Marine Corps announces new requirements for Marine security guards

Photo By Staff Sgt. Terence Brady | Master Gunnery Sgt. James E. Dinwoodie and other Marines with Headquarters Marine Corps Special Operations Command Screening Team and Headquarters Marine Corps Special Duty Assignment Screening Team screen Marines eligible for special duty assignments at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Jan. 14, 2013. Marine officials recently announced new standards for Marines desiring to become Marine Security Guards, including new minimum height and physical fitness requirements. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Terence G. Brady)  

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, UNITED STATES

01.09.2014

Courtesy Story

Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall

By Guv Callahan
Pentagram Staff Writer

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. - Marines hoping to become embassy security guards will now have to meet a series of new standards, including stricter physical fitness and height requirements, before they can apply for the assignment.

The special duty assignment enables Marines to serve abroad with the U.S. Department of State on post at U.S. Embassies around the world, providing protection to personnel and information. The new criteria went into effect immediately when Marine headquarters announced them in an administrative message Jan. 9, 2014.

To be eligible for the assignment, Marines must accomplish first-class physical fitness test results. In the past, eligible candidates had to achieve at least a third-class physical fitness score.

Capt. Eric Flanagan, Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, said officials saw a correlation between a Marine’s physical fitness test performance and their performance at Marine Security Guard School, a two month training program on Marine Corps Base Quantico. There was also a correlation between their fitness tests and their success in the field, he said.

There are also height requirements. To be considered for the assignment, Marines now have to be at least 5 feet 4 inches tall.

Flanagan said that Post One, the main watch post at U.S. embassies and consulates, is built to certain standards, and Marines below the height requirement will not be able to see their surroundings without obstructions.

Staff noncommissioned officers now have higher aptitude requirements as well. SNCOs must earn a general technical score of 100 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, increased from the old score of 90.

Like the fitness tests, there was a relationship between success on the general technical and success on post, Flanagan said.

“They’ve got a great deal of responsibility,” Flanagan said of Marine Security Guard SNCOs. Since they are required to interact with high ranking officials, including heads of state, the increased standards are appropriate, he said.

SNCOs remain the only MSGs who are allowed to be married or maintain sole custody of their kids while serving on the duty, but the new regulations stipulate that they are now unable to have a child under the age of nine months. They are also unable have a family member assigned to the Exceptional Family Member Program, which assists Marine families with special needs.

Applicants also need to have an adjudicated security clearance in order to make sure the process goes as quickly as possible. MSG school is only a two-month program, but obtaining the needed top secret security clearance can take longer than that, so having the adjudicated clearance makes things easier, Flanagan said.

Flanagan said these new regulations were minor and would not affect the number of applicants to the MSG program.

“Marines are having really great success in the MSG program and we expect more of the same,” he said.

Marines seeking to apply for the assignment or more information on prerequisites should contact their unit’s career planner/career retention specialist.

• Date Taken: 01.09.2014
• Date Posted: 02.03.2014 12:03
• Story ID: 120019
• Location: JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, US