advice needed

[JStern]

So obviously I am interested in becoming a military FF, althought I have already spent four years as a grunt in the Marine Corps and I don't want to be doing that kind of stuff again. I have already looked into the AF and the Army and because I am prior service the AF will not take me. I have three questions, first I was told that the Marine Corps does not have FF is this true? Second if I did go Army would it be smarter to go active, or reserve? Third if I did go Army whether it be active or reserve how much actual Fire fighting will I be doing versus doing normal grunt stuff?

[xxxshiftxxx]

Why will the airforce not take you? My current supervisor is prior marine corps grunt guy... and came to the Airforce...

The marine corps does have firefighting, but it will just be ARFF. you will go to the same training as the AF and Army, all branches, but if u do Marine, then when u get to your base you will sit on the flightline...

as for army, I have no idea... not sure what they have once u get to ur station...

I would really push to get in the AF if you are thinking about Firefighting, are training and quality of life can not be matched...

[JStern]

I tried

when I went to talk to the air force recruiter he told me that as of right now (which was about two months ago) they are not accepting any prioe service people. I"m not sure if it was just because of my mos which was infantry or what but he told me that he had no openings for prior service unless I wanted to go SF and you had to had prior SF experience. So I'm not sure. The AF where I want to go because of all the great things I have heard about it and the quality of traning and life that the AF has has to offer is not offered by any other service. So I heard that if you cannot get into the AF as a FF the next best service would be the Army.

[Tiredoldman]

OK....stay way from the Army for firefighting. I hear there's going to be changes for the better, but I have my doubts. As far as being a Marine Crash Crew, you're ALREADY a Marine, you WILL get the same training, and so what if you're on a flight line? Military bases are not the plethora of flaming disaster like some large metro cities. The primary job of the military firefighter is PREVENTION. Remember too, just cause your MOS is firefighter, there's this little phrase "other duties as assigned". I know a few 21M who were in Iraq providing convoy escort.

I have only worked with a few Marine firefighters and I enjoyed the hell out being around them. If you are overseas, I believe on certain bases you are all there is and you will do all fire protection - ARFF, structural and rescue.

I understand you can actually make some rank in the Corps - Warrant Officer is usually an ARFF Chief (?) and I have seen Gunnery Sergeant in there too. In the Army, consider yourself lucky if you make E-6. From what I'm hearing from A/D guys, REALLY lucky.

There is a man on here who goes by the name VinnieB and another who I can't recall. They are Marine ARFF and will be able to better answer your questions. As far as Army, do a search on this forum. There's plenty of information. I tried the AF route also and was told the exact same thing and I even have all the DOD certifications. "Sorry sarge, no prior service at this time."

Oh, try this. Google USMC ARFF and see what you find. There is also an ARFF website that has Marine ARFF crew homepages - aviationfirejournal.com.
Click on the ARFF departments on the net and look for the Marines.

[Tiredoldman]

Here's a nice site:

http://home.earthlink.net/~ffdiehl/index.html

[gunnyv]

There is a man on here who goes by the name VinnieB and another who I can't recall. They are Marine ARFF and will be able to better answer your questions.

Actually, I think Vinnie was a grunt (not that there's anything wrong with that). USMC crash crew has plenty of lat movers. Drop me a PM and we'll talk about the job and your options.

Top V

[angfireman]

Actually, I think Vinnie was a grunt (not that there's anything wrong with that). USMC crash crew has plenty of lat movers. Drop me a PM and we'll talk about the job and your options.

Top V

feel free to drop me a line as well if you need some info. As a Air Guard firefighter, I may have some info for you. I can check into the Air Force for you, I have some contacts in recruiting.

Let me know.

[DennisTheMenace]

So obviously I am interested in becoming a military FF, althought I have already spent four years as a grunt in the Marine Corps and I don't want to be doing that kind of stuff again. I have already looked into the AF and the Army and because I am prior service the AF will not take me. I have three questions, first I was told that the Marine Corps does not have FF is this true? Second if I did go Army would it be smarter to go active, or reserve? Third if I did go Army whether it be active or reserve how much actual Fire fighting will I be doing versus doing normal grunt stuff?

You spent four years active duty and are unaware that the USMC has Fire Fighters? You are really an 03 rock that will never have the ASVAB score to become anything else, or you are a full of crap troll....
Semper Fi,
Dennis

[DennisTheMenace]

but if u do Marine, then when u get to your base you will sit on the flightline...

Most bases rotate the guys thourgh the Federal Firehouse on base to both cross train and give the guys some other experiance, as well as to serve as sort of a liaison should anything happen on the flight line where the civilian guys have to help out.

[jwingfield02]

My 2cents as an Fire School Instructor (DOD)

So obviously I am interested in becoming a military FF, althought I have already spent four years as a grunt in the Marine Corps and I don't want to be doing that kind of stuff again. I have already looked into the AF and the Army and because I am prior service the AF will not take me. I have three questions, first I was told that the Marine Corps does not have FF is this true? Second if I did go Army would it be smarter to go active, or reserve? Third if I did go Army whether it be active or reserve how much actual Fire fighting will I be doing versus doing normal grunt stuff?

Every branch has it's own firefighters, military and civilian. Active duty AF probably won't take you being prior service but you can still go guard or reserve and then switch to active status. I have had several prior Marines, now AF in class this past year. If you want real Fire Fighter training I recommend the AF. Not that the other branches aren't fire fighters but they focus almost exculsively on Airport Firefighting. If you have any questions about things feel free to email me [email protected]. I am an instructor at the DOD fire academy and if I don't have the answer even if it is about a different branch I have every branch in my office.

[JStern]

Thank you JWing I am deff interested in any information that you may have for me, whether it be MC, AF, Army< or even NG if I have to go that route. I went to talk to the MC recruiter today and he basically told me that I could go and be Crash Fire in the MC if I wanted to. But I know that the AF whether it be ANG or active has the best program and best facilities, so that's the route that I would prefer to go. When I talked to the AF recruiter and asked him why he was not taking prior service he said because the AF does not want to pay someone E-4 pay to do a job that he can pay an E-1 to do. Sounds kind of rediculous to me, but I guess those are the rules. There are only two important things to me I want to be a FF and I want to serve my country, the rest are perks to me, so anyway I can make that happen would be the way I want to go.

[shortimer52]

Dont feel bad man. When I got out of the Marines in 2000 I had a hard time getting back on my feet. So I went down to the AF and they told me that same thing. They asked my MOS (0352) and the gave me a long line of crap. So I went to the Army and even if I thought it was a bad idea at first, in the long run it was the best thing for me. It only took another four years for being in the Army to pay off, but it did.

[JStern]

So does that mean that you are now in the AF ater you spent all that time in the other services? I am now in the process of talking to Marine recruiters again and going back in but instead of going 0311 like I was before I am trying to get 7051 crash fire...so we will see what happens. I just want to be in the military as a FF and which ever service is willing to offer me that I will take it. The AF won't take me and the Army recruiters said that they are not filling that job anymore because they are in the process of turning that mos over to civilians. So the only option left is either NAVY, which I will never do, and the Marines which I know. Even though it will be mostly flightline stuff it still gets my foot in the door with some experience and maybe after time I can transfer to the AF or get out and go DOD FF....

[gunnyv]

First off, the Army recruiter is lying to you, while the Army is changing it's deployment model for FFs, it is not doing away with them. What is happening is that neither the Army or the Corps have enough FFs to meet the current deployment cycle, so an early step was taken to contract FFing in Iraq.

There are plenty of prior service Marine 7051s working as DoD firefighters, or in Iraq with Wackenhut. As a Cpl or Sgt, you will be expected to perform duties appropriate to your rank, even though you are an inexperienced lat mover. There will be a lot of pressure on you to get your P-19 and other licenses promptly. Marine Corps ARFF is more rank than certification based, whereas the AF won't let you fill a position unless you have the certs, regardless of rank.

If you want to ask questions on the thread here, send 'em and I'll try to answer.

[JStern]

I'm sure that the ARMY recruiter is lying to me and just does not want to put in the time to get me into the Job that I want to be in...he gets more points for a off the street enlistee than he does for a prior service. Once he told me that I kinda was turned off to the idea of going into the army, I wasn't crazy about it to begin with but that kind of solidified the thought. I guess the biggest concern that I have at this point is can I be guaranteed that I can get into FF as a Marine prior service. I know that what all the recruiters are telling me and I'm not sure if it is true or not is if a recruiter can guarantee a job before I go down to meps or if the recruiters can write it into my contract? I really don't want to do anything else in the Marine Corps besides being a FF.