Hi all. I'm looking to chat with someone about USMC experience before med school. I have a bachelor's degree with no prior service, and I am interested in commissioning. Any perspective on USMC OCS, no matter how tangential, will be much appreciated. Feel free to respond to this thread or message me directly!
Seeking mentorship on USMC OCS experience before med school
- Thread starter horsefly
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I had an acquaintance/friend from college who went through USMC OCS and later wrote a book about his experiences and subsequent deployment to Afghanistan. Just a warning: it's not particularly positive. He was a generally good guy in college, although a bit of a pie-in-the-sky academic (IMO). I always thought he was a brilliant person but also lacked some real world experience. I never really understood why he went to the Marines and reading his memoir, I could kinda understand why he had the reaction he did. He did fail out initially and then did enlisted and then went back and made it through the second time.
I have another female friend in college (not sure if they inspired eachother or came up with the idea separately) who tried USMC OCS a couple times, but failed out due to injuries and ultimately gave up. It's a tough path. I tried to console her as I was a Army officer at the time only partially joking that she wasn't dumb enough to be a Marine. Not mentioning that the Marines are generally a very tough place for females overall, even officers.
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Well, if you want to be a Marine first for 4 years, that's what you do, you go to OCS, then become an infantry officer, Intel, pilot, whatever. You're not going to find many of that type on this forum.
And that decision, quite frankly, is rather orthogonal to that of going to med school and becoming a doctor. Two very different lifestyles, very different career paths.
It's not supposed to be.
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'A torrent of ghastly revelations': what military service taught me about America
The long read: Training on a base in California, and later serving in Afghanistan, made me confront the reality of American empire, and the injustice that pervades society at home
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Hey Horsefly,
I went to Marine Corps Officer Candidates School and served as a Marine Officer for four years prior to going to med school. I am currently a fourth year med student and applying for residency. I was very fulfilled by my time as a Marine Officer and would recommend it to certain people with the correct reasons for pursuing it. Directly message me if you would like to talk more about it.
I went to Marine Corps Officer Candidates School and served as a Marine Officer for four years prior to going to med school. I am currently a fourth year med student and applying for residency. I was very fulfilled by my time as a Marine Officer and would recommend it to certain people with the correct reasons for pursuing it. Directly message me if you would like to talk more about it.
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Also,
A bit of a different book that I read before my journey as a Marine Officer is One Bullet Away by Nathanial C. Fick. His experiences were very synonymous to my own and he might be a bit more optimistic (although still very realistic about his outlook on the Iraq war) than the previous recommendation. He was the infantry officer that commanded the same platoon written about and depicted in the book/tv show Generation Kill. I will list both below.
Amazon product ASIN 0618773436
Amazon product ASIN 0425224740
A bit of a different book that I read before my journey as a Marine Officer is One Bullet Away by Nathanial C. Fick. His experiences were very synonymous to my own and he might be a bit more optimistic (although still very realistic about his outlook on the Iraq war) than the previous recommendation. He was the infantry officer that commanded the same platoon written about and depicted in the book/tv show Generation Kill. I will list both below.
Amazon product ASIN 0618773436
Amazon product ASIN 0425224740
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