What's the best MOS in the USMC?

Question

I'm enlisting in the next few days and have been boiling down my MOS choices. I'm a girl, so I can't be a grunt. But I have really high ASVAB scores. I was wondering who has a job that they REALLY enjoy day in and day out. I'm not looking for what's "easy" that's not why I'm going into the Marines. But I would like something that makes me think, and having a physical labor component is good too. I've been looking at Air Wing Jobs and Intel. No 03 recommendations, but other than that any other ideas?

Answer 1

You go girl! I'm enlisting in the Marine Corps after I graduate!

Try aviation!

Answer 2

I started out as an 0151, which bored me. I then did a lateral move to 4421/Legal. I LOVED that MOS and the job that came with it.

It translated well in the civilian world as well.

Answer 3

my hubbys aviation ordinance and works in the gun shop at Beaufort and he really seems to enjoy it.

but i think thers only like one girl there so i'm assuming if you were to do the same thing you might be the only girl. but thats not always bad lol

but anyways, i admire you and everybody else in the armed forces. i could never do it.  

Answer 4

I suggest you take your time and read the various jobs.  This is a job you will be assigned, so pick something you will be content with.  Also know that what is written, is a general idea about the MOS, there will always be more to it, and you are a Marine first.

Thank you for being willing to stand the watch.  Wishing you fair winds, and following seas.

Answer 5

Maybe the Marines isn't the *best* choice? The Air Force has an absolute ton of career fields that are mentally challenging and, oftentimes, can be physically challenging as well. They have all kinds of Intel jobs, Linguists, or you can do Explosive Ordnance Disposal. It's a very challenging school. I graduated from EOD school not long ago, and it has roughly a 60% washout rate. I'd say that's challenging. Marines can do it, but they have to be NCOs to go through.

Answer 6

It's hard to know what a job entails just by reading a description from the recruiter. (I didn't even have that!)  Also, there are some intel jobs where you may or may not use the skills you were taught in your MOS school, depending on your unit or your particular assignment.

I am a dual language linguist, and my first enlistment wa spent at a radio battalion.  I rarely used my languages, because that unit was focused on tactical operations and the Marine Expeditionary Unit.  As you know, there aren't a whole lot of tactical operations in Korea nowadays, so I had to learn how to be useful to my unit.  I was taught to be an analyst instead, and was working on how to use the radios and computer systems.  I used my language when we stopped in Korea for a week, and once again when they sent me there for a 5 week refresher course.  

However, at my new job I will be using my languages for the purpose they were intended.  I'm excited to try something new and see what I was supposed to have been doing all along!  :)

Any job in the Marine Corps comes with certain daily annoyances, and all Marines have things in common:  First Sergeants who jump on your back about your haircut or PFT score, Lieutenants who drive in circles because they can't read a map, Platoon Sergeants who like to talk at lot at the end of the day on Fridays, etc.  But as far as enjoying my job day in and day out, well.....  it depends on what yu are specifically doing but I can say that really do enjoy my job overall.  Intel is really interesting to me, far more so than I ever thought it would be.  As I learn more and more about it, it draws me in and there is so much I have to learn.  I'm actually going to start a Master's degree program in military intelligence.

So if you are interested in intel, I would encourage you to seriously consider it.  If you have any specific questions, email me.  All the branches of intel work together, so no matter which route you go you will be involved with everyone else's projects.  You will also get to see your old "buddies" from school over and over and over again.  (It's a small world.)

PS...  being a linguist looks easy, but I would rather go back to my worst class at college than go back to language school again.  It takes a lot of determination to graduate, and not everyone makes it.  It is up to two years of pure mental challenges every day, and even if I see a Marine who I think is a total s***w up, I have to give them credit for at least coming out the other side of that school.

PPS....  If you want to be a linguist, ask your recruiter to get a DLAB test scheduled for you ASAP!