MEMORANDUM: Reasons for wanting to switch from AFROTC to NROTC as a Marine Option

* I found another gem among my archives :)  So, after I received the warning letter from my father (posted on the blog last week), I waited one week, then 9/11 happened, and the next day, I gave this official letter to the Wing Commander of the Air Force Det, an USAF Colonel.  I'm aware that I sound like a tool....but be aware that I was a 20 year old "moto-kitty" as we used to say  :-)  ;-p

MEMORANDUM FOR COL Axxxxxxx                                                                                  12 SEPT 01
FROM:                  Sarah Pxxxxxx
SUBJECT:             Reasons for wanting to switch from AFROTC to NROTC as a Marine Option

1.       My military career goals have become less Air Force oriented and increasingly more focused on the Marine Corps environment and job opportunities.

2.       The Marine Corps offers the specific internal and external opportunities and challenges I seek in a military career.  It fulfills my personal expectations as well as my desire for physically demanding conditions in a work environment.

a.       The Air Force will not teach me the specifics of ground warfare tactics, which highly interests me in a career path.  The Marine Corps, on the other hand, focuses on this subject in depth.  Furthermore, I will be able t practice and actively participate in these tactics.

b.      The training I can receive from the Marine Corps during and after college will put me in an intense physical and outdoors environment upon which I thrive.  In nits nature, such an environment is more prevalent in the Marine Corps than in the Air Force.

c.       The most physically demanding and challenging careers paths in the Air Force (Pararescue Jumpers and Combat Controllers) are not open to women.  And while I am aware woman cannot hold infantry positions in the Marine Corps, I would receive more demanding and physically challenging training for years even before attending MOS school with the Marine Corps than anything available in the Air Force.

3.       I have observed all the services, and the Marine Corps is simply a more appealing setting for the condition in which I would like my mind and body in my career.  The Marine Corps stresses physical fitness and emphasizes strict regulations on appearances both on and off the job.  The Marine Corps cultivates a bond among its people that is undeniable strong, unique, and admirable.  I want to be a part of that.  I prefer to work in an atmosphere where I will have more demanded of me and where I will be pushed to my limits.  Unfortunately, I no longer feel confident that the Air Force can provide such an environment, either in college or while on active duty.  The Marine Corps offers me a setting in which to test myself both mentally and physically while simultaneously rewarding me with the satisfaction of knowing I am one of the “few, the proud.”

4.       Ultimately, the Marine Corps possesses all the intangibles I desire most.