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A Future
Marine 'Mustang' Leadership is one of the many fundamentals that is instilled into a Marine during all stages of their career. There are some Marines who take on this role with pride and enjoy the aspect of helping and assisting others in the right direction. The Marine Corps has two sides to their leadership spectrum. There is the enlisted side of leadership where Marines can promote from Private all the way up to Sergeant Major or Master Gunnery Sergeant. The opposite side of the spectrum is the officer route, which goes from Second Lieutenant all the way up to a General. Both of these have very important roles as far as guiding and leading Marines, but they are vastly different when it comes to decision making. The Marine Corps offers two types of programs for enlisted Marines ... if they desire to become an officer without breaking their active duty time; Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP) or Enlisted Commissioning Program (ECP). Marines accepted to MECEP attend Officer Candidate School and head off to college to earn a degree of their choice before starting their career as a commissioned officer in the Corps. The ECP if for Marines who have already received their Bachelor’s degree and become commissioned officers after they finish OCS. For U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Monique RomeroFlores, the best route for her was to apply for MECEP.
When asked what made her choose this change in her career she said, “I pride myself on being enlisted. Now that I have that foundation, I believe becoming an officer will allow me to look at both accounts in making decisions. This will help the Corps by allowing me to shape it the way I want it to because from what I’ve seen in my career. A lot of Marines would have been better impacted if they had stronger leaders. I chose this because I love the leadership aspect of the Marine Corps.” RomeroFlores originally started a MECEP package to become an
officer when she was a Corporal. At the time she did not complete
her package due to not feeling the time was right. RomeroFlores
currently serves as the officer selection assistant at Marine Corps
Recruiting Station Orange County. She says that being here has
helped reassure her that this is something she needed to do. The U.S. Marines | Marines - The Few, The Proud | Our Valiant Troops | Veterans | Citizens Like Us U.S. Marines Gifts | U.S. Marine Corps | U.S. Department of Defense |
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