Rare Recruits: Twin Footballers Interrupt School to Join Marines

Minor detail and not to seem like a pin-head, but...
The percentage of regular commissioned officers in the Navy without degress approaches 0. Most Mustangs are LDOs - Limited Duty Officers - who provide specific skill sets and expertise. As I recall the LDO program they had to make E-6 to be eligible, and had no reasonable expectation of being promoted beyond O-5. The number of O-6 billets for LDOs was something in the neighborhood of 25 fleet wide - and they were not eligible for combat command. I am not certain that the USMC even has such a program. (Yes, I know they have CWOs, but, while simlar, it is not the same.)

Their opportunity would be better were they to complete their first enlistment, use their GI Bill, finish college, and then re-enter through OCS as regular officers. Prior enlistees are given considerable preference when selecting candidates for OCS, perhaps even more so in the Corp.

And another wet-blanket statement from the fringes:
I would never declare someone officer material until they have stepped through the doors and proven themselves. Some of the promising (on paper) young men and women I saw as Midshipmen at Annapolis and Candidates at OCS quit or washed out, while the gritty, determined, 'average Joes' often turned out to be superstars.

My 2 cents: take it for what its worth.

And despite all that - I am proud of these young men and wish them health, safety, and success. Unfortunately the character they already show is becoming rarer and rarer in today's America.

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