US Marine Corps Cadet

[Peter]

Dear,

Can anybody give me some recent information about US Marine Corps Cadet Insignia. I have a picture with:

Cadet Colonel: 3 silver Diamonds
Cadet Lieutenant Colonel: 2 silver Diamonds
Cadet Major: 1 silver Diamond
Cadet Captain: 3 silver Discs
Cadet First Lieutenant: 2 silver Discs
Cadet Second Lieutenant: 1 silver Disc
Cadet Sergeant Major: 3 Chevrons, Lamp of Learning, 4 Rockers
Cadet First Sergeant: 3 Chevrons, LoL, 3 Rockers
Cadet Gunnery Sergeant: 3 Chevrons, LoL, 2 Rockers
Cadet Staff Sergeant: 3 Chevrons, LoL, 1 Rocker
Cadet Sergeant: 3 Chevrons, LoL
Cadet Corporal: 2 Chevrons, LoL
Cadet Private First Class: 1 Chevron, LoL
Cadet Private: no insignia

Are these still in use? Please send me info, and if possible website?
Yours sincerely,

Peter Meijlaers

[ChrisWI]

As far as I know there are no USMC cadets, I do belive they MAY have an ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) program which is made up of college students .... is this what you are reffering to?

[Peter]

I was looking for real USMC Cadets but I thing the insignia I referred to above are possible only from the ROTC. So possible there are no Cadets.
Maybe somebody else knows more about it. The best thing I can do is just wait.

[Blakwhit]

Well there actually are no USMC Cadets other than ROTC. The Marine Corps does not have there own Military Academy a certin number of midshipman at the US Naval Academy each year have the option of joining the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps also uses the Naval ROTC program as well, Midshipman in Navy ROTC who want to go Marine Corps are called Marine Option Midshipman and still wear the NROTC unifom but with some Marine Corps insignia. The rank insignia that you have is for the Marine Corps Junior ROTC program which is a high school program. They wear Marine Uniforms with slight modifacations. If you want any more info on it I was in that program when I was in high school so I hope that helps.

Blake

[dcfowler1]

There is no Marine Corps ROTC. Marine Corps officer candidates may either attend one of several Marine OCS programs, or attend the Naval Academy as midshipmen, or attend a university Navy (note: no longer called Naval) ROTC program as midshipmen. They do wear USMC cap insignia in the latter case, but naval uniforms.

There are "Young Marines" which is a high school youth program. Maybe that is what you saw.

Dave

[RayTrygstad]

The U.S.Marine Corps has a very active Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the high school level. The insignia you saw came from this program. Examples of these insignia can be found at:

http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/mcjrotcrank1.shtml
http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/mcjrotcrank2.shtml

The Marine Corps Order (MCO) governing the Marine Corps Junior ROTC can be found at http://www.marines.mil/news/publications/Documents/MCO%201533.6E.pdf and the applicable uniform regulations for the program are at http://www.marcorsyscom.usmc.mil/sites/mcub/library/MCUR/URCH8.htm. The program homepage is at http://www.mcjrotc.org/

Hope that helps.

--Ray