United States Marine Corps Intelligence officer

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

The United States Marine Corps is looking for a "Few Good Men" for their Officer Corps. There are a few different ways to achieve the rank of Second Lieutenant. Some officers go straight from college to a recruiter, and others join as an enlisted Marine and apply for an officer rank later in their career. I am applying for a commission from the enlisted ranks. I have found that enlisted to officer programs have many requirements and can be somewhat confusing, but the goal of making a move from enlisted to officer can be accomplished as long as I are willing to put forth the effort to achieve that goal.

There are two programs that I can utilize to make the transition from enlisted to officer. These programs are the Marine Commissioning Program (MCP) and Enlisted Commissioning Program (ECP). The MCP only requires that the applicant possess an associate's degree while the ECP applicant must possess a bachelor's degree (1040.43A, Enlisted to Officer Programs). The ECP is the program that I have decided to apply for upon completion of my Bachelor's Degree. One of the main reasons I have chosen this path is due to the high selection rate of the ECP. "The MCP has a selection rate of 20 to 40 percent while the ECP has selection rate of 99 percent" (Givens). Upon completion of my bachelor's degree and after being selected through the ECP, I will receive orders to Officer Candidate School.

Officer Candidate School is where I will receive the "basic training" for a commission. "This is where the enlisted Marines get to play head games with you" (Elms). Once OCS is completed, I will be transferred to The Basic School for field training. Officer Candidate School is ten weeks long and The Basic School is six months long (Marine Corps University). All Marine Officers must attend these two schools. During field training at The Basic School, I will receive my military occupational specialty as an intelligence officer.

As a new intelligence officer, I will be required to receive formal education through various intelligence schools. The first step in my intelligence training will be approached at the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center. At this school I will receive intelligence schooling in fundamentals, analysis, and interpretation (The Navy and