AF to Marines

[STLcards]

Ok, so i come from a family of Marines/Navy. Grandfather was Navy, Cousin Navy, and then i have to uncles who were USMC. 3 of the 4 retired honorably, my uncle was honorably discharged after 14 years in the Marines after losing an eye from a grenade clip in a training exercise in Japan in the early 90's. I talked with the Army and AF, and then talked to my uncles and cousin and i decided it was between AF and USMC. I ultimately wanted to join the Marines, but my mom lost it and begged me to re-consiser she went into the "bullet catchers" and talked about my uncle losing his eye and how the other one admitted in combat saw things he wish he wouldnt of, etc, etc. I decided AF mainly so my mom wouldnt hate me, in my time, 4 year mark up in Sept., 6 year enlistee i have deployed 3 times. Ever since i joined part of me would think of the Marines, i still talk to my uncles i even still get pissed when i hear Marine jokes. I know there isnt a program like Blue to Green..my question is, if i want to go USMC do i have to finish up my 6 years and then switch. One uncle said if i talk to recruiter they may be able to work out a thing where when i do the paperwork they count my years ive completed and extend for more. So say i enlisted after 5 years in the AF, then id sign for another 3 which would come out to a total of 4 years to do in the Marines. Any answers or intel?

[oih82w8]

I am certain that there is a bevy of "Forum Recruiters", that will pass along some pearls of wisdom for you. My answer would be to get ahold of a recruiter from either service, or better yet BOTH, to see if their answers line up.

[KrashKatz]

Your question doesn't really seem to make sense. But long story short, you'll need to either do a conditional release in order to switch to another branch, or wait till the end of your contract in the Air Force and take your DD214 and all your vital doc's down to your local recruiting office and you will be just like a new accession into the Marine Corps. Since you are coming in from another branch, and as long as you get an honorable discharge from the Air Force, you should be awarded the rank of PFC and will have the enjoyment of attending Marine Corps Recruit Training. The only plus side, is you may get to keep some of your ribbons, and your time in service, so you'll make more $ then the other folks and have more points on your composite score when you go to pick up Corporal and Sergeant.

[SNJ785]

Stay AF man, its not worth the bull shit. Marine Corp is to soft now adays anyways. All you have ever heard was probly stories about the "Old Corp" good ol mothers of America fuked that over.

[Yggdrasil]

Don't do it. You're gonna get busted down to E2, and you're not going to have enough time to make E5 before high year tenure.

[ringjamesa]

Your question doesn't really seem to make sense. But long story short, you'll need to either do a conditional release in order to switch to another branch, or wait till the end of your contract in the Air Force and take your DD214 and all your vital doc's down to your local recruiting office and you will be just like a new accession into the Marine Corps. Since you are coming in from another branch, and as long as you get an honorable discharge from the Air Force, you should be awarded the rank of PFC and will have the enjoyment of attending Marine Corps Recruit Training. The only plus side, is you may get to keep some of your ribbons, and your time in service, so you'll make more $ then the other folks and have more points on your composite score when you go to pick up Corporal and Sergeant.

Decent advice except this part...you get to keep ALL of your ribbons and time in service. Go talk to a Marine Recruiter. Get a 368 signed (conditional release) then see what you can get. Just because you talk to a Recruiter and get the 368 signed doesn't mean you have to join but allows you to look at your options. If like Yggdrasil is saying you are going to get busted and probably eventually kidked out under HYT, at least you know and don't waste your time... Someone said to contact an AF recruiter as well, I can't imagine why.

[CYBERFX1024]

Hey ringamesa, You DO NOT get keep all your ribbons. I know this for a fact, when I came in to the Marines. We had a prior service Soldier in my platoon with us. He had like 4 ribbons while in the army, when he transferred over he could only wear 1 of those. That was the National Defense Ribbon. So he was a PFC with a star on his Nation Defense Ribbon.

[oih82w8]

Hey ringamesa, You DO NOT get keep all your ribbons. I know this for a fact, when I came in to the Marines. We had a prior service Soldier in my platoon with us. He had like 4 ribbons while in the army, when he transferred over he could only wear 1 of those. That was the National Defense Ribbon. So he was a PFC with a star on his Nation Defense Ribbon.

Sure you get to keep all of your ribbons...in a box at the top of the closet. But you are correct, all of the prior service ribbons are not transferable to the next branch. I know that some of the Air Force Outsatnding Unit type awards are worn by other services (AFOUA/JMUA come to mind). We had a Joint Service Technical School in P'Cola, and whenever our AF Unit (the parent unit) was awarded the AFOUA, the Army and Navy guys we awarded it also, and they could wear it.

You need to check with your Personn3el Office to determine which are and aren't authorized to wear on your new service uniform.

[ringjamesa]

Hey ringamesa, You DO NOT get keep all your ribbons. I know this for a fact, when I came in to the Marines. We had a prior service Soldier in my platoon with us. He had like 4 ribbons while in the army, when he transferred over he could only wear 1 of those. That was the National Defense Ribbon. So he was a PFC with a star on his Nation Defense Ribbon.

You absolutely get to keep all your ribbons. You may not be authorized to WEAR all of them but you definately get to keep them. If/when you retire, you can have all ribbons awarded on your ribbon rack if you so desire.

[CYBERFX1024]

Sorry didn't mean to sound rude. But you are correct ringamesa. Right now I do have a Air Force Outstanding Unit award that I am wearing. But I was attached to the same Company that got it. I am getting out and going to the Army, anybody know what you can wear over there?

[oih82w8]

Sorry didn't mean to sound rude. But you are correct ringamesa. Right now I do have a Air Force Outstanding Unit award that I am wearing. But I was attached to the same Company that got it. I am getting out and going to the Army, anybody know what you can wear over there?

You can wear the AFOUA over the name tag on upper right side, it just looks funny since it's not as big as the Army Unit awards. I am not sure which ones can be transferred over to the Army, other than any medal type ribbons; Acievement, Commendation, National Defense, Global War on Terror Service, etc... (anything with the word MEDAL in the end of it), and Unit Awards. Try and get ahold of an Army Personnel Office and tell them you are transferring over to the Army and want your ribbon rack to reflect correctly that would be my suggestion.

[bravohotel43]

Hey ringamesa, You DO NOT get keep all your ribbons. I know this for a fact, when I came in to the Marines. We had a prior service Soldier in my platoon with us. He had like 4 ribbons while in the army, when he transferred over he could only wear 1 of those. That was the National Defense Ribbon. So he was a PFC with a star on his Nation Defense Ribbon.

I call BS. Any DI worth his salt knows that you rate the NDR once per war, not per service you enlist with. You can switch services all you want, but unless you've served since the first Gulf War, you aren't gonna have a star on your firewatch ribbon.

[Berry5711]

As far as medals/ribbons go.

If you switch services, like AF to Marines, and you have a Airforce Combat Medal you can apply to be awarded the Marine Corps combat action ribbon. All you have to do is apply for your new branches medal/ribbon.

Now in the case of achievement medals or commendation medals, you can still wear those (in the Marines at least). The ones you cannot wear are any other services combat action medal/ribbon and awards the new service doesn't have.