Request for advice/insight

I am currently an undergraduate senior planning to pursue Marine OCS following graduation in May 2010. Most of my close friend are former enlisted 03 Marines, and for right now I am very focused on my short term goals of doing well in selection. However, I have a very strong interest in the FID mission and would like to try to research/learn everything I can on the subject matter. I have followed the Corps' emerging focus on FID very closely over recent years, and have talked with several former FMTU and MSOAG (now MSOR) Marines.

All of that said, while I am focusing on excelling at my short term goals, I am very interested in ways an aspiring officer might later pursue a career in FID work. A MARSOC PAO recommended that I shoot for either the 0302 or 0203 MOS... though anyone familiar with the Corps will tell you that MOS designation is much more dependent upon the 'needs of the Corps' than personal preference. With all of this in mind, I was just curious to see if any members might be able/willing to afford insight and direction that might help guide me toward this specialization over coming years.

I hold a great deal of respect for all of you who serve, and truly appreciate you time and input.

VR,

MRC_023320

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All of that said, while I am focusing on excelling at my short term goals, I am very interested in ways an aspiring officer might later pursue a career in FID work. A MARSOC PAO recommended that I shoot for either the 0302 or 0203 MOS... though anyone familiar with the Corps will tell you that MOS designation is much more dependent upon the 'needs of the Corps' than personal preference. With all of this in mind, I was just curious to see if any members might be able/willing to afford insight and direction that might help guide me toward this specialization over coming years.

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Right now, the advising mission for the Marine Corps is very ad-hoc. Both MARSOC and MCTAG are very new organizations. I believe it is intended that MARSOC will train foreign Special Forces and MCTAG will train foreign conventional forces. The advisors going to Iraq on Military Transition Teams and to Afghanistan on Embedded Training Teams are pulled out of normal units to do fill that role. Maybe it will change, but there is no opportunity to be a "career advisor" at this point.

As for MOS, 0302 will always open more doors to you than any other job, but I worked with about quite a few 0302 advisors in Iraq and not a single one came even close to being worth a damn. As hard as it is for me to say, I met more Army infantry officers that were good to go than I did Marine infantry officers in Iraq that were. Any combat MOS, intel MOS, and loggies get pulled for them. Most of them have a 0302 team leader and an 0302 Operations advisor who advise the foreign national CO and S3, and then an 0802 who stands behind both of them and face palms whenever they open their mouth.

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I would like to hear thoughts on how they feel about the Marine Corps pursuing the FID/Advisor mission?

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Since the justification has already been covered, I would like to see the Marine Corps FID capabilities as an option between SOF and "Big Army". SOF can go in when there is no political will or visibility (like Yemen in the last couple of years), the Marine Corps can go in when things get heated but before the internal regime collapses and there is some justification (like Yemen right now), the Big Army Super Footprint, Super Expensive COIN jobs can be reserved for the Big Dookie-storms, like post-invasion Afghanistan, Iraq, and if Pakistan were to go under.

And if the SOF guys whine about us stepping on their turf, we can remind them that we have a long history of doing FID long before any of them were in diapers.

Xenophon:

Thanks for the reply and insight. I was not familiar with MCTAG at all and appreciate the information you provided on each of the commands. I have a great deal of respect for the Corps and will be honored to serve in whatever capacity they find that I am most needed. However, I have a strong interest in the advisor mission and was curious to know more about the various commands/units supporting it.

I noticed in several of the previous posts in this thread that other contributors were noting that the Corps seemed to be moving away from the FID mission. These posts were older, and I was wondering in this is still accurate today? Also, do you know why MSOAG has now been redesignated as MSOR? Is this just a new way of structuring the command or indicative of a shift away from the advisor mission?

Finally, I know this is a bit off the topic of the thread... However, would you happen to know what MOS s are in the highest demand right now? Specifically, I have read that there is a strong need for 0302 and intel (0203 and 0204)-- is that accurate?

Thanks again for your time and insight.

VR,
MRC

0302s are always in demand. The 08 community seems to be expanding. 02's of all stripes are always in short supply, but they don't take many of them regardless of the need.

The Marine Corps is going to expand the FID mission, not move away from it. We just developed a whole MAGTF concept dedicated to it.

MSOAG changed to MSOR because some officer had the unit under his command and decided it would look good on his fitness report if he had changed the name of his unit.

Moderator's Note - new thread created and four posts moved here from a more general discussion on USMC and FID. PM to authors.