this is a question for US Marines or anyone who knows of marines; why do some marines take the route..........

Question

for the rank of master gunnery sargeant rather than going for sargeant major? only military knowledgable answers only please

Answer 1

It depends on what the individual wants. When you enlist, you choose and MOS. I was a radio operator when I was in. When you are selected for the rank of E8, you make a decision. If you still want to work in your MOS, you choose to become a Master Sgt. If you want to be in a command position, at the company level, and leave you MOS, you would choose the rank of First Sgt. At that point, you can be the assigned to any type of unit, as a First Sgt.'s duties are command related, not MOS related. (ie. my First Sgt. in artillery was a mechanic coming up in the Corps.)

That is where the decision is made. If you choosee to be a Master Sgt, when it comes time for E9, you will be promoted to the rank of Master Gunnery Sgt. If you chose First Sgt, you would then be promoted to Sgt. Major, a command position at the battallion level or higher.

Answer 2

It depends on what you want to do with your career. A Master Gunnery Sergeant (MGySgt) and Master Sergeant (MSgt) are considered "technical" ranks. They will perform basically an administrative role, but they are responsible for all of the technical training and abilities of those Marines under them. The First Sergeant/ Sergeant Major (1stSgt/SgtMaj) route is also administrative, but it is more on the personnel side of the administration. They would be in charge of individual training and the equipment.

That is the down and dirty, but they essentially have the same roles. While I was in the Marine Corps, there were two people I was sure not to piss off. My division chief, a crusty old Master Sergeant that had served one tour in Vietnam with the infantry then moved to aviation, and the Sergeant Major, a crusty old grunt that saw action in Vietnam, Beirut, Grenada, Desert Storm and Somalia. I could piss of the officers all I wanted too, but if these two men thought I was in the right, they would stand up for me everytime. I had a great deal of respect for all of the Sergeants Major and Master Sergeants (familiarly known as "Top", I don't know how they got that nickname, maybe a topic for another Yahoo! question?), when I left, my MSgt and SgtMaj had a combined total of 56 years experience in the Marine Coprs.