Promotions in the Marine Corps

To be frank, I find the way the promotion system works in the Marine pretty interesting. 

You see, I graduated boot camp as a Private First Class, or E-2, primarily because of my contract in the music program. If a Marine recruit has a certain number of college credits, JROTC/prior military experience, or helped recruit a certain number of people while in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP), that recruit can graduate boot camp at a slightly higher rank than his or her peers. I'm sure there are other enlistment programs that guarantee slightly faster promotions...the Musician Enlistment Option Program (MEOP) is just one of them. 

The way the Marine Corps sees it, in order to be good enough to make it as a professional military musician, it takes skill, which is only gained through time -- lots of time. In essence, I've been preparing for this job for almost 10 years. Ever since I started playing the saxophone at age 10, I've basically been learning how to do the job I'm doing now. I've spent 10 gaining experience in my field...10 years of concerts, rehearsals, sectionals, auditions, private lessons, competitions, practicing, and classes. Ask any musician, and they will tell you that in order to get better at your instrument, it takes long-term dedication. Excluding the young prodigies you see on "America's Got Talent", it would be impossible to make a living without all those years of experience. That is what makes the musical field different from most other jobs in the military. Not everyone can decide after graduating high school that they will just join a military band -- they must have years of job experience under their belt.

Anyway, back to my original topic: the enlisted promotion system in the Marine Corps. There are two big requirements that remain consistent with every rank: TIME, and RECOMMENDATION. The two parts to the TIME requirements are TIME-IN-GRADE, and TIME-IN-SERVICE. Before getting promoted, the Marine must be in the Marine Corps for a certain amount of time (TIS), and have held their current rank for a certain amount of time (TIG). For recommendation, no Marine will get promoted if they don't have full recommendation in their chain of command. I will now discuss the normal promotion procedures for the first few enlisted ranks, the non-non-commissioned officers (or non-NCOs). 

Private (E-1): The lowest rank at which a Marine starts their career. 

Private First Class (E-2): Awarded after six months TIG and TIS.

Lance Corporal (E-3): Awarded after eight months TIS and nine months TIG.

Non-Commissioned Officers, or NCOs:

Corporal (E-4): Eight months TIG, One year TIS. 

*Of course, with meritorious promotions (which are only awarded to a few stellar Marines), the usual time requirements are waived. 

For the non-NCO ranks, a Marine must simply meet the time-in-grade/service requirements (and receive recommendation from their superiors) to be promoted. However, to be promoted to the NCO ranks, things change. To be promoted to Corporal (the first of the NCO ranks), the Marine has to compete against everyone in their field, which is done via a points system, otherwise known as "Composition Scores." The comp score is a final number that computes how well a Marine performs all around: on the rifle range, on Physical/Combat Fitness Tests, and so on (you also get points for education and for TIG/TIS). The better you shoot, the faster you run, and the longer you are in the military...the higher score the Marine will have. Having a higher score makes the Marine that much more competitive for promotion. 

Composition scores are only updated a couple weeks before the beginning of each quarter. Cutting scores are released every month, so the Marines who don't meet the cutting score for the first month of the quarter, still have a chance to get promoted in months 2, 3, and 4. This system is to ensure only the most qualified Marines are promoted earlier. Getting promoted just one month earlier can mean higher pay for two pay checks, and an extra month "Time-in-Grade" (which means more points for promotion to Sergeant).

Pretty soon (maybe this week my friend tells me), Headquarters Marine Corps will be releasing the "cutting scores" required for each MOS (military occupational specialty, or job). When they release the score, all Marines who meet or exceed the score will get promoted, assuming they get recommendation from their chain of command. 

Here's hoping I meet the cutting score! 

A Dream Realized

Dear readers,

A lot has happened in the past four months since my last update!

On June 10th, I graduated the School of Music with class 11060, with a final audition score of 2.9. After graduating, my family and I spent the weekend touring Washington, D.C. and Arlington National Cemetery. We all had a great time seeing all those historic places!

A few weeks ago, I finally checked in -- and have since performed in a few ceremonies with -- the 1st Marine Division Band. I absolutely LOVE my job. Every day I've learned more and more about the idiosyncrasies of being a military musician; specifically, what goes on behind the scenes. To me, this job doesn't seem like work, I love it so much! And the fact I'm getting paid to do what I love is incredible. Because I live so close to base, my family has been able to see many of my ceremonies, which means I can share some videos and photos with you!

My first parade as a Marine musician: a July 4th celebration in Oceanside, CA.

My first big performance with the band...playing in a major league baseball stadium!

Currently, we are on our make-up 4th of July 96 hour liberty. Because the band often does ceremonies on holidays such as Independence and Veterans' Day, we don't get that time off like most others in the military do. So instead, we will get the following weekend or day off. Later this year, we will have a couple weeks off for leave, and also spend some time on the range, fulfilling our annual qualification requirements on the M16.

I deeply appreciate all of you, my readers. I know I haven't been very consistent lately with the updates, but when I log on occasionally and see the comments urging me to post, that makes me motivated to keep you updated! Please comment my blog...it helps me to know that I have people that read what I write! Anyway, if any of you have questions about my time in the band, feel free to ask! I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Until next time,

LCpl Rice
Saxophonist
1st Marine Division Band

Greetings from Virginia!

Hey everybody,

I apologize for not posting the past few months. Updating this site has been on the back of my mind for a couple weeks and now I'm finally taking the time to update it.

Continuing from my last post, I ended up spending Christmas in Virginia, far away from my family back in California. Myself, along with a few friends from guard duty, got "adopted" by a civilian family off-base. Anyway, we had Christmas dinner with them and had a great time.

For New Year's, I was very fortunate to go home for a couple days. The $800 ticket round-trip was well worth it! My family held off on celebrating their Christmas until New Year's, so really it was like I didn't miss anything!

As far as the School of Music goes, I'm about a month and a half into the program. I absolutely LOVE it here. Our days are pretty long due to the number of classes we have, but being so busy definitely makes the days go by very fast. Everyday I participate in concert band, ceremonial band, jazz band, ear training, music theory, and marching band. We exercise quite often. Many nights I have to go back to the school to complete my minimum 2 hours of daily individual practice time, but lately I've been pretty lucky and have had the evenings off.

A neat thing about this base -- and the school -- is that the Navy and Army is stationed here, too. It is great being able to talk to people from other branches of service, and hearing their stories. (Oh, and seeing different uniforms definitely breaks up the monotony of seeing the same uniform everyday.)

The Counter-March -- We are learning how to do this move in marching band

I almost forgot to mention...I got promoted to Lance Corporal! I'm very stoked. I earned the rank on February 1st, after completing more than 6 months of active duty service. For band members, promotion to the first couple ranks are automatic (promotion to PFC after graduating boot camp, and LCpl after 6 months). However, not every musician who went to boot camp when I did got promoted. There are more than a few that are still PFCs. The reason? Those Marines either got Page 11 entries for underage drinking (without incident), or Non-Judicial Punishment for being late to school one too many times (we call this going UA, or Unauthorized Absence...same thing as AWOL). Being promoted has much more prestige knowing that not everyone made the cut. It has to be earned.

Well, that is about all I have to say for now. Being President's Day weekend, we are on what is called a 72-hour liberty, or 3-day weekend. I haven't eaten dinner yet, so I'm going to go for a walk and stop by Subway. 

Thanks for reading! As usual, if you have any questions, feel free to post a response! Or, let me know what you think about my blog! 

Until next time, 

LCpl Rice