links to pretty much everything related to the Marine Corps

These links used to be located on the relevant page of my Marine Corps story, but I decided to move them all together here. Some of them will be specific to me, since they are links I've come across during many online searches for information.

Click to jump to a section:

Why the Marines?

The Recruiting Process

Going to MEPS

MOS Stuff

Delayed Entry Program

Boot Camp

Marine Combat Training

Supply School

7th Communication Battalion

Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany

Iraq

Marine Security Guard Duty

General Military Information

Official Marine Corps Websites

Miscellaneous Marine Corps Websites

Miscellaneous Military Websites


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Why the Marines?

heartontheline.html: "Before my son became a Marine, I never thought much about who was defending me..." An essay by an man whose private school-educated son's enlistment stunned parents and teachers ("What went wrong?!") and got him thinking about whose kids are serving in the military these days. This essay comes from a really good book written by him and his son, and they also wrote another one after that.

spielbergeffect.html: Spielberg Effect: Success in Life Without A Prestigious Degree. "And it should be obvious by now, to anyone who is paying attention, that their successes had almost nothing to do with where they did, or did not, go to college."

ocsbrainwashing.html: "Many of modern-day problems stem from a lack of appreciation for the very values and principles taught in the Corps, fostering a general distrust of military "brainwashing"... Perhaps if the rest of America could catch a glimpse of the moments of transformation during training, the mistrust would fade away and be replaced with an appreciation."

eddiesletter.html: An email written to me by a former drill instructor after I asked him about what people say about the Marine Corps brainwashing its recruits.

marinesforum.html: I asked a question about brainwashing in the Marine Corps on a Marine Corps online forum and here are some of the responses I got.


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The Recruiting Process

forums.military.com/OpenTopic: If you like message boards, this is an excellent one where recruiters, poolees, parents, and the curious, along with current and former military personnel, hang out and ask/answer questions about joining the Armed Forces.

usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly: Everything you need to know about joining the military: which branch, enlistment periods, meals, medical care, housing, pay, and dealing with recruiters.

eldritch.org/marcella/navy: I almost fell off my chair when I read her website. Even though she joined the Navy, the story about how she ended up doing that was just too similar! The part that was really weird was how one Navy recruiter had a son named Gage because my recruiter also has a young son named Gage.

military.com/Recruiting/: 10 steps to joining the military, and other information about each branch of service.

usmilitary.about.com/library: U.S. military enlistment standards. Are you qualified to join the military?

usmilitary.about.com/library: Everything you ever wanted to know about the military's ASVAB test.

marines.com: The official Marine Corps Recruiting website. It has good info with tons of flashy graphics!

usmilitary.about.com/marinejoin: Almost everything you could possibly want to know about joining the Marine Corps.

mcrc.usmc.mil: Marine Corps Recruiting Command.

The Few, The Proud...: The Army offers a $50,000 college scholarship. The Navy offers you a chance to see the world. The Air Force will train you in a high-tech, high-paying job. The Marine Corps gives you something that no amount of money could ever buy...

The Mission: "Marine Staff Sgt. Jason Baxley gladly would have faced hostile fire in Iraq. It's chasing down Howard County high school students that tests his courage." An article from the Washington Post. ----------------------------------------------------------------


Going to MEPS

It's Off to MEPS We Go!: Apparently, men do pretty much the same routine as females, so read this guy's MEPS story for an even more detailed account.

armybasic.homestead.com/meps: Tons of MEPS stories from an Army-oriented website, but since everybody goes to the same MEPS, it doesn't matter.

usmilitary.about.com/milinfo/blwaivers: A good explanation about the waiver process for people who aren't qualified to enlist.

usmilitary.about.com/milinfo/blintmedstandards: Military Medical Standards for Enlistment, Appointment, Induction, and Accession.

mepcom.army.mil: The official MEPS website. They have a video here about MEPS called "A Day at the MEPS".

usmilitary.about.com/library: MEPS at a Glance: an overview of what goes on when you go to a Military Entrance Processing Station.



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MOS Stuff

usmilitary.about.com/marineenjobs: About.com's comprehensive listing of Marine Corps enlisted MOS's with good descriptions of each occupational field.

usmilitary.about.com/marineofficerjobs: This section of About.com lists all of the officer MOS's with descriptions.

usmccca.org: US Marines Corps Combat Correspondents Association.

mpjconnection.com: The Military Photojournalism Connection.


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Delayed Entry Program

What's In An Oath?: Good essay about the oath of enlistment and how Delayed Entry Program people are able to swear in and then get out of the contract if they so desire.


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Boot Camp

marines.mil/units/hqmc/tecom/mcrdparrisisland: Parris Island's official website. This is one of the two USMC Recruit Depots, or boot camps. The other one shares a fence with San Diego's airport. Parris Island is where males from east of the Mississippi and all females are trained.

usmilitary.about.com/library: About.com's boot camp information pages. If you want an pretty detailed schedule of what goes on at boot camp, this is the place to get it.

pub66.ezboard.com/bparrisisland: An awesome message board for the family and friends of recruits at Parris Island, as well as the future Marines themselves, before they leave for boot camp. It's full of cool people and good information, and it's run by a drill instructor's wife.

marinecorpsbrotherhood/dicreed.jpg: A cool graphic with the Drill Instructor's creed on it.

grose.us/bootdir: Captain Jason Grose's website also has some hilarious boot camp stories and goes into great detail about his time there. The main part of his site is also full of good information.(His site is currently offline due to his unit's OpSec regulations)

Boot Camp Challenge: This is an interactive story about a guy going through boot camp. At various intervals, you get to pick what he does or what happens next. It's pretty funny, especially picking the wrong route for him to go!

navyleague.org/seapower_mag/for_corps: "Senior Editor Gordon I. Peterson recently visited Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C., to document the transformation of a recruit into a Marine."


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Marine Combat Training

lejeune.usmc.mil: Camp Lejeune's official website.

lejeune.usmc.mil/soi: Camp Lejeune's School of Infantry, where the MCT takes place.

lejeune.usmc.mil/soi/mct: The official MCT website.


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Supply School

lejeune.usmc.mil/mccsss: Marine Combat Service Support Schools' website.

lejeune.usmc.mil/mccsss/supply: Supply School's webpage.


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7th Communication Battalion

iiimef.usmc.mil/7thcomm: The official 7th Comm website. It sucks.

iiimef.usmc.mil: Official III MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) website, which 7th Comm falls under.

okinawa.usmc-mccs.org: Marine Corps Community Services Okinawa website. It has lots of useful information for Marines and their families stationed on Okinawa.

mcbbutler.usmc.mil: Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler. There are a bunch of Marine Corps bases on Okinawa but they all fall under this one.

okinawa.usmc.mil: U.S. Marines in Japan website, it has stories, photos, and information about Okinawa itself.

virtualokinawa.com: A travel website about Okinawa, with articles written by Japanese people in English.


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Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany

ala.usmc.mil: The official website of Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany, Georgia.

http://www.walb.com: Albany's local news channel's website.


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Iraq

centcom.mil: The United States Central Command website. Iraq is one of many countries that fall under CentCom's control.


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Marine Security Guard Duty

msgbn.usmc.mil: The unit is now called "Marine Corps Embassy Security Group". This is the official website.


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General Military Information:

firstgov.gov: Your all-purpose United States Government website. Links to all government agencies, government contact information, and a reference section, among other things.

usmilitary.about.com: Pretty much anything you need to know about the military you can find here. Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Marine Corps information will be coming out your ears when you are finished!

military.com: This website is geared more towards military personnel but also has good information for civilians. Their message board discussion areas are wonderful and it has a Buddy and Unit Locator, along with regularly updated military-related news articles.

globalsecurity.org/military/facility: Need to know where every Navy port is? Every Air Force base? All of the Army's forts and all the Marine Corps' camps? Try this website. It has descriptions of each one and links to all the official websites. The amount of work that went into this makes my brain hurt thinking about it.

dod.mil/militarypay: Office of the Secretary of Defense's Military Compensation website. Explained in semi-normal English, it talks about all the details of pay and allowances, retirement, benefits, and survivor's benefits. It even has a cool Regular Military Compensation Calculator to figure out how much you are supposed to earn.

defenselink.mil: U.S. Department of Defense news, links, and information...another mind-boggling website!

todaysmilitary.com: U.S. Department of Defense's "Today's Military" website for parents and teachers of children who want to join the military.


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Official Marine Corps Websites:

usmc.mil: The offical website for the United States Marine Corps. Honestly, I think most of the official Marine Corps sites are a pain in the butt, but this one has gotten a lot better since I first enlisted.

mol.usmc.mil: The Marine Online website, where Marines can view and update their personal information and also manage administrative functions for their units.

usmc.mil/units: An alphabetical listing of all the Marine Corps bases and Commands.

hqinet001.hqmc.usmc.mil/HD: The Marine Corps History and Museums Division, where you can read about Marine Corps Customs and Traditions and a Who's Who of the Marine Corps among other things.

marcorsyscom.usmc.mil/sites/mcub: The Marine Corps Uniform Board website is kind of self-explanatory. It has all the uniform regulations, uniform FAQ's, news about the new cammies, regulations updates, and if you scroll down to the bottom you can see pictures of them too.

usmc-mccs.org: Marine Corps Community Services page, "Supporting Marines and Families World Wide." Kind of self-explanatory.

mca-marines.org/Leatherneck: Leatherneck Magazine's website.

manpower.usmc.mil: Marine Forces Reserve, the Marine Reserves official website.

mcrsc.mfr.usmc.mil/MOBCOM: Marine Corps Mobilization Command, the unit responsible for Marines in the Individual Ready Reserve.

usmc.mil/news/pages/usmcnews: The official Marine Corps news website.


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Miscellaneous Marine Corps Websites:

oo-rah.com: Some of the funniest stories I have ever read are stashed on this website. "Don't Drink the Water" and "Spic-and-Span" were two of my favorites, but most of them will make you laugh 'til your stomach hurts.

womenmarines.org: The website of the Women Marines Association.

usmilitary.about.com/marineregs: United States Marine Corps regulations, policies, and directives.

grunt.com: "Sergeant Grit's" Marine Corps page with lots of links, free pictures, stories, newsletters, and a store. My mom likes this website's forums and I think she bought some of my Christmas presents from the store.

forums.military.com/1/OpenTopic: Excellent discussion forums for Marines, poolees, and friends and family of Marines. They are extremely active message boards and full of both irritating and funny people.

gruntsmilitary.com/marinrib: This website has pictures and descriptions of each Marine Corps medal and ribbon.

thesquadbay.com: A website for Marines and FMF Navy corpsman. It has a bunch of news, stories, articles, and other Marine Corps information.

military-quotes.com/ranks/marine-rank-insignia: A description of the Marine Corps' rank structure.


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Miscellaneous Military Websites:

usafns.com: US Armed Forces News Service. They have Hometown News Releases organized by state so you can click on each state and see news releases on military personnel listed by name.

mypay.dfas.mil/mypay: The government's military pay website, servicemembers can look at their accounts online here.

usmilitary.about.com/dlab: The Defense Language Aptitude Battery is a test designed to figure out which languages, if any, you would be good at learning. You have to take and pass this test in order to become a cryptologic linguist, or to learn a foreign language in the military.

serviceflags.com: Service flags are reappearing! You know, that flag that Mrs. Ryan had hanging in her window in the movie "Saving Private Ryan"? The stars represent family members actively serving in the military or those who have died on duty. You can order "official" ones on this website and also read about their history.

usmilitary.about.com/milinfo/drill/: Individual drill movements, complete with step-by-step instructions and photographs.

bluestarmoms.org/airfare: A listing of military-friendly airlines and tips on how to get good ticket prices.

bluestarmothers.org: "We are mothers who now have, or have had, children serving in the military. We are a non-profit service organization supporting each other and our children while promoting patriotism."