About Raider Company of Virginia Tech

The purpose of RAIDER COMPANY is to develop Marine Corps Option Midshipmen mentally, physically, and morally in order to prepare them for both Officer Candidate School and The Basic School. Additionally, we develop in future Marine Officers the virtues of humility, intelligence, courage, and adaptability so that they are prepared to begin a career of service to the Enlisted Corps and Our Nation.

- Raider Company Mission Statement

Welcome to the website of Raider Company at Virginia Tech, home to one of the most demanding and rewarding Marine Officer development programs.

The purpose of Raider Company is to develop Marine Corps Option Midshipmen mentally, physically, and morally in order to prepare them for both Officer Candidate School and The Basic School. Additionally, we develop in future Marine Officers the virtues of humility, intelligence, and courage so that they are prepared to begin a career of service to the Enlisted Corps and our Nation.

Raider Company will challenge each midshipman mentally, both in garrison and in the field, by placing a demanding load of Raider company duties on top of academics, forcing the midshipman to perfect his time management skills, and in the field by executing fire team and squad size exercises. Raider company will challenge each midshipman physically by forcing them to care for their bodies, both with eating and resting properly, to the opposite end of the spectrum where one learns to thrive on little sleep, such as during a field exercise or with an early morning physical training session.

The most important function of Raider Company is to develop leaders of Marines. Each midshipman will have the opportunity to hold multiple leadership billets while in the company that offer that billet holder a chance to practice their leadership style and to receive critiques of their performance?constantly forcing that midshipman to make themselves better. Finally, Raider Company forces each midshipman to develop morally with mentoring at every level from a sophomore helping a freshman to the Marine Officer Instructor (MOI) and Assistant Marine Officer Instructor (AMOI) helping all levels of experience within the company.

This program is not something you should enter lightly nor without a strong determination for self-improvement, but if you are fully dedicated to the program and take responsibility for your own knowledge and development, the progress you can make as a leader in just 4 years is well worthwhile.

Raider Company will challenge a prospective Marine Officer in every facet of life and force one to progress successfully in all areas. 15 freshmen Marine Option scholarship- recipient midshipmen (MIDN), along with any other non-scholarship (college program) freshmen who show a strong desire to become a Marine Officer, will be reporting to the Company this fall 2008, bringing the current Company total to 50. The Company will also be receiving a new Marine Officer Instructor (MOI), Capt Westhoff, who is currently in Ramadi, Iraq, and is reporting to Blacksburg in early July 2008. Raider Company is one of 5 Companies in the Naval Battalion of midshipmen at Virginia Tech, with the other 4 Companies comprised of Navy midshipmen. There is a separate leadership development program at Virginia Tech which all MIDN are required to participate in, the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets (VTCC), which houses all naval midshipmen along with cadets from the other ROTC programs, including the Army and Air Force. All ROTC cadets and MIDN will wear the same VTCC uniform 4 days of the week and their respective ROTC uniforms on Tuesday, as a regular ROTC program would.

Raider Company is not the only path to becoming a Marine Officer. Other paths include: Platoon Leaders Course (PLC), which allows an Officer Candidate to attend two 6-week Officer Candidate School (OCS) increments, both PLC junior and PLC senior increment, each during a separate summer, or opt for a single 10-week OCS increment during one summer, all of which take place before the Candidate graduates college; the other path is to sign up for the Officer Candidates Course (OCC), a 10-week long session for college graduates that runs year round, upon successful completion of which the Candidate will receive a Commission. More information can be found here.

The different Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) available to a Marine Officer are listed here.