Marine Corps Officer, US Marine Corps

>> Hi, my name is Captain Shawn Ramirez. In the United States Marine Corps. I've been in the Marines for about 13 years. I'm an infantry officer by trade, but right now I'm a Marine Corps officer selection officer. I was chosen to do this duty, and my job right now is to travel throughout north Florida and southern Georgia looking for qualified men and women who want to be Marine Corps officers. So the application process, a civilian, any college student can apply, and the application process starts with meeting with someone like me. I ask them some questions to make sure they qualify. I sit down and talk about the information, and if they're interested, we start kind of a lengthy application process, and they go on aboard, which takes place in Parris Island. If, they compete against the eastern region of the United States, and if they're selected, they go to training and start a career after they graduate. So they can apply as early as freshmen. My mornings usually start at 05:30. I wake up at 5:30 in the morning, workout with my team because physical fitness is still a part of what we do despite being in the business environment. Return to the hotel when we're on the road around 08, and we start doing paperwork administration. Preparing to go out to schools. Get out to campus around 10, 10:30, set up a table display, and conduct what's called air canvasing. Meeting with students. Conducting interviews. Asking, you know, questions of students who's qualified, and then we sit down and conduct interviews and processing our paperwork. We usually finish up about 5:00 PM in the evening, go back to the hotel, record what we did on campus, and then are usually done around 7:00 PM. That's on the road because we're usually working pretty long days. For most students, when I'm looking at a freshman or a sophomore, I'm looking for mental more physical qualification. Mainly academics are big. Have to have done some physical fitness before really because we can't build people from nothing, if they played sports before, but a really big thing for us once they're senior is just like in the job. I want them to have some kind of experience, a little bit of leadership experience, a little bit of community service, and something that shows that they've done something else aside from just go to college for the past four years. What makes a good officer is ambition. Wanting to, knowing yourself and seeking self-improvement. Always wanting to be better, and by making yourself better, you set the example for your Marines and the people that follow you, and you're going to be a good leader. That's what makes a good officer.