Know Your USMC OCS Waiver!
Candidate Question:
As a single parent with custody of my daughter, does a Dependents Waiver hurt my package’s chances? Would the Marines rather select a single guy over me? Personally, I feel more competent now that I am a parent and I have to keep in mind that every man or woman I may potentially serve is someone’s child, brother, sister, husband, or wife. What do you think?
Response
No, a Dependents Waiver makes no difference, Hence the dependent is “waived,” or not considered as part of your application. It’s basically taken off the table for the board to look at. If anything, being a father could help because it’s a maturing and stabilizing influence on your personality, as you said. However, at every stage of your application and USMC career, you may have to give your command a family emergency plan, basically showing that you have contingencies for some relatives to take care of your dependent if you get called up suddenly for a deployment.
For Anyone Else: Find Your USMC Waiver
If you need information about waivers for Marine Officer program recruiting, a quick source of information is the Marine Corps Recruiting Command’s Officer Waiver Matrix, which can be found here: USMC OCS Waiver Matrix
It includes the rules and descriptions for the following waivers:
- Traffic offenses
- Tattoo waivers
- Drug waivers
- Misconduct Offenses
- DUI or DWI
- Age waivers
- Dependents waiver
- Drop/Reenrollment waiver
- Height/Weight/Body fat standards
MCRC Resources
Also you might want to bookmark this Marine Corps Recruiting page which contains great links including TBS Reporting and Graduation Dates, OCS Preship info, and more required paperwork: http://www.mcrc.marines.mil/UnitHome/OfficerPrograms.aspx
