Originally Posted by Bushmaster
I went from being a prior service Marine (0341) to being an 18E, but I took a little different route. I had ETS'd from the Marines and was going to college and joined 12th group which was a Reserve Group disbanded around 1994. Since I was filling a vacant slot on a team, I knew from the beginning I was going to be an 18E.
My first stop was Ft. Benning. I was told that I would inprocess at Benning, then go to Jump school, then on to Ft. Gordon for the 31 C course which was some kind of requirement for 18E's in the reserve (but not AD) and then to Bragg for SFAS and SFQC.
Kind of a funny story now, but not so funny at the time. I knew going in that I was not there for basic, but nobody else seem to know that at first. I ended up on the same bus as a bunch of Army recruits reporting for basic. When we arrived at Benning, we were all put in a room and given our last chance for "amnesty." I had just opened a brand new can of Copenhagen and was a little reluctant to throw it away, lol. I went up to the E-4 who was in charge for some reason (I didn't know what a Specialist was then. ) He tried to play hard ass with me which pissed me off so in true Marine Corps fashion, I told him to go &@!^ himself because I was not there to go to Army Boot Camp and I wasn't going to throw away a brand new can of Copenhagen. He turns all red and goes and gets the NCOIC /SSG and we go back into an office. He looks at my paperwork and makes some phone calls. Eventually we get it sorted out and the SSG lets me know that, even though I am not there for Basic training, I will be following along or shadowing the group of recruits for "Zero Week" or whatever they called it, to complete the medical inprocessing, shots, get my uniform issue, etc.
I tell you that, because my guess is, you might have to do something similar. To my knowledge there is no transition course from other services to the Army. Unless something has changed, only Marines are exempt from Army Basic and I believe it is only if you have completed boot camp within 5 years, so any other prior service would have to complete Army Basic so the numbers are low. You are just going to have to figure it out. Have fun lol. The ranks are not that much different, but some of the Customs and Courtesies are. You might get laughed at once in a while, but you will live.
For some reason, after completing the week of inprocessing at Benning, my orders got changed to go to FT. Gordon for 31C school. I think there was an issue with the school dates. I ended up doing 31C, then back to Benning for Airborne, than SFAS, and then the Q course. Gordon was an experience. I was still mentally a "jarhead" only having been in the Army a week at Benning when I found myself thrown in with a bunch of "non-infantry" dumbass Army privates who were fresh out of basic training. It was an experience.
I am pretty sure that Bragg/SFAS will not be your first stop. You will need to complete some administrative and medical in-processing with the Army and receive an initial issue of Army uniforms. I don't see them doing that at Bragg. My guess would be Benning.
BTW-Words of advice from an old timer. Don't go into this thinking "I am a big bad Marine, this is going to be easy." It won't be. I am sure SFAS and SFQC has gotten much easier since I went through in 1990 (isn't that the way it is for every course), but SFAS is still one of the toughest courses to complete and then you still have to be selected. It doesn't get easier after SFAS. I know of at least two other former Marines that did not make it through SFAS because their ego got in the way of common sense. I think I made it because I was too stupid to quit. I broke my ankle halfway through the last day of SFAS. At the finish line I was hauled over to Womack and put in a cast. I was certain I wasn't selected. When I got back to the code room where everyone else was, one of the TACs checked my roster number and told me I had made it. The best reason I can tell you is that because I did not quit. I was young and inexperienced compared to most of the others in my class. Luckily I was a Commo guy, so I was able to continue on with AIMC while I was on crutches, but it killed me when I got to Phase 1 because of not being able to do PT.
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