after this.
-Deploying is fun in its own way. You bond really closely with some dudes who you otherwise never would’ve met. But if you leave a family behind in the States, it’s also really rough at times, specifically with any kids.
Other stuff:
Pro tip; become SUPER proficient at your MOS. Depending on your MOS, if you’re a rock star at it, often you get to basically tell higher ranking people to fuck off since you are more qualified than them. I don’t recommend literally telling them to fuck off though. Just telling them “No, we’re not doing it your way, we’re doing it my way because I know better than you and am more qualified” is extremely satisfying.
Walk the fine line. As long as you keep your ass out of trouble, stay in good shape, master your MOS, and are respectful of those around you, your life will be a million times easier than those scumbags who always try to see how much they can get away with. Not having to look over your shoulder out of fear is a great feeling. [/quote]
Agree 100% with this.
One of my best friends is a guy I never would have met had we not deployed together.
[quote]n95rk wrote:
I asked my recruiter about ‘‘making tape’’ and he said that for boot camp they wont do that and I have to be under 191 because I DEPed in at 189. I looked at my height and weight chart and it says I can be 215, but I guess Ill just do what he says because I dont know the rules or anything. Thank you for all the info and advice. I keep getting more excited about going.[/quote]
No offense to your recruiter since I don’t know the Devil Dog, but I think he’s wrong.
If you can be 215 than you can be 215…MEPS will not care if you weigh 2 more pounds now.
[quote]n95rk wrote:
I keep getting more excited about going.[/quote]
Boot camp is one of those things you’ll probably hate at the time, but when you look back you’ll be like, “Damn that was pretty cool.”
I have a lot of fond memories from boot camp. Just wait until you meet you Scuzz Brush…
I just looked at the weight chart again. There are two. I was allowed to DEP in at 215. The requirement as a marine is 192. Ill ask if I have to ship at 192. I hope I misunderstood him the first time, because it will be hard trying to stay under 200 for the next 5 months.
Not sure if this is applicable since I’m an old fart and went to Parris Island in 1991, but I went in with 2 college football players and we all had to get “weight waivers” before shipping out to boot camp … I was 5’10, 230 and my boys were 6’3, 265 and 6’4, 275 … The waiver basically consisted of meeting a USMC Captain who brought us into his office, looked us up and down, and told our recruiter “these guys aren’t fat, they are freaking huge … Now get all this beef out of my damn office” … Weight never came up again prior to leaving.
As to your weight loss question, I went from 230 to 190 … My buds went 265 to 220 and 275 to 215 … Lifting strength was in the toilet post boot, but 3-4 months later I was a lean 215 and most of the strength was back. It’s gonna happen, so wrap your head around it, accept it, and know you will have the chance to come back bigger, stronger, and leaner … With the title of United States Marine
[quote]n95rk wrote:
Hi (Not sure where to post)To start off I have been reading T nation since I learned to read(15 years old)and it has changed my life in a lot of positive ways. I am going to Marine boot camp in March and I have heard that muscular people lose muscle and strength while in. I don’t consider myself muscular or sng but people have told me I’m going to lose like 20 pounds in boot camp because of all the running and not eating enough. Is this true?
Even if I do lose muscle I would still be happy to have the chance to become a Marine, so don’t think this would impact my decision. I’m just curious and would like to at least try to retain muscle through boot camp. Plus I already swore in. Not sure whats relevant info but here goes…
age: 18 years old
height :5’10"
weight: 190 pounds
dead lift max:425
squat: 335x3(sad)
bench: 295x3
pullups:22
pushups: 65
clean and jerk:245
one and a half mile run time: 9:40
I have fallen out of shape since my last wrestling season so my max pull ups and run time should improve a lot.
Also any advice from anyone who has been through boot camp would be awesome and hugely appreciated. [/quote]
First off, congratulations. No decision in my life has made as much of a positive difference in all aspects of my life than becoming a Marine.
In response to your question, there’s not much you can do about it. Just try to get as much food in as you can.
Looking at your numbers you’ll be just fine. One of the best in your platoon on the pt side, which matters a lot. d Try to improve the run time and the pull ups a bit and you’ll be a rock star. If I can give you one bit of advice it’s be encouraging to the overweight guys in your platoon. It’s going to be hell for them. I only say this because I was medically obese when I shipped out 
[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
[quote]n95rk wrote:
I keep getting more excited about going.[/quote]
Boot camp is one of those things you’ll probably hate at the time, but when you look back you’ll be like, “Damn that was pretty cool.”
I have a lot of fond memories from boot camp. Just wait until you meet you Scuzz Brush…[/quote]
Not gonna happen. Apparently a couple years back they decided scuzz brushing is hazing, so they don’t issue them anymore. Not that it’ll keep them from making recruits scuzz with their blouses…