The Midnight Hour

I have received several emails and comments asking how to become a Marine Corps officer and the training involved. I thought I would take a moment to answer those questions with a brief explanation of how the system works. As a civilian, there are two basic ways to become a Marine Corps officer: bachelor’s degree+ OCS, and the US Naval Academy. If you’re at the Naval Academy, you probably don’t have this question, so I’ll focus on the route that I took (bachelor’s degree + OCS).

OCS is Officer Candidates School. Think of it as the officer version of bootcamp. All enlisted Marines go through recruit training at either of the two recruit depots: Paris Island, SC or San Diego, CA. All officers who attend OCS (all except Naval Academy grads) go to Quantico, VA. Yes, we constantly rib the Naval Academy grads (of appropriate rank) about not having to go through OCS.

Before OCS you need a degree…any degree. The Marine Corps doesn’t care. This requirement, in my opinion, is only half about education. It’s also to show that you can set a goal that requires steadfast work and self-leadership and achieve that goal. A BA in underwater basket-weaving counts for just as much as a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Depending on the path you choose, the Marine Corps may help pay for your education. There are three routes: OCC, PLC, and ROTC.

Officer Candidates Course. This is the route I took, and is the simplest. This means you have completed your degree when you go to OCS. The Marine Corps doesn’t help pay for it, and you don’t get paid anything during college. You go to one, 10-week session of OCS.

Platoon Leaders Course. In this route you sign up for OCS during your freshman or sophomore year of college. You’ll attend two 6-week sessions of OCS called juniors and seniors. Juniors will usually come after your sophomore year of college and seniors will come about one semester before you graduate. Starting with your first day of juniors you get paid as an E-5, continuing after you graduate juniors and when you are back at school. This goes a long way towards paying the bills, and almost no work is required on your part. After you graduate seniors you finish your degree, and are commissioned then.

Reserve Officer Training Corps. ROTC is a little bit of a different animal. To do ROTC you must attend a university that has ROTC for the service you wish to enter. You will get paid a stipend while in the program, but will have commitments most mornings/evenings and part of the weekend. While in ROTC your tuition is paid for. If you drop you owe your tuition back.

There are also different “contracts” you can enter on: ground, air, or law. Each incurs a different time in service commitment. Law is another creature all together, and I’m not even going to try to explain it. Ground contracts are four years. Air contracts are six years for helos and eight years for fixed winged aircraft, after you are winged. From when you graduate OCS to when you get winged will vary from 1.5-2.5 years depending on aircraft assigned, weather, timing, and the prophesy of Miss Cleo.

Whew! That was a lot of thinking, and I didn’t even touch on OCS and TBS (The Basic School). If anyone has any specific questions, please let me know.