USMC Officer

13 Christmas Gift Ideas for Marines

December 2, 2017January 9, 2020
by USMC Officer

Choosing a Christmas gift for a Marine should be the last item on your list of worries. Just the thought of being on Holiday Leave and home with family makes us overjoyed.

As a Marine and someone who interacts with Marines on a daily basis, I can say most of us have very simple needs. We like to workout. We like buy tactical looking gear for no reason. And far less often than we should, we spend time developing what General Amos called our “30 Year Old Body and 5000 Year Old Mind.” I’ve broken these gift ideas into three areas: educational, practical, and nice to haves.

Gear

USMC CIF Gear List (Now IIF)

September 25, 2016January 9, 2020
by USMC Officer

The USMC CIF gear list has become increasingly hard to find online. There are a lot of phony websites out there with bad, or outdated information. The previous official site doesn’t work half the time and it can be difficult to navigate.

I’m going to demystify finding CIF gear list/IIF gear list information and receipts.

Gear

Military Discount Oakley’s Using the Standard Issue (SI) Program

September 18, 2016January 9, 2020
by USMC Officer

Owning Oakley’s is one of hallmarks of being in the military and getting discount Oakley’s makes wearing them even more satisfying.

Military personnel receive many benefits like health insurance, a thrift savings plan, and basic allowance for housing. Service members are often unaware that many organizations out in the private sector offer additional benefits to those who serve. One of those companies I often buy products from is Oakley through their Oakley SI (US Standard Issue) program.

Education

New Officers and the USAA Career Starter Loan

August 30, 2016January 9, 2020
by USMC Officer

The USAA Career Starter Loan offers newly commissioned officers an opportunity to borrow up to $25,000 to start their career. This includes students in the ROTC program, those attending a military academy, and newly commissioned officers coming out of Officer Candidates School (or the equivalent in other services).

You can take the loan out up to a year before you commission, or a year after. In order to take it out before commissioning you’ll have to get your command at the academy, or ROTC, to sign some forms to show USAA they have counseled you.

Marine Officer

PFT, CFT, BCP Changes Challenge Marines To Be Even…

July 2, 2016January 9, 2020
by USMC Officer

The Marine Corps will be drastically changing it’s scoring for the Physical Fitness Test (PFT) and Combat Fitness Test. Changes to the Body Composition Program (BCP) will also give fitter Marines a chance to bulk up without worrying about making height/weight or taping out. As you will see, these changes as a whole will challenge Marines to meet higher standards in order to receive higher scores on the PFT and CFT.

As MARADMIN 022/16 states these changes will “allow for greater distinction between Marines of different fitness levels and age groups.” If you look at the newest score charts that I’ve provided links for below, the Marine Corps is not joking around about this one. There are significant variances in how events are scored for different age groups. Currently, scoring is the same no matter what your age group. Classification of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd was dependent on age. Now scoring is also dependent on age group. There was no mention of changing the classification table, so we can assume for now that it is unchanged.