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Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/Changing from the Army to the Marines
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Question
Hi. I am writing on behalf of my husband. He is currently in active duty Army. He originally wanted to join the Marines. He couldn't though because we have 4 kids. He was able to join the Army with waiver since 2 children are from a previous marriage.He still has until 2012 before his enlistment is over. His Marine recruiter told him he could either join the Army first or join the Marine reserves. We needed the benifits at the time so we chose Army. But he is not fulfilled. We even have a Marines poster hanging in our office, which he's taken flack for, I might add. He really want's to switch over. We know he will redo basic. But other than that what else would happen, ie, drop in rank and such. Thank you for any help.
Hi Christine,
I'm afraid he can't just "switch over" from one active duty service to another.
He will first have to complete his Army enlistment, separate with an honorable discharge, then see a Marine active duty recruiter about joining the Marine Corps as a prior-service recruit.
For details, see my article at: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/priorservice.htm
Hope this helps!
Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com
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Answers by Expert:
Rod Powers
Expertise
Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.
Experience
Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.
Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
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