Sgt Grit Marine Forums

I doubt any of you will remember me because I posted a long time ago, but I'm back! 

Right now, I'm in college full time, working on my AA in criminal justice. I'm graduating in spring 2009. Once I'm done, I do plan on working on my BA. Thing is, I'm considering the Marines - obviously. If I'm going to join the military, the Marines just have to be it.  Now here we go, if I'm to join, is it true I can continue school to work on my BA? Also, I'm a single mom. Her father is in the Army Reserve and if I was to leave my daughter with anyone, it'd be with my parents. Nothing against her father, btw. What do you all recommend for the schooling and if the Reserves would be better fit for my daughter and myself? Thanks

If the BA is important to you then i would suggest the reserves.  It would be more likely that your time would be less broken by deployment but in todays military a deployment is definatly in the cards.  Are you looking for an MP MOS?  If so, you'd need to find a reserve outfit with MPs.  See a recruiter and they can fill you in on particulars.

You could be a 92 day reservist which will make it so that you only train in the summers. Granted, if you get deployed you get deployed, but as far as your boot camp, combat training, etc. they will work around your school schedule.

As for your daughter, you would need to find a really understanding recruiter to take on an enlistment like that, because with two military parents they are DEFINITELY going to need a "family plan" outlining your exact plans for what happens with your daughter when you are at bootcamp, other training and of course deployment. With you not wanting to leave her with her father, that get s a little complicated, and it may be a can of worms to get that worked out.

You are a single parent........give it up!  Stop thinking of yourself, raise the kid, finish school.

Thanks, Ajax_Girl. I've talked to a recruiter (and the supervisor there). It's possible for me to do this, but my parents would have to adopt or have full custody of my daughter until I'm done with training. I think the only difficult part is giving my daughter to someone else (but they're my parents, and they're the only ones I trust completely with my kid) and the wait to get the custody/adoption started.. I was told it takes one year. But we'll see how this goes for me.

 

Again, thanks! 

Yup! some people pull out the race card, others the gender card...........you just use the kid.  Give custody to ma and pa, then use the kid to beat feet out, when your hidden agenda doesn't pan out.  Smell the coffee lady, ya got a very big responsibility now, your damn kid...i.e single parent.

 Does that mean no single parents can be in the military? So sad.

If you only knew how many are denied to join, denied to re-enlist, or asked to cash it in.............because being a single parent is an overwhelming job to begin with.   Oh, But you are an 18 year old, AA degree in Crimminal Justice, so you know so much more than anyone here about this subject. 

Not once did I say I did know more. That's why I'm on this forum, trying to ask questions to get answers.

Well little missy, I gave ya the straight scoop..............

 

IMO--you may want to listen to what Miller is saying. Reserves or active duty YOU WILL be spending a lot of time away from your daughter, and you need to consider if it is fair to her (and your parents) to be leaving her for that long, especially considering that you and her father may end up deployed at the same time, leaving her with no one but grandma & grandpa to raise her. I think it's great you want to serve your country, but raising a healthy and well-adjusted child who contributes to society is also important.

My advice as well is that as a Single Mom, your first responsiblity is to the kid until you pat him on the @ss out the door later in life.

I'm honestly glad Heather and I didn't meet and have our son till after I was out.  She would have hated the deployments and all that.  I've been lucky and have only truly missed 2 months of my son's life when I moved ahead of my family for a long distance move.  Many on here and within the military at large can go almost a year before getting a chance to see their newborn.

 There are plenty of single parents in the military, and honestly the military doesn't want them.  Heck I'm a firm believer in no first-termer in the Marines should be allowed to be married.  That alone would save the military a d@mn fortune.