Poolee - Preparing for Boot Camp

Poolees are prospective Marine recruits who train with their Marine Corps Recruiters and learn about the challenges they will face throughout not only boot camp, but their career in the Corps as well. (Recent reference: During COVID when the USMC implemented two weeks quarantine prior to stepping on the yellow footprints, personnel in quarantine were considered poolees, not recruits.)

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Preparation

As a poolee, your son or daughter is preparing for boot camp, and the recruiters are preparing the poolees physically, intellectually, and emotionally. They have probably heard from other new Marines who have come back to the recruiter's office and shared their experience from boot camp. The recruiters are preparing the poolees the best way they can.

What about you...who has prepared you?

This page will be a great start for you and there is a lot more information on our websites that will help prepare you for your poolee's potential career in the Marine Corps. RecruitParents.com can help guide you through boot camp and then we have additional websites with information for each stage of the Marine Corps.

If you have Facebook, you might want to consider joining one of our Facebook groups. The poolee group will help prepare you for what's ahead and the recruit groups will guide you through the 13-week journey. Our poolee group and recruit groups can be found on this page. You may want to look at our graduation dates page to help you join the correct recruit group for your son or daughter.

What to Bring

Most recruiters will tell their poolees what they should and should NOT bring with them to boot camp. Just in case they don't, here is a list what your poolee will need to bring with them:

• Social security card
• Photo ID
• Pocket address book with addresses prefilled
• No more than $20
• Corrective glasses (if worn)
• They may bring a Bible
• They may bring a retainer but they are only allowed to wear the retainer at night.

Items they should NOT bring are pretty much everything else. Cell phones, Ipads, jewelry, etc. are not allowed at recruit training.

Financial Information

YOUR POOLEE should make a plan ahead of time for any car payments, credit card payments, or other montly expenses your poolee may have. Contracted services such as cell phone carriers and insurance plans can be suspended during boot camp. Some companies may ask for an official letter or a copy of orders from the recruiter as proof. Additional things to consider:

• Cell Phone Carrier
• Car Insurance
• Gym Membership
• Online Services for Television
• Subscriptions to Magazines, Car Radio

These things need to taken care of ahead of time. This is your poolee's adult responsibility. A POA, Power of Attorney, should NOT be needed during boot camp. Your poolee needs to get his/her finances in order before leaving for boot camp.

If the poolee is married, additional considerations will need to be taken into account. Your poolee should talk with his/her recruiter.

Recruits are paid during boot camp , so there's no need to worry about sending them money. In fact, they are required to set up a new bank account with a local credit union. After boot camp, the new Marines can switch bank accounts if they so choose.

There are laws protecting recruits from collections while they're at boot camp. However, they should still be proactive. If they have payments automatically taken from their bank account, they need to be sure that those services are either suspended or paid in advance.

After your recruit graduates and becomes a Marine, he/she may want to set up their own cell phone plan if they were previously on your family plan because military members are eligible for discounts.

Your poolee will soon be a recruit and begin the transformation into a United States Marine. With this comes letting go and trusting them to take care of themselves. They are adults and capable of handling all of this on their own.