Commonly Questions Asked Before Joining

1. Why should I join the Marine Corps?

There's really no definitive answer for this question. Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to become a Marine. For me, that was because I needed a change of pace in my life and I thought the Marine Corps could provide that for me. Really, if you have any doubts about possibly joining the Marine Corps, it's probably not the thing for you.

2. Should I be active duty or reserves?

This is really up to the individual. If you're young and have zero responsibilities at home, I would suggest being active duty, as it would be a great way for you to get valuable life experience. If you're older and/or you have responsibilities such as a wife/husband and/or children at home, reserves is probably the way to go. But, once again, there is really no definitive answer I can give you.

3. Is boot camp hard?

Yes. Boot camp is the hardest thing you will have ever done in your life up to that point. It doesn't matter how physically fit you are or how mentally tough you are - boot camp is tough.

4. Can drill instructors hit you?

Technically speaking, drill instructors are not allowed to touch recruits unless they're showing a recruit how to do something. Now, by no means does that mean that drill instructors don't hit recruits. It's nothing like you'll see in Full Metal Jacket, but recruits do get hit.

5. Is everything my recruiter tells me true?

Sort of, no. I've never heard a recruiter straight up lie to a poolee or applicant, but recruiters are masters of stretching the truth and sugarcoating things. You need to do your own research, along with the stuff your recruiter tells you. You will be much better off that way.

6. Which recruit depot makes better Marines?

Shut up (I'll actually cover this in a later post, if I feel like it).

7. Do I get paid in the DEP?

No, you don't get paid in the DEP. You start getting paid the day you go to your local MEPS to ship off to boot camp.

8. My recruiter said he got me an enlistment bonus. Will I get that?

First off, good luck with that. Recruiters will often lie about getting you an enlistment bonus in order to get you to enlist. But, if by some miracle your recruiter didn't lie about it, you will get your enlistment bonus once you graduate from the MOS school that he got it for. So, for example, if your recruiter got you a bonus for completing the Marine Corps Engineer School and you failed out of that and became a motor transport operator, you won't get your enlistment bonus.

That's it for this post!