Quick answer to a question about who gets recycled to Mike Company
The most common reasons are failing at one portion of the period of instruction (POI) or injury. For example, one lieutenant arrived at The Basic School (TBS) and went through the POI, all the while injuring his back. He was then placed in Mike Company, where his role was to support the students going through the Basic Officer’s Course–tasks like directing traffic, monitoring endurance course runs, mowing the lawn, painting, police calls, etc. Once this lieutenant’s back was healed, he then injured his shoulder. As a result, he languished in Mike Company for almost 3 years! Yikes!
The more common reason someone gets recycled to Mike Company is a failure in leadership/military skills, physical fitness, or academics. There are stories of lieutenants getting dropped not 3 or 4 days before GRADUATION because of one of these things. Harsh, I know. Just be prepared for an intense and unrelenting battle rhythm at TBS and don’t let other people influence the opinion that you hold of yourself. (I mean, hopefully, you believe you’re a good person.) That being said, stay out of Mike Company at all costs so you can move on with your life! TBS is not the Marine Corps! Let me know if you have any more questions!
This post originally appeared on LittleMarineOfficer.com here. Many thanks for the guest post!
Littlemarineofficer.com is a fantastic resource and we are proud to be partnered with the blog. We are going to be featuring some of LMO’s great information as a series of guest posts coming soon.
Little Marine Officer.com is probably the best source of information about The Basic School for successful candidates, so we highly recommend bookmarking her site for when you successfully pass the trials of OCS!