How does a Marine get on Marine One or White House duty?
Do you have to be a really squared away Marine? Or do you just get stationed at the White House? And as far as Marine One, I mean how do you become the Marine who salutes the President as he gets off the helicopter.
The only way I’ve heard of a Marine becoming "Yankee White" (So called because Marines on Presidental detail wear the white ‘parade’ pants with their dress blue blouses) is to be selected out of boot camp. I went through most of the selection process myself, which involves several interviews, background checks, etc, before deciding that I would rather stick with the grunts.
I’m sure there’s other ways to get there, but being selected out of bootcamp is the only one I’ve ever heard of.
Yes, you need to be seriously squared away.
Better have a clean record to get Yankee White. Very good scores on the ASVAB too.
They’re part of 8th and I. They do lots more than just the evening parade and silent drill platoon.
HMX-1 is the presidential helicopter squadron. You have to be an extremely squared away Marine to get orders there. Marines in security forces, MP’s, or on MSG duty can get assigned to the squadron and the white house as well.