Posted on Jan 27, 2018
What should be my realistic expectations of being a USMC Reservist and running a small business?
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(sorry this post will be all over the place) This is my second post on here. And i really need an experienced outsiders thoughts on this. I before explained my situation and what my delema is. But im at a major prodicament with myself on what todo. I think its because of my lack of knowledge and not knowing what to expect. Before i start hears my situation(to see more check out my last post). I am 18. I am rounding off my final months at my vocational high school. I have started my own excavation company. But im in a tough bind. Because i need to run my business but also want to be in the Marines as a reservist. But I think i found away to pull it off without having to ignore my company and be able to accomplish my dream of being in the USMC. So where im from obviously theres winter. But we get snow. which means the ground gets hard which means no more digging. So this is if you will the slow season. But come spring we are on like donkey kong banging out jobs we already have lined up. So I figure run my company for this year 2018. And come next winter i can either keep working and get a plow job or presue the usmc. So heres my thought. Late October to early November I goto boot camp. Thats 13 weeks. So for the sake of numbers lets say i leave October 10th. That means January 10th is when ill be done with basic. Than from what I hear you graduate and then go home for about 10 days or so. So thats January 20th ish. Than head to some sort of infinitry training for 3 weeks. That leaves me at Febuary 14th. Typically in MA where im from the snows pretty much gone by the end of March. So that leaves me with just about a month or so to goto MOS school. But i cant find anything online about MOS school. Do you have a 10 day or so break to go back home like you do when you graduate boot camp? If no than is it shorter or do you typically get shipped off right to your MOS school from infintry training. Also what MOS school takes the least amount of time? How long does a typical MOS school take? is there a minimum amount of time that you have to goto school for. Being in the excavation business as a regular job. It would be pretty cool to be doing the same thing for the USMC. Is there any MOS for stuff like this. If so what are they and how long does it take? Could being in the trade and having all my licenses already shorten up MOS school at all? Do I have todo all my MOS schooling all at once or can I do a little and come back and maybe pick at it throughout the year or do i have todo it all at once? Keep in mind time is a big factor for me so anything I can do to shorten time and get everything done I will need todo. Is their anyway i can go right from boot camp to inifintry and right from infintry goto MOS without going home. Or do i have to go home for 10 days and all that. I have also heard that the minimum time you can do is a 8 year contract. Is this true. I thought it was 4 and than once your four was up you could re enlist or retire. Or is the 4 year only avaible for active marines. Sorry for rambling. I just want to find away to make this work so that come spring time. Late march early april if possible I can be done with everything I need go back to running my company and do my drills every month and PT annually.
Reserves
Small Business Owner
MOS
Edited 7 y ago
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 14
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Call your local Marine Corps Reserve unit and make an appointment to see a RESERVE recruiter/career planner. Regular recruiters concentrate on active duty recruiting and are not always conversant in reserve matters. The reserve wing and division both have recruiters that would be able to give you a realistic estimate of your time for Initial Active Duty for Training and specialty training. I join others in reminding you that there is always the potential for deployment overseas for extended periods of time. I used to be the recruiting and retention officer for the reserve wing, so I know of what I speak, but I can't pass on the current possibilities.
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Conner Fleury
Thankyou for your response. When you were a recruiter what were the amount of reservist being deployed? I see people talking about active and inactive reservist what does this mean?
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LtCol Robert Quinter
I was actually one of the people who worked at HQMC to more fully integrate the reserves into active deployments. My opinion didn't win since I felt long term deployments would represent a deleterious impact on the reservist, their families, their community, and employers. When many reservists deployed to Iraq in the first Gulf War, the problems I predicted presented themselves, but I guess they have mostly worked themselves out. The active reserves are those associated with a drilling, thus deployable unit; inactive are those who have served a full enlistment, and are not associated with any drilling unit, but still have time left on the eight year obligation they incur when they enlist. These people are considered part of the individual ready reserve (IRR) and generally don't hear anything from the Corps until they have completed the eight years of eligibility to serve. They may be called up individually if required. An IRR individual may also transfer into the drilling reserve if they find a unit that accepts them.
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Conner it'll certainly depend on what business and how good a business partners you have being a Marine Reservist. I've had friends that had to sell or close their businesses due to mobilizations. I gave up any desire to run much less own my own business because I understand the sacrifices it would require! Good luck!
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LTC John Mohor
Not at all. Restaurant/ Bar, Heating and Air Service and Installation and some various construction related(framers, hangers, finishers and electricians. Even one that was a long haul truck driver.
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LTC John Mohor
Not the Corps but the reserve components. One was National Guardand the rest were Army Reserve. All the Reserve Compments, National Guard(Air and Army), Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force and Coast Guard are all one weekend a month two weeks a year officially in the official standards. With today's ongoing GWOT all are mobilized numerous times in the course a standard reserve career now.
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I appreciate your enthusiasm Conner. However I will give you the no BS answer. Which is probably not what you want to hear.
Running your own business and being in the Reserves is tough. First of all, in the military, you run on their schedule not yours. So in your case, for example, you would want to attend training in Winter when your civilian job is slow. However, what happens when the Marines say the only training slot available is in the summer? Your business needs to be flexible enough to work around the Marines schedule, not the other way around. The Marines (and the rest of military) are not a flexible organization. The 2 days a month and 2 weeks a year are not optional dates. You WILL have to show up when and where they say. Now, if you can work your business around their schedule, then you are good to go.
The other issue you have is deployments. What happens to your business when the Marines say you are being deployed for a year? Will someone run it for you? I have seen it happen to many folks. They either lost jobs or had to close their business. My entire Wing got activated back in 2001, we had a hospital in our Wing. One of the doctors had a civilian medical practice. He had to close his office and lay off all his employees while he was activated.
As far as your USMC job, it seems like the Combat Engineer (MOS 1371) is what you want. The school is at Camp Lajuene, NC. They also have alternate schooling for Combat Engineer Reserves, so you need to ask your recruiter about that. Also, how close is the nearest USMC reserve company to you? What jobs do they do? Is there even a Combat Engineer unit around you or is it several states away?
However, before you do anything you need to take the ASVAB test to see what jobs you qualify for. Every job in the military has a minimum ASVAB score that you must meet before you will be even considered. Each branch has minimum ASVAB scores too. I know several guys who were turned down by the Air Force because they didn’t score high enough. It was tough on them because their fathers were AF members.
The short answer to your question is that your plan has many issues and I don’t think it will work the way you want. A better plan is to go active duty for a few years, get educated and experience in the military, and then get out and start your company.
Good luck.
Running your own business and being in the Reserves is tough. First of all, in the military, you run on their schedule not yours. So in your case, for example, you would want to attend training in Winter when your civilian job is slow. However, what happens when the Marines say the only training slot available is in the summer? Your business needs to be flexible enough to work around the Marines schedule, not the other way around. The Marines (and the rest of military) are not a flexible organization. The 2 days a month and 2 weeks a year are not optional dates. You WILL have to show up when and where they say. Now, if you can work your business around their schedule, then you are good to go.
The other issue you have is deployments. What happens to your business when the Marines say you are being deployed for a year? Will someone run it for you? I have seen it happen to many folks. They either lost jobs or had to close their business. My entire Wing got activated back in 2001, we had a hospital in our Wing. One of the doctors had a civilian medical practice. He had to close his office and lay off all his employees while he was activated.
As far as your USMC job, it seems like the Combat Engineer (MOS 1371) is what you want. The school is at Camp Lajuene, NC. They also have alternate schooling for Combat Engineer Reserves, so you need to ask your recruiter about that. Also, how close is the nearest USMC reserve company to you? What jobs do they do? Is there even a Combat Engineer unit around you or is it several states away?
However, before you do anything you need to take the ASVAB test to see what jobs you qualify for. Every job in the military has a minimum ASVAB score that you must meet before you will be even considered. Each branch has minimum ASVAB scores too. I know several guys who were turned down by the Air Force because they didn’t score high enough. It was tough on them because their fathers were AF members.
The short answer to your question is that your plan has many issues and I don’t think it will work the way you want. A better plan is to go active duty for a few years, get educated and experience in the military, and then get out and start your company.
Good luck.
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Conner Fleury
Thankyou for your response. It was a good realality check for me. Its exactly what i was looking for. Im just having a hard time trying to make this work for me. On one hand i worked hard for my business and dont wana lose what i have worked so hard for. And on the other hand i really want to go into the corps. I just dont know how to make it work. Active isnt really and option for me thats why i want to presue the reserve route. What is the minimum time for reserve and active? i have heard people talking about going active than doing the rest of their contract reserve. Could i sighn a contract for active go in for a year and do the rest of my time reserve? I took the ASVAB last year in school and did horrible. Do they look at previous tests or do they only care about the one you just took. What would the ASVAB score have to be in order to get this MOS?
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