I remember those days, skulking in the darkness on the Marine Corps’ Manpower & Reserve Affairs website hoping the new cutting scores would spell a promotion for me. It’s a hard thing, knowing you’re supposed to have picked up the coveted NCO rank if you were any other MOS. Your friends of other MOS’ around you being promoted with ease, watching POGs pick up as soon as they rate a score. The disappointment is harsh, hoping you’ll eventually see the score either drop below 1750 or open up at all. Of course, not every MOS is 0351, and not every MOS gets fucked by the green weenie every month; I just happened to be lucky I guess.
Someone (a female POG) once genuinely said to me, in all seriousness, “Well you should’ve just gotten put on a meritorious board.”
What? Was that an option? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I could just walk into Gunny’s office, look him in the eye and tell him, “Gunny, I want to be put on a meritorious board.” I’m guessing I never thought of this because I always assumed that, in the infantry, such a thing would result in Gunny’s Danner boot needing to be surgically removed from my rectum.
The infantry is a big place, the average company being about 150 Marines strong. A far cry from the 4 or 5 Marines you may have in a “shop.” When there’s less people, individual Marines get more attention. When there’s more people, individual Marines are glossed over and only the best of the best get the opportunity of something so coveted as a meritorious promotion. It just doesn’t work in the regular grunt’s favor.
Also, this may be the 2nd strip you see this week that ends in, “I was looking at porn, I swear!”
In other news, I love you all. Thank you again for all the support and I’m doing good. Also, this tattoo made me happy:
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