New MOS approved for Marine infantry squad leaders

Posted 2014-12-16 13:48 by Grunt Report

A new military occupational specialty for infantry squad leaders will refine training and education for enlisted Marines in the key leadership positions, officials announced today.

The Squad Leader Development Program, to be detailed in an upcoming Marine administrative message, will allow qualified Marines to develop a career path and get a guaranteed assignment as an infantry squad leader, according to a Marine Corps news release. The program is built to support the Corps’ new Expeditionary Force 21 concept, which emphasizes smaller Marine elements operating independently in a distributed environment.

“Expeditionary Force 21 emphasizes maximizing Marine Corps capabilities to meet the coming challenges around the globe with the recognition that small unit leaders are the backbone of the Corps,” the release states.

Designed to be exclusive at the start, the program will be available to just 100 Marines the first year, enough to put one squad leader per platoon for every deploying infantry battalion, officials said. Marine Corps officials plan to eventually expand the program to all Marine squad leaders.

Noncommissioned officers in the rifleman, machine gunner, mortarman, infantry assaultman and anti-tank missileman MOSs are eligible to apply for the program this year, according to the release. All applicants must be assigned to an active-component infantry battalion, with three to five years of time in service and five years of obligated service remaining on their contracts.

Eligible Marines also have a hefty professional military education requirement. In addition to all the PME required to reach the rank of corporal, applicants must complete the advanced course pertaining to their MOS or the scout sniper basic course.

Applicants can choose one of two tracks: combat instructor or squad leader. According to the release, the squad leader track will send a Marine to sergeants course and the infantry small unit leader’s course before returning him to an infantry battalion to deploy as a squad leader. The combat instructor career track will allow a Marine to complete combat instructor school and serve as a combat instructor for a maximum of two-and-a-half years before assignment to a deploying infantry battalion to serve as a squad leader.

Information about how to apply for the program, which formally begins in 2015, was not immediately available.