<p>I know this is probably not the right forum for this question, but, im going to ask it.</p>
<p>I want to join the Marines reserve in 2016-2017, i want to serve a while as enlisted (and possibly become recon) than go officer. i want to enlist as an intel marine than advance to officer or recon. but what i want to know is, are the slots for officer training school hard? NROTC is not really an option i want to do (i dont want to go active).</p>
<p>thanks in advance.</p>
<p>*Recon or MARSOC, sorry about that.</p>
<p>Yes, this is probably not the forum for this question. Plus, predicting more than two years ahead is even harder. Yet, I will give it a shot anyway. 
</p>
<p>I presume that you plan on going to college. If so, look into USMC’s “Platoon Leaders Class” which is one of their primary ways of developing officers. Basically, you go to OCS during summer breaks. No obligation until the very end, where your options become clear. However, you are not technically enlisted during this time; because you are not actually in the USMC.</p>
<p>See more here: <a href=“Become a Marine Corps Officer | Marines”>Become a Marine Corps Officer | Marines;
<p>I can think of no reason that this could not lead to a reserve commission.</p>
<p>@NROTCgrad, thanks! this looks like a good option if i can go reserve.</p>
<p>By the way, are you aware that USMC reserve units are relatively few and far between? Take a look at this to see where the infantry units are:
<a href=“4th Marine Division (United States) - Wikipedia”>4th Marine Division (United States) - Wikipedia;
<p>Several are in Texas and California. Otherwise, not very many. I do see four recon units.</p>
<p>not to burst your bubble, going from enlisted to officer, is much harder than OCS,OCC,PLC, Navy A cademy, and NROTC. I did alot online research into Marine Officer, and they only have a few selection boards a year if your not doing from Nrotc. I hope you realize the marine is going through a drawdown, and want drastically reduce the amount of people in thier forces. So you will have to compete for people who came fresh out of college or Naval academy for the spot, which they prefer to choose Officers from those path</p>
<p>Enlisting into the USMCR just to get a few drills of experience really isn’t worth it, IMO. Just apply to PLC or OCC and go from there. That way you don’t have to deal with getting screwed with having drill right before an exam. You won’t get enough experience for it to really benefit you anyway. The real training begins when you get to a Fleet unit, which one weekend a month can’t really do much for you. </p>