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Enlistment rules: Marine Corps

Each year, the Corps must recruit about 36,000 enlisted Marines to maintain its personnel levels. Locating and contracting applicants who are mentally, morally and physically qualified is the mission of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, headquartered in Quantico, Va., and its 2,650 uniformed recruiters dispersed throughout all U.S. states, territories and protectorates.

The Marine Corps’ recruiting standards are set above the levels required by the Defense Department. During fiscal 2006, 95.8 percent of the Corps’ enlistees were high school graduates, though Defense Department standards require only 90 percent. Last year, 68.7 percent of Marine enlistees tested in the highest mental group category on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Test, exceeding the Defense Department standard of 60 percent.

In addition to upholding stringent enlistment criteria unmatched by other service branches, Marine recruiters continuously “screen to discover” throughout the enlistment process, prior to and during an applicant’s entry into the delayed-entry program, as well as a performing pre-ship screening before someone is sent to recruit training.

Recruiters can issue waivers on a case-by-case basis for some medical and physical disqualifications. About one-third of the Marines who have enlisted in the Corps over the last five years received a waiver for the recreational use of marijuana. For other drugs, such as heroin and methamphetamines, no waiver is granted.

Once an applicant reports to recruit training, another thorough screening takes place at the recruit training depot. If an applicant is found to have enlisted fraudulently or does not meet the moral standards outlined in the Military Personnel Procurement Manual, he will be denied enlistment.

You can find more information on Marine Corps enlistments at the Corps’ official recruiting site.